484 



Potato Growing. 



awake latent features not necessarily apparent in the parents. 

 These plants, the result of cross-breeding, possess special 

 vigour. The value of a new variety lies greatly in the 

 invigoration which evolves from the mating of stocks distantly 

 related, thus avoiding the enfeeblement which arises from too 

 close in-and-in breeding, whether in plants or animals. Except 

 for producing new varieties the seed is not sown, the ordinary 

 sets being, of course, tubers, which are collections of buds 

 conveniently associated with a reserve of plant food to support 

 them when they awake from their dormant condition in the 

 following spring. A great many new varieties fall short in 

 only one feature, which is, however, sufficient to prevent their 

 introduction, or, if introduced, causes them to be discarded very 

 soon. It is because so few are good at all points that a really 

 good new variety is eagerly sought after, and is rapidly 

 developed, so that in a few years it is grown by tens of thou- 

 sands, and occasionally hundreds of thousands of acres annually. 

 The time, however, inevitably comes when the vigour acquired 

 by cross-breeding wears out, and the variety falls out of 

 cultivation. 



It is a very noticeable fact that those who grow on an extensive 

 scale are the quickest to take up, and the earliest to discard, a 

 variety. This comes of necessity, for they would soon be ruined 

 otherwise. Those who grow on a small scale are less influenced 

 by the profit or loss, and as the crop forms a smaller section of 

 their business, they take less trouble to acquaint themselves 

 with what is going on around them, and their varieties are 

 generally a generation behind profitable time. There is also 

 the occasional grower, who " thinks he will have a few acres of 

 potatoes," and who often does not know the name of the variety 

 he grows. It is in gardens, however, that relics of the past are 

 chiefly to be met with ; and how extensively old kinds are 

 planted can be seen by reading trade lists, for in nearly all one 

 sees names which those who grow with profit have discarded for 

 many years. 



It is an open question whether more harm than good is done 

 by prize competitions for plates of potatoes. In almost all cases 

 appearance is the sole feature on which they are judged. The 

 many far more important features which go to make a variety 



