468 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



with broken health incurred from exposure to the damp and cold of 

 trench life in winter ? 



It must be realized, then, that a potato plant grown under conditions 

 of starvation will produce smaller tubers than one grown under the 

 most favourable conditions ; a tuber produced by the former plant — 

 which tuber is merely a cutting — will produce a very superior yield if 

 it is grown under the most favourable conditions. Hence the apparent 

 deterioration is not inherited, since a cutting has no true parent plant 

 from which to inherit anything ; but it will continue to behave as the 

 plant of origin did, providing the climatic, cultural, and other conditions • 

 are perfect. 



We have mentioned above the decline of varieties due to unsuitable 

 conditions. Continue growing plants under these conditions and you 

 will gradually produce a weak plant offering no resistance to many 

 kinds of disease, and these will then do the rest. The plant 

 will eventually produce no yield to speak of, and farmers are satisfied 

 that they have a case of "degeneration." We wish to oppose this 

 conception very strongly. It is most misleading, and the use of the 

 term is in a fair way to become stereotyped and be used popularly. 

 But it has no bearing upon the true state of affairs. 



Farmers and potato growers have the remedy for deterioration in 

 their own hands. It is beyond question that some localities in every 

 country are more unsuitable for the growing of good potatos than 

 others. Where this is the case, growers are urgently advised to make 

 a frequent change of seed. Preferably secure seed from a suitable 

 locality every year, and then the grower will have no deterioration. 

 By keeping one strain of potatos in cultivation too long under any 

 but the most perfect conditions the yields will be unsatisfactory 

 and diseases abundant. Even in localities where potatos do normally 

 well, it is advisable to practise selection of seed along recognized lines. 

 This will eventually result in the production of heavier yields, and 

 produce a strain that will be successful for a longer or shorter time 

 elsewhere. No attempt should be made to grow seed potatos in 

 unsuitable localities. Then so-called " degeneration " will be a thing 

 of the past. 



