POTATOES FROM NORTH AND 



ntroduction of a new variety ? First, he must disabuse 

 his mind of the idea that degeneration will follow the 

 planting of a given variety in the same soil ; that a 

 change of seed is necessary. 



It is no wonder that these opinions exist when it is 

 customary with farmers to sell or consume the best and 

 to plant from the refuse. It is a well-known fact that 

 on a given soil some varieties will give a greater yield 

 than others. Having determined which is the better, 

 the next move is to select for stock the best the field 

 affords. This operation is attended with considerable 

 care, if well done. All. growers have observed that 

 some hills will turn out more potatoes than others, even 

 though the conditions are the same. This is noticeable 

 in the vines. If before digging they are strong, vigorous 

 and branching, the tubers will be larger and better 

 shaped, as well as more in quantity. Select the best 

 from such hills only, in future seasons follow this 

 method, and the yield will be far greater and the size of 

 tubers be increased. This practice is followed b}' some 

 farmers with whom we are acquainted, and others in 

 their immediate neighborhood look to them for stock 

 seed. 



Let me state one instance to show more clearly the 

 importance of the method. Upon the introduction of 

 the Early Ohio, George W. Hallock Son, of Orient, 

 Long Island, commenced to grow it, and so satisfactory 

 was the crop they have continued to do so, always select- 

 ing in the manner described their stock seed. The re- 

 sult was they have established a new type, differing 

 somewhat in shape, and earlier and more productive. 



THE SAVING OF CORN FOR SEED 



is an important work, and one generally overlooked. It 

 is the common practice to select the best ears at the 

 time of husking. This is good so far as it goes, but is 

 attended with two disadvantages. One is the selecting of 

 the largest ears, of which in general only one grows on 

 a stalk, which lessens the produce ; and the other is the 

 liability of selecting those that ripen at different times. 



SOUTH. loi 



It is natural to suppose that the grains of stunted or 

 sickly corn, even though the ears may attain a large 

 size, necessarily partake of the weakly disposition of the 

 plant which produced them, and that this product can- 

 not be so fine as that which grows from seeds of strong 

 and healthy plants. For this reason the ears, whether 

 of sweet or field corn, should be selected before the 

 stalks are cut, being taken where there are two long and 

 well-filled ears on a stalk of low growth, with the ears 

 near the ground. The whole plant should, by the length 

 and breadth of the leaves and the size of stalk, indicate 

 perfect health. Earliness should always go with pro- 

 ductiveness ; therefore the first ears to ripen are the ones 

 to select for seed, and all should be gathered at the same 

 time in order that there may be uniformity in ripening 

 united with earliness, which is of the greatest import- 

 ance in field culture. 



While there has been within the past fifty years a 

 marked improvement in the earliness of corn, evenness, 

 particularly where but little is grown for market, has 

 been sadly neglected, and the want of uniformity in the 

 time of flowering has caused many short crops, or im- 

 perfect ears, that have been attributed to far difierent 

 causes. Observation will show plainly that the grower 

 who secures the largest yield is the one that gives the 

 most particular attention to the selection of seed; and, 

 further, the corn that brings the highest price in the 

 market is the one in which grains are of uniform size 

 and color, results of careful selection. 



What has been said of the classes mentioned is equally 

 true and applicable to all others. The importance of 

 selecting the best applies to every variety of seed sown, 

 and after securing it, its perpetuation is equally import- 

 ant, and more so its improvement. While there is a 

 limit in development there is but little danger of our 

 ever reaching it, and only by persistent effort can we 

 keep our stocks from degenerating. Perfection may be 

 reached, but by no other road save the one leading to it 

 — viz., selection C. L. Allen. 



POTATOES FROM NORTH AND SOUTH. 



CAREFUL reading of the article 

 by L. H. Baile)' in the Novem- 

 ber Garden fails to convince 

 me that the "influence of lati- 

 tude upon potatoes" has so 

 much to do with the yield as he 

 claims. One experiment fails 

 to prove anything'.conclusively. 

 Were the potatoes he procured 

 C. Davenport's warehouse Pennsylvania 

 Mr. Davenport claims to deal in eastern 

 stock, mainly Prince Edward Island and other 

 stocks grown far east or north, and I have no reason 



from T 

 grown ? 



to doubt that this is the case, as I have repeatedly 

 bought through my agents, for sale or planting in 

 the spring, from Mr. Davenport, and I have never 

 had any reason to think they were not eastern or 

 northern seed as claimed. 



Careful experiments conducted in this vicinity by 

 conscientious and painstaking experimenters have proven 

 conclusively that the best seed potatoes to plant are the 

 second crop potatoes grown on the Delaware, Maryland 

 and Virginia peninsula and perhaps farther south. By 

 "second crop" is meant the matured early potatoes 

 planted in February or March. After maturing and 

 being dried or cured, they are planted again, producing 

 a moderate crop of far finer tubers late in the season than 



