■She  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
425 
Qualities  Needed  in  Seed  Potatoes 
Part  TIT. 
WINTER  STORAGE  AND  CARE  OF  SEED.— 
The  temperature  of  the  storage  cellar  in  Winter 
and  Spring  is  most  important.  When  the  sprouts 
start  much  of  the  vitality  of  the  seed  is  lost  and 
lower  yields  result.  Care  in  holding  the  tempera¬ 
ture  of  the  cellar  to  about  .'11  to  8<>  degrees  in  Win¬ 
ter  and  as  late  in  the  Spring  as  .possible  keeps  the 
sprouts  from  starting.  I  use  ice  in  the  cellar  in 
Spring  for  that  purpose,  but  a  regular  cold  storage 
would  be  better.  It  is  well  to  keep  cellar  doors  and 
windows  open  on  cold  nights  in  Spring.  There  is 
some  discussion  whether  the  good 
yields  often  obtained  from  Maine  seed 
come  from  their  long  period  of  cool 
storage  or  from  the  immature  condi¬ 
tion  in  which  much  of  their  crop  is 
dug.  In  Europe  such  seed  is  believed 
to  give  larger  yields  than  that  allowed 
to  ripen  fully.  In  parts  of  the  South 
a  second  crop  is  planted  in  July  for 
seed  purposes,  being  yet  immature 
when  dug.  When  sprouts  have  begun 
to  form  shoveling  the  potatoes  over  to 
break  off  the  sprouts  is  of  some  value 
to  make  their  growth  slower.  This  is 
the  best  time  to  detect  mixtures  of 
varieties  by  the  different  colors  of  the 
sprouts,  blue,  white  and  pink.  One 
variety  is  always  best  for  any  set  of 
conditions,  and  the  others  should  be 
thrown  out  at  this  time.  “Greening” 
seed  potatoes  is  a  regular  practice  in 
Europe,  and  is  of  value  to  save  the 
seed  material  that  would  be  lost  by 
sprouting  in  the  last  week  or  two  be¬ 
fore  planting.  The  seed  should  be 
spread  out.  in  a  sunny  place  not  over 
two  deep  if  possible.  A  barn  floor  is 
best  on  account  of  protection  against 
late  Spring  frosts.  The  sprouts  which 
start  in  this  way  are  stubby  and  short, 
dark  green  or  purple  in  color  and  very 
tough.  Unless  over  half  an  inch  in 
length  most  will  pass  through  a  ma¬ 
chine  planter  without  breaking. 
DISINFECTION  FOR  DISEASES 
CARRIED  ON  SEED.— Disinfection 
is  an  easy  means  of  protecting  against 
injury  by  some  diseases.  Common 
scab  is  easily  guarded  against  by  soak¬ 
ing  for  two  hours  in  a  solution  of  one 
pint  of  formalin  to  30  gallons  of  water. 
Gonger  treatment  may  injure  the  seed. 
If  the  soil  is  badly  infected  with  scab 
treatment  is  of  no  use.  Sulphur  i; 
generally  of  little  value.  A  solution  o’ 
corrosive  sublimate,  four  ounces  to 
each  30  gallons  of  water,  is  effective 
against  common  seal)  and  also  agains 
rhizoctonia.  The  latter  is  a  disease 
more  dangerous  than  has  generally 
been  known.  While  it  is  present  in 
nearly  all  our  soils  the  great  danger 
is  from  the  little  spots  found  on  many 
potatoes.  These  look  like  dirt,  but  may 
he  told  by  their  sticking  so  tightly  that 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  wash  them 
off.  After  the  sprout  starts  from  the 
seed,  and  before  it  reaches  the  sur¬ 
face  of  the  soil,  it  is  attacked  by  the 
disease  and  eaten  off  by  little  brown 
cankers.  The  sprout  often  grows  again 
but  makes  a  late  and  weak  plant  which 
makes  a  poor  yield,  often  mainly  of 
culls.  I  use  a  wooden  tank  for  dis¬ 
infection  in  which  six  crates  can  be 
immersed.  This  is  much  easier  than 
soaking  in  barrels,  and  disinfects  the 
crates  as  well.  After  eight  or  10  runs 
of  six  crates  each  I  add  more  corro¬ 
sive  sublimate  to  make  up  the  solution  to  full 
strength  again.  Part  of  the  poison  is  carried  off  by 
the  potatoes.  It  must  be  dissolved  in  a  little  boil¬ 
ing  water  and  used  with  great  care,  as  it  is  very 
dangerous  to  swallow;  also  it  must  be  used  in 
wooden  or  earthen  dishes,  as  it  attacks  iron.  After 
soaking  in  either  solution  seed  must  he  dried  soou 
or  it  may  heat.  Cut  seed  will  rot  if  soaked. 
CUTTING-RACK.  —  The  Colorado  cutting-rack 
shown  in  Fig-  145  is  easily  made  by  anyone  at  small 
expense.  If  it  cost  $25  and  was  sold  by  hustling 
farm- machinery  dealers  everybody  would  have  one. 
It  is  a  box  on  legs  with  a  slatted  sloping  bottom  to 
make  the  seed  roll  down  through  an  opening  on  the 
lower  side  to  a  ledge  in  front  of  the  operator.  On  the 
rim  in  front  of  this  ledge  a  large  knife  is  fastened 
with  the  point  up  in  such  a  way  that  the  operator 
can  pick  up  the  seed  and  cut  it.  by  pulling  against 
the  knife.  The  cut  pieces  fall  into  a  crate  between 
the  feet.  The  knives  are  bolted  on  with  notched 
blocks  of  wood.  A  whetstone  and  can  of  formalin 
solution  to  disinfect  the  knife  when  diseased  seed 
has  u«en  cut  are  essential.  I  find  that  I  can  cut 
seed  twice  as  fast  in  this  way  as  with  a  knife  held 
in  the  uand  and  with  much  less  fatigue.  Both  hands 
are  free  to  handle  the  seed  and  there  is  no  time  or 
energy  lost  in  bending  over  to  pick  up  the  seed,  for 
it  constantly  rolls  down  to  the  hands  through  the 
opening  in  front.  Best  of  all  the  cutting  is  done 
far  better.  The  eyes  are  so  plainly  seen  at  every 
Different  Shapes  from  Same  Seed  Due  to  Season.  Fig  148 
cut  that  it  is  easy  to  cut  every  piece  in  the  best 
manner  to  get  the  most  benefit  from  every  eye. 
CUTTING  SEED— The  eyes  on  the  seed  ends  of 
most  of  our  present  varieties  are  stronger  than  those 
near  the  stem  ends,  start  quicker  and  give  larger 
yields.  Old  growers  say  that  some  of  the  old  va¬ 
rieties  had  eyes  of  about  equal  value  but  this  is  not 
the  case  now.  Seed  should  he  cut  so  as  to  give  seed 
and  eyes  to  as  many  of  the  pieces  as  possible.  With 
short  and  bloeky  potatoes  this  is  easy,  as  these  can 
be  halved  or  quartered  lengthwise  without  exposing 
much  more  cut  surface  to  drying  out  or  exposure  to 
rot  germs  than  by  cutting  in  other  ways.  Seed  for 
a  potato  planter  has  to  be  cut  chunky  in  shape  to 
work  through  the  machine.  On  that  account  I  often 
cut  tubers  too  large  for  two  and  too  long  to  quarter 
lengthwise  into  three  pieces.  One  cut  is  taken  off 
the  stem  end  and  the  seed  end  halved  through  the 
center  of  the  cluster  of  eyes.  This  gives  two  pieces 
out  of  three  having  the  more  vigorous  seed  end 
eyes.  I  always  give  the  pieces  with  eyes  from  near 
the  stem  end  a  larger  part  of  the  potato  to  make  up 
for  the  slower  start  they  get  from  the  eyes.  Seed 
large  enough  for  four  pieces  I  quarter  lengthwise 
unless  so  long  that  the  pieces  would  be  too  long  for 
the  planter.  If  so  they  have  to  he  cut  lengthwise 
and  then  across  the  center,  making  four  bloeky 
pieces.  Sometimes  such  a  potato  will  cut  into  five 
pieces,  one  across  the  stem  end  and  the  other  four 
quartering  the  remainder  through  the  seed  end.  A 
common  cut  on  large  seed  is  two  stein 
end  pieces  and  four  from  the  seed  end. 
SIZE  OF  SEED. — It  has  been  found 
by  many  trials  that  the  weight  of  the 
seed  piece  has  more  effect  on  the  yield 
than  having  any  particular  number  of 
eyes.  Increasing  the  size  of  the  seed 
increases  the  size  of  the  crop.  So  does 
increasing  the  number  of  hills  per  acre 
by  closer  planting.  On  the  other  hand 
seed  in  May  is  worth  more  per  bushel 
than  potatoes  in  October  and  there  are 
other  risks  and  costs  to  consider. 
Every  grower  must  decide  for  his  own 
conditions  of  soil,  climate  and  markets 
what  are  the  best  distances  for  him  to 
plant  and  the  size  to  cut  his  seed.  Poor 
soil  needs  larger  seed  pieces  than  rich 
for  the  young  plant  must  depend  long¬ 
er  on  the  seed  for  support.  With  a 
good  soil  that  holds  water  well  and 
with  heavy  fertilizer  T  have  found  it 
best  to  plant  12  inches  apart  in  the 
row,  the  rows  35  inches  apart.  Using 
seed  about  15  bushels  per  acre  this 
means  that  the  seed  pieces  average 
only  about  one  ounce  each.  With  poor 
soil  this  would  not  be  enough  to  give 
the  plants  a  good  start  and  the  crop 
would  suffer.  The  average  amount  of 
seed  per  acre  used  in  this  country  is 
about  11  bushels  per  acre.  In  Europe 
with  high-priced  land,  cheap  seed, 
cheap  labor  and  a  more  favorable  cli¬ 
mate  they  find  it  profitable  to  use  an 
average  of  not  less  than  37  bushels  per 
acre. 
CUTTING  IN  ADVANCE. —The 
question  as  to  whether  seed  should  be 
cut  ahead  of  planting  is  decided  by 
conditions  of  planting.  As  a  rule  seed 
should  he  cut  just  before  planting,  and 
the  field  worked  in  such  a  way  that  the 
seed  is  dropped  into  and  covered  with 
fresh  damp  soil  so  that  it  never  has  a 
chance  to  dry  out.  I  plant  with  a  ma¬ 
chine  which  drops  the  seed  into  moist 
soil  about  June  1st,  a  favorable  time 
for  quick  growth.  Cutting  seed  with 
the  cutting-rack  is  so  fast  that  I  do  not 
even  leave  some  cut  to  begin  planting 
after  dinner  or  over  night,  but  cut 
fresh  seed  for  each  start.  Some  of  the 
ever  had  were  with 
cut  seed  allowed  to  dry.  With  a  field 
marked  out  for  hand  planting  in  which 
the  furrows  had  been  allowed  to  dry 
out.  it  might  pay  to  cure  the  cut  seed 
by  drying  slowly  in  a  cool  place,  spread 
out  thiu,  frequently  turned  and  treated 
with  laud  plaster  when  cut.  Also  with 
a  wet  soil  and  danger  of  rot. 
SEED  PLOT. — Every  field  of  pota¬ 
toes  should  have  a  seed  plot  to  pro¬ 
duce  high  yielding  seed  for  next  sea¬ 
son  unless  so  far  south  that  seed  must 
be  bought  from  the  North  every  year. 
Even  there  many  progressive  farmers 
have  seed  plots  to  raise  part  of  their 
seed  as  a  second  crop  in  Lite  Summer.  The  farmer 
planting  corn  takes  care  to  pick  out  his  best  ears 
for  seed,  lie  cleans  out  all  the'  light  and  poor 
grains  and  weed  seeds  out  of  his  seed  oats,  wheat 
and  buckwheat  before  sowing,  llis  clover  and  Tim- 
othj  seed  has  been  cleaned  for  him  in  the  wholesale 
dealer’s  warehouse,  but  liis  potatoes  are  too  often 
planted  with  a  grade  of  seed  that  he  would  never 
dream  of  using  on  any  other  crop  on  the  farm.  I 
have  found  that  potatoes  pay  better  for  care  of 
the  seed  than  any  other  crop  I  raise.  The  extra 
cost  of  a  seed  plot  is  very  little,  but  the  profit  is 
great.  One  bushel  of  large  seed  to  every  acre  iu 
the  field  should  raise  enough  seed  for  the  whole 
field  next  year,  and  at  any  rate  furnish  much  nicer 
potatoes  to  sell  or  use  in  the  family.  The  best  way 
