March, 191 8 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



81 



The potato peelings were made carefully with a view to planting; a little thicker than Also when eyes were cut for planting, and they are good eyes too, there is an appreci- 

 usual. But plenty of potato was left to eat able quantity of food left behind 



DOW No. 6 was 

 -^ planted with skins, 

 the potatoes being 

 peeled just a little 

 thicker than usual to 

 preserve the eye. I 

 planted these carefully, 

 being sure that the eye 

 was looking up at the 

 sun, as I wanted to give 

 the poor puny looking 

 things a chance to 

 make good. And they 

 did! 



ALL the planting 

 -^*- was done on the 

 same day, May 3rd — 

 a little late perhaps, 



but all had an equal chance. I kept the bed 

 well cultivated; in fact, I kept it scratched 

 thoroughly with my fingers so anxious was I 

 to see when the potatoes would start. I 

 found one cut piece with a growth about 1 

 inch long, and I immediately broke it from 

 the seed, photographed it, put it back, labelled 

 the hill, and it produced just as much in quan- 

 tity or quality as any of the other hills. 

 About May 28th, practically all the hills 

 showed through, excepting a few which I 

 replaced. I found the skins were slower to 

 start than the cut pieces, but there was prac- 

 tically no difference between the eyes and 

 the cut pieces. 



TPHERE was nothing of interest regarding 

 -*- the growth of the plots. I kept them 

 well cultivated, looked after the potato 

 bug closely, and by hand picking I only had 

 to spray once, using arsenate of lead. The 

 potatoes weren't bothered to any extent with 

 the flea beetle, and were not attacked by 

 blight, The planting was . kept intact. I 

 didn't allow any one to dig any potatoes from 

 the experimental plot as I wanted to give the 

 tubers a chance to mature unmolested. 

 They were cultivated flat until they flowered; 

 I then drew the soil up around them very well. 

 The potatoes were dug on September 16th. 

 I kept each hill separate, that is, any that 

 looked unusual either in number of potatoes 

 or weight, and I then weighed the best hill 

 in each row with the following results: 



Row No. I planted with eVes only, largest hill, 8 potatoes, 3 lbs. 

 Row No. 2 planted with cut pieces, largest hill, 11 potatoes, 



2 fbs. 14 ozs. 

 Row No. 3 planted with cut pieces, largest hill, 10 potatoes. 



2 lbs. 15 ozs. 

 Row No. 4 planted with cut pieces, largest hill, 14 potatoes, 



2 lbs. 14 ozs. 



Row No. 5 planted with cut pieces, largest hill, 8 potatoes, 



3 lbs. 3 ozs. 



Row No. 6 planted with skins only, largest hill, 8 potatoes, 

 2 lbs. 8 ozs. 



Then I weighed the entire yield of each 

 row separately, with the following results: 



If**. 

 * 



'*..., _-,£*&** 



How the Different Pieces Start. On the left a piece of skin with eyes sprouting. They seem quite vig- 

 orous. Next a conventional cut piece of seed. The sprouting shoot was broken off and replanted, giving 1 lb 

 14 ozs. yield. To right a single eye as shown in the picture above, on the right. 



Row No. I planted with eyes, total for 24 hills, 48 lbs. 8| ozs. 

 Row No. 2 planted with cut pieces, total for 24 hills, 46 lbs. 7| oz. 

 Row No. 3 planted with cut pieces, total for 24 hills, 46 lbs. 

 Row No. 4 planted with cut pieces, total for 24 hills, 50 lbs. 4 ozs. 

 Row No. 5 planted with cut pieces, total for 24 hills, 48 lbs. ioozs. 

 Row No. 6 planted with skins, total for 24 hills, 48 lbs. 6 ozs. 



npHE average for the bed was about 2 

 ■*■ lb. to the hill, the row of skins, therefore, 

 proved to be a little above the average. The 

 row planted with eyes was also above the 

 average, and again the young plant which 





Here's the old time-honored way of cutting seed. Is it 

 good enough now when waste of food material is a crime? 



was broken from the 

 seed potato and plant- 

 ed again, yielded i lb. 

 14 ozs. which was 

 practically up to the 

 average. 



I know some one will 



say that it is not so, 



that if it were possible 



all this would have 



been discovered years 



ago — maybe it would 



have been if potatoes 



had been ten dollars 



per barrel; but back in 



1899 the potato crop of 



the United States only 



averaged the growers 



38 cents per bushel and 



under those conditions what would be the 



use of being mean and stingy with the seed ? 



Further than that, I met a woman who has 



been planting potato skins for years. She 



saves her potato peelings, of course making 



them a little thicker than usual to have a little 



substance to preserve the eye, until it can be 



planted, and she has always had a good crop 



of potatoes. 



A NOTHER proof that potatoes will repro- 

 ^*- duce without the old stool, which in my 

 estimation serves no other purpose than a 

 container for the eyes, is the fact that potatoes 

 can be propagated from cuttings. New 

 varieties are increased in this manner. I have 

 practised this method myself, and one grower 

 a few years back won a prize for reproducing 

 2,500 lb. of tubers from one pound of seed 

 in a single season. If potatoes will reproduce 

 from cuttings, why not from any growth that 

 develops from an eye and which is not de- 

 pendent upon the cut piece of potato? 



WHAT advantage can be gained is the 

 next point to consider. Of course, the 

 economic gain is paramount. Even though 

 the plan cannot be applied to farming where 

 everything is done by machinery, it would be 

 possible in all cases where hand planting is 

 practised. In place of planting six pieces of 

 potatoes that weigh about 12 oz., plant 6 

 pieces that weigh less than 2 oz. In planting 

 30 feet of drill I used 24 pieces that only 

 weighed 8 oz., that is, the eyes with skins, 

 the seed for the 24 hills weighed less than 6 

 oz. On the basis of the eyes it would take 

 about 4 bushels of seed to the acre by 

 weight, of course. As the regular method of 

 planting takes about four barrels per acre 

 this would mean a saving of 2f barrels per 

 acre; or further, about 15,000,000 barrels of 

 potatoes on the acreage seeded down last spring. 

 Of course, the whole thing hinges on whether 



