POTATOES 189 



strong and stocky, not long or straggling. Care- 

 fully take up with a fork, and if the potatoes in that 

 hill or from one given vine are all of a uniform 

 shape and of a desired size, such are the proper 

 ones to select for stock, and none others. One of 

 the laws of reproduction is that " like produces 

 like," and where there is but one well-formed 

 potato in a hill or from one vine, the offspring will 

 too closely resemble the parent. We are familiar 

 with this practice, and know the results are of far 

 greater importance than we have stated, that the 

 annual crop is more than double than where ordi- 

 nary methods of taking best-looking specimens from 

 the bin are followed and the quality is better. 



Digging and Storing. — Potatoes should never be 

 stored immediately after digging, but should be 

 allowed to dry. If picked up directly after dig- 

 ging, unless taken to market at once for shipment 

 or to the starch factory, they should be placed in 

 small, long piles not to exceed four or five bushels 

 and left for a week or ten days. This will give 

 them a good airing and will give the surplus water 

 in them a chance to evaporate, or, as some farmers 

 please to call it, allow them to sweat. If this 

 moisture remains with the potatoes, it will collect 

 in drops on the surface of tubers in the middle 

 of a large bin full and will pick and foster rot germs 

 and destroy many bushels before the owner is 

 aware. Never dig potatoes on a damp, foggy day 

 or a day when a soft drizzling rain is falling. The 

 moisture will soak the ground, make it stick tight 

 to the potatoes and not only make the produce 

 unsightly but prove hurtful. 



Barrels and Bins for Storage. — Barrels are no 

 doubt the most convenient, but as these are not 



