518 Twenty-First Biennial Repoet 



One thing we are fighting against is northern seed. We got 

 some good seed from the Wisconsin Experiment Station last year, 

 but in the main the northern seed is diseased. 



I might mention what we are doing with potato breeding. Pota- 

 toes are not looked upon as worth breeding, but we are going to take 

 up the matter of breeding potatoes, and I believe it is possible by 

 selection of. seed, to eliminate the unproductive tubers so that we can 

 raise, instead of 160 bushels as we do now, an average of 400 to 

 500 bushels per acre. 



Any farmer who raises potatoes and does not want to save his 

 best seed, does not want to progress. 



There is another method, by selection of hills. I have prevailed 

 upon several of the farmers to set aside a plot and dig them up with 

 a fork and save each good hill and then go through with a basket 

 arfd drop in the best potatoes from the hills. If they will do that, 

 the farmers can produce 600 bushels to the acre. 



Q. What time do you plant your first crop? 



A. Betwen the last of March and first of April, depending upon 

 the season. 



Q. What was your best yield! 



A. Our best record with the boys was at the rate of 276 bushels 

 to the acre at a cost of 19c a bushel. 



Q. What make of potato digger do you use? 



A. The Champion is one of the best. It sells for about $75 and 

 will last for three years. I am going to try to introduce the Hoover 

 machine which lasts a lifetinie. It is heavier than the others. It 

 requires four big mules to run it. 



Remark by Mr. Merriman. 



The boy who won the prize this 'year in the potato club was the 

 boy who won it last year, showing what selection will do. He has 

 been selecting seed for several years. No boy in the county can 

 overtake that boy. He raised 276 bushels and his brother was second 

 with only 50 or 60 bushels less, and he also selects his seed. 



THE FRUIT CROP OF 1914. EXPERIENCE OF HENDERSON 



COUNTY. 



Paul D. Brown, Henderson County. 



The beginning of the increasing fruit industry in Henderson 

 County sounds like a fairy tale. About nineteen years ago, a 

 Canadian minister came down to that county in hopes of regaining 

 his health. He looked about to find a farm where he could settle. 

 He finally located a farm on which was a small orchard of about 

 twenty acres. His neighbors, after he had bought the farm, advised 

 him to cut down the trees and raise tobacco. He began to use a 



