4 BULLETIN 1248; IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
.Adams compared the relative productive capacity of 1-eye sets and 
of small and large whole tubers. The results showed a uniform in- 
crease in yield from the larger sets. The increase from the small whole 
tubers over the 1-eye set was equal to 72.7_per cent, while that from 
large whole tubers was 154.5 per cent. ISo data are given relative 
to the quantity of seed used; hence, no comparison can be made as 
to net yield. 
Payen and Chevallier (67) on a rather small scale compared the 
relative behavior of medium and small whole tubers, cut seed, potato 
parings, and eyes of six tubers. The respective yields were 6.5, 6.1, 
5.59, 0.5, and 0.4 kilograms. 
A rather careful and fairly comprehensive study of the relative 
merits of whole seed and cut seed by Lindley (61) in 1832, reported to 
the Horticultural Society of London in 1834. showed that, on the 
whole, better results were obtained from cut seed than from whole 
seed. Lindley says (p. 453) that " it would therefore appear . . . 
that the opinion which has been entertained of the superior produc- 
tiveness of tubers over sets is unfounded, a conclusion to which Sir 
George Mackenzie has also come from experiments made by him in 
Ross-shire." This conclusion was conveyed to Lindle}' in a letter 
dated December 10, 1833. In commenting on this paper (67, p. 455), 
Thomas Andrew Knight says that from the results of his experi- 
ments and observations he had come to the conclusion "that the 
heaviest crops of potatoes, and those most profitable to the grower, 
will, in most soils and seasons, be obtained from tubers of consider- 
able weight, and I have preferred whole tubers because I have found 
those least subject to decay in wet and cold springs." A specific in- 
stance is cited by Knight in which a rather poor piece of land was 
divided into two plats of equal size that were planted with whole 
/ seed and cut seed, respectively. None of the whole tubers weighed 
less than 4 ounces. A heavy yield was obtained from the whole- 
tuber plat and a very meager one from the cut seed. No informa- 
tion is given concerning the size of the cut seed. 
In a later communication to the society, Lindley (61, p. 524-528) 
presents some further data on whole and cut seed and different spac- 
ings. His conclusion, based on the results secured, is as follows: 
I think this result is the most interesting that we have yet obtained, for it 
not only reduced to something like a demonstration the superiority of sets over 
whole tubers, but it shows that the crop will be greater where the distance be- 
tween the rows is most in accordance with the average height of the potato stems. 
In December, 1836, Thompson (08) communicated the results of some 
studies he had made relative to the time of planting, size of sets, and 
depth of planting. Whole tubers were compared with the apical and 
basal parts of the tuber. Two plantings were made, the first week 
in March and the first week in April. The early planted plats showed 
a greater net yield — that'is, after deducting the seed used from the 
apical sets; the basal sets came next; and the whole-tuber sets last. 
Different results were obtained from later planted plats. In this 
trial the whole tubers gave the largest yield, the apical sets next, and 
the basal ones the lowest. 
Sanborn (80) compared the relative merits of 1-eye, 2-cye, and 3-eye 
sets, seed-end and stem-end pieces, and small and large whole tubers. 
Jlis results show that the yields were not m accordance with tile size 
of the seed planted, as the seed-end pieces or sets from the apical 
