PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 209 



" The Prince of Wales is a long, white potato, ripens very early, and is 

 a noble potato for baking. The Monitor has a pink eye, and is the king of 

 all potatoes for baking or boiling; ripens between the Bulkeley seedling 

 and the Prince of Wales; it is a very good keeper, and not apt to sprout; 

 spreads a little more in the hills. 



" I am very careful to have a nursery of new seedlings every year. If 

 every farmer would do the same, new and* choice varieties would be con- 

 stantly developed, and this noble esculent become increasingly the pride of 

 every table." 



Mr. W. S. Carpenter. — The Bulkeley seedling I have grown for the last 

 two years, and like them very much. I procured a new variety from Mr. 

 Goodrich, called Garnett's Chili, which is very much of the same character. 

 The Cusco White is another excellent new variety, produced by Mr. Good- 

 rich, and so is his Pinkeye rustycoat. Mr. Goodrich has grown and proved 

 five hundred seedlings, and the above three are about all that are valuable 

 among the whole list. 



Mr. Pt. G. Pardee. — We are constantly hearing about new seedling pota- 

 toes, and people are continually tempted to pay high prices for seeds to 

 try the new experiment, and the success has been so poor, as a general 

 thing, that many consider it a great mistake to try to multiply sorts, think- 

 ing that we had better try to improve the cultivation of some of our good 

 old standard varieties. All the stories that we hear about new seedlings 

 are not trustworthy, and many who have been to the expense of getting 

 new sorts, find upon trial that they had the same before; the only difference 

 being in the change of soil or mode of culture. Some twenty years agcua 

 man brought into Wayne county, N. Y., from down east somewhere, aii« 

 excellent sort of potatoes. A few years ago some of that sort were brought, 

 to this vicinity, and not long afterwards the public were offered a new potato 

 called " Pell's seedling," which is very much like, if not identical with that 

 grown so many years in Wayne county, which no one supposed to he a 

 new variety. There are too many seedlings offered to the public before 

 they have been properly tested and proved to possess some valuale pro- 

 perty, not attainable in other sorts already in use. I don't object to 

 improvements, but I do object to recommending or selling potatoes under 

 new names as new sorts, and superior to all others, before their standard 

 of value is fully established, and by some one beside the interested pro- 

 ducer. A mere change of form or color in a potato is not an improvement. 



Mr. Carpenter thought Mr. Pardee rather severe on seedlings, as that is 

 the only way to get improved sorts, and that some of the new ones are 

 superior in every respect. Even the famous Peachblow fails, and who 

 thinks now of planting the Mercer ? I think we should recommend and 

 encourage the raising of new varieties. I think if the gentleman had seen 

 my crop of new potatoes that I raised this year, he would never plant the 

 old kinds. 



Mr. Pardee. — I think Mr. Carpenter misunderstood my remarks. I am in 

 favor of adopting new varieties which have been thoroughly tested. Take, 

 for instance, the great variety of roses grown, the difference in some of 

 them is so slight that it is not discernible to the common observer. The 

 same remarks apply to the strawberry. Look at the long list advertised 



TAm. Inst.] 14 



