736 



Sprouting Seed Potatoes. [march, 



career its powers of hereditary transmission ascertained. Each 

 lot, therefore, is separately grown, and the results accurately 

 defined and recorded in regard to such points as weight of the 

 plant, straw, husk, ear and grain, length of the stalk, and length 

 and closeness, or compactness, of the ears. By the latter term 

 is to be understood the number of spikelets on every 100 

 millimetres of rachis, or the main axis of the ear, and to 

 facilitate the determination of the number a very useful instru- 

 ment, known as a " classifier," is employed. Many other 

 mechanical appliances are also in use which help to make the 

 work of sorting and measuring the grain less laborious, and the 

 results are tabulated in a way which at once enables deviations 

 from the normal type to be recognised. 



As the object of the station is to obtain an improvement 

 in the quality and quantity, the constant aim is to ascertain 

 whether any new form which may occur possesses desirable 

 qualities. The first cultivation of any sample is for purposes of 

 " observation," and the plots are very small. In the next year, 

 the seed, if it is found uniform in character, is placed in another 

 category called the " control." Here larger plots are employed 

 in order to ascertain the persistence of the selected characters, 

 i.e., whether it breeds true to type. This may be done for one, 

 two, or more years, after which those sorts which seem very 

 promising and adapt themselves to the conditions of soil and 

 climate and show themselves resistant to insect and fungoid 

 pests, may be cultivated on a larger scale still under the control 

 of the Svalof Station, with a view to the production of seed for 

 sale. 



From the foregoing, it would seem that the principal novelty 

 in the Svalof system at the present time is the system of classi- 

 fication in sub-species, together with the elaborate measurement 

 and tabulation of other features in the pedigree stock. 



For many years the growers of early potatoes have been in 



the habit of storing their potato seed in trays or boxes in thin 



layers, in order that the tubers should 



Sprouting" Seed sprou t before being planted, but it is only 

 t oX/ciLoes* . 



lately that the boxing and subsequent 



sprouting of late potatoes have been found to be profitable. 



