1378 Tur Vecetaste Invustry 1n New Yorx State 
pile by its appearance usually will not deteriorate, but will often 
improve on the same farm from year to year. Not so with the 
potato tuber or cutting. If one from a weak hill, with only one 
or two potatoes, or one in which all the tubers were small, is 
planted, there must be a deterioration, for there is no cross pollen- 
ization from a strong plant to help it. This explains why varieties 
of potatoes run out, and why people are continually seeking new, 
strong seed. There are thousands of dollars expended every year 
for potatoes to plant, many of which come from diseased stock, 
and few of which are selected, except by external appearance. 
Most of this money might be saved if the seed tubers were selected 
from the most vigorous productive hills; not so difficult a task as 
might at first glance appear, for one can plant a small portion of 
Fic. 418.— SHow1nc VARIATION IN THE YIELDING Capacity or Two In- 
DIVIDUAL TUBERS SELECTED FROM RURAL NEW YORKERS. 
a field expressly for this purpose, and by digging the potatoes by 
hand can throw out all hills not coming up to the desired stand- 
ard. I know two men, in widely separate parts of this state, who 
had a few years ago— and, for aught I know to the contrary, have 
now —the Early Rose as productive as when it was first intro- 
duced, and they have used only their own seed, potatoes being 
selected as above. 
A small or medium-sized potato, if it comes from a vigorous 
productive hill, is a good seed, but the continued planting of small 
potatoes will mean deterioration, for an increasing number each 
year must come from hills in which the potatoes were all small. 
