24 The Potato 



to another. Most standard varieties have many syn- 

 onyms which make the whole matter more confusing. 

 The frequent appearance of new names for old varieties 

 is as much the fault of the grower as it is of the seedsman. 

 There is a strong demand for new things. The seeds- 

 man attempts to meet this, but most of our seedsmen 

 are professedly not originators of new varieties, and the 

 supply of strictly new varieties must, of necessity, be 

 very limited, hence the demand is met by changing the 

 name of some old variety and giving extensive advertis- 

 ing under its new name. The gullible grower accepts 

 the dose, pays the price for the supposedly new article 

 and is satisfied until he learns that it is nothing new and 

 then he turns around and repeats the process again. 



The number of named varieties is so large that the 

 chances of finding something far superior are very slight. 

 However, it is not at all impossible to find such a variety if 

 one has the patience to look for it or the skill to produce it. 

 However, for the average grower, it is much better to stick 

 to the old standard sorts which are recognized in the mar- 

 ket. If better varieties are demanded, it is wiser, in gen- 

 eral, to start with standard varieties which have already 

 reached some degree of perfection and improve them. 



The potato is very susceptible to differences . in soil 

 and climate, and varieties often lose their distinguishing 

 characteristics when grown under what might be con- 

 sidered unusual environment. There has also grown up, 

 of course, a wide range of opinion as to what the standards 

 of certain varieties are. The standard of a variety in 

 one locality may be very different from the accepted 

 standard of that same variety in another locality. The 

 introduction of new varieties which may be but slight 

 variations from the old sorts has still further complicated 



