1908.] Irish Seed Potatoes. 731 



to be a useful and nutritious feeding stuff, it seems desirable 

 that the question of their suitability for use as a feeding material 

 should be definitely settled. This is all the more important, 

 as there is reason to believe that the white beans may come into 

 use as a human food, since they closely resemble small haricot 

 beans in appearance. 



Until this question has been investigated it is undesirable 

 that any further definite advice should be given to discontinue 

 the use of Rangoon beans, since in spite of the fact that both 

 the red and white varieties have now been shown to yield 

 prussic acid, there is at present no evidence that this is 

 formed in quantity sufficient to be injurious, and although these 

 beans have been used as a feeding stuff now for some years, no 

 poisoning cases have been traced to them so far as is known. 

 At the same time, since the beans yield prussic acid in varying 

 quantity, it is clearly not permissible to recommend them for 

 use as a feeding material. All that can fairly be done at the 

 moment is to place the facts on record. 



The relative value of Irish seed potatoes for planting in 

 Great Britain, as compared with English and Scotch seed, 

 was the subject of some experiments in 

 Irish Seed 1906, an account of which was given in 

 Potatoes. this Journal, April, 1907, p. 30. The ex- 



periments were regarded as satisfactory, 

 and further trials were arranged by the Irish Department of 

 Agriculture in 1907 at fourteen agricultural colleges and nine- 

 teen private farms in England and Wales. All the seed — 

 Irish, Scotch and English — supplied to the experimenters was 

 obtained by the Department through Messrs. Sutton of Read- 

 ing, in order, as far as possible, to secure seed that would 

 represent fairly the general supply from each of the three 

 countries. The only stipulation made was that the seed in 

 every case should have been grown for at least the two previous 

 years on the same farm. This condition was complied with, 

 and in the case of the Irish seed it may be mentioned that the 

 British Queen seed had been grown on the same farm for three 

 years, and the Up-to-Date seed for about ten years. 



