THE JOURNAL 

 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Vol. XIV. No. 2. 



MAY, 1907. 



PROBLEMS IN POTATO GROWING. 

 W. E. Bear. 



The potato crop has been a highly favoured subject for ex- 

 periments in many recent years, and a great preponderance of 

 results may be said to have settled some points in reference 

 to its cultivation, while there are still some problems left to be 

 solved, and others, dependent largely upon local circumstances, 

 as to which, perhaps, no conclusions of general application will 

 ever be warrantable. 



Seed. — Among the settled points the first set calling for notice 

 relates to the seed. Taking all varieties into consideration, it 

 tnay be stated with confidence that a great majority of trials has 

 proved thai Large whole sets, as a rule, give the greatest yield, 

 but that the excess over the yield of sets of medium size is not 

 generally sufficient to pay for the additional cost of seeding. 

 Possibly it mav be objected that this verdict does not hold good 

 when potatoes are very cheap, and this, of course, is a considera- 

 tion of some importance ; but, if this objection be admitted, it 

 points only to an exception which proves the rule. Moreover, 

 as nearly all extensive 1 growers of potatoes are sellers of seed, 

 the advantage of the general planting of a size smaller than that 

 of ware is obvious, seeing that if the use of large sets became 

 common, potatoes of smaller size would be a drug in the market. 



Another point in relation to seed which has been proved in 

 nearly all trials is that sets sprouted in boxes are much more 

 productive than tubers kept in clamps through the w inter in 

 the usual way. It is true that a report oi a trial recently 

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