Planting 153 



makes them safe for use as seed, use of immature seed, 

 and trouble with seed germinating, have led to the use 

 of a method of care of seed by which it is kept in winter 

 and spring in shallow trays racked up in buildings so 

 constructed that each tuber is in the light. The sprouts 

 at the seed ends start and grow short, green and stubby. 

 When planted, these potatoes start quickly and grow 

 rapidly. The cost of the equipment and of the labor 

 required to place the seed in the racks and again to place 

 the seed in the ground with every seed end up, w^ould be 

 very heavy in America. Unless seed which has been 

 sprouted in this way for some time is planted with the 

 sprouts up, there is trouble in loss of stand. A modifica- 

 tion of this plan may be used, however, for American 

 conditions of cost of labor. Such short green sprouts 

 grown in the light for a short time, perhaps two weeks 

 or less, will not be broken off in a potato planter and will 

 give no trouble about coming up. It is, therefore, prac- 

 tical to keep the seed on a barn floor in the sun for that 

 time and save the strength of the sprouts which would 

 be lost by growth in a cellar. For a few days the seed 

 may be left in crates in the sun without making too long 

 sprouts in the crates. 



When seed potatoes are disinfected with formaldehyde 

 solution for common scab or with corrosive sublimate 

 solution for both rhizoctonia and scab, the crates may be 

 disinfected at the same time by having a vat of solution 

 in which the crates of seed are immersed. Soaking too 

 long or in too strong solution injures the vitality of the 

 eye. The seed must not be cut before soaking and must 

 be dried at once or rot may result. 



The above-mentioned plan is much used in Europe to 

 plant tubers from li to 2-^ inches in diameter without 



