70 The Potato 



Another method of selection has been suggested which 

 is simpler than Webber's method, probably not as satis- 

 factory, but which has been found very useful by many 

 growers. It consists of planting, growing and digging 

 the tubers the first year as previously suggested, but in- 

 stead of weighing the hills and keeping them separate for 

 further tests, they are chosen by means of counting in- 

 stead of weighing. If the season has been an average 

 one, the hills which have six or more good tubers are 

 saved for future planting. Perhaps it may be necessary 

 to use five as a standard of selection or even seven may be 

 used if the crop is good. There is no attempt at pedi- 

 gree breeding by keeping the different strains separate. 

 All hills meeting the established standard are thrown 

 together and saved for seed. The next year these are 

 planted and grown like the rest of the field. In the fall 

 they are dug by hand and again the best hills by count 

 are saved for seed. This method will gradually elimin- 

 ate the poor strains and raise the average yield of the 

 crop very rapidly. 



Spillman says : " A potato grower in Michigan some 

 years ago began the practice of digging by hand enough 

 potatoes for seed and saving only those hills that had six 

 or more merchantable tubers and no small tubers. When 

 he first began this practice, only sixteen hills out of each 

 hundred dug came up to his standard, but after he had 

 continued this practice for five years the number of such 

 hills had risen to seventy in a hundred." 



Another similar instance is found in some unpublished 

 results seciu-ed by Dodge of the office of Farm Man- 

 agement, who for several years has been teaching some 

 New England potato-growers how to select seed potatoes. 

 The method adopted is to save for seed those hills that 



