52 The Potato 



Use of score-card 



A score-card presents in a logically arranged, tabular 

 form the different factors which make up an ideal potato. 

 These factors are given relative importance or weight by 

 means of percentage numbers, the sum of which is 100. 

 One should make frequent use of a score card to familiar- 

 ize himself with all details and to compare his product 

 with the theoretical ideal product, w^hich it describes. 



The score-card should be studied so as to establish the 

 ideal of the desired variety firmly in mind before any 

 attempt is made at improvement. 



When breeding a crop, special attention should be paid 

 to the details. The proper combination of the little and 

 usually overlooked points makes the perfect crop. 



It is important, further, to bear in mind the fact that 

 a variety which is merely as good as any other in culti- 

 vation is not worth introducing. It should be better in 

 some particular than any other in existence. The oper- 

 ator must know the points of his plant, as an expert stock- 

 breeder knows the points of an animal, and he must 

 possess the rare judgment to determine which charac- 

 ters are most likely to reappear in the offspring. Inas- 

 much as a person can be an expert in only a few plants, 

 it follows that he cannot expect satisfactory results in 

 breeding any species which may chance to come before 

 him. Persistent and uniform effort, continued over a 

 series of years, is generally demanded for the production 

 of really valuable varieties. Thus it often happens that 

 one man excels all competitors in breeding a particular 

 class of plants. If the operator — himself an expert 

 judge of the plant with which he deals — chooses his 

 seeds with care and discrimination, and then proposes. 



