VOL. XLVII. NO. 1983. 
NEW YORK, JANUARY 28, 1888. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS. 
$2.00 PER YEAR. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, 
in the year 1888, by the Rural New-Yorker in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
(Smtuite af the gtuntl 
pwo-lJotkw. 
THE RAISING AND CULTIVATION OF 
SEEDLING POTATOES. 
Fifteen years' experience ; seedlings gener¬ 
ally inferior to their parents; success de¬ 
pends on the exceptions; seed-bearing com- 
jjaratively rare; offspring of seedlings give 
best results; selection of tubers from seed¬ 
lings'* good-sized tubers from seed-balls; a 
new variety should be started from a single 
tuber ; treatment of seed balls and seedling 
plants; protecting the vines; keeping the 
tubers. _ 
Some 15 years ago, the writer went to one 
of oar leading seedsmen and asked for some 
potato seeds which were announced in his 
catalogue. He was told that they were among 
the most difficult of 
seeds to start and re¬ 
quired an even bot¬ 
tom heat. It will be 
seen from the above 
that raising potatoes 
from seeds was con¬ 
fined to the compara¬ 
tively few who at 
that time supplied 
the market with new 
varieties. It was not 
very long after, that 
the Rural began to 
raise potatoes from 
seeds and its readers 
were duly informed 
of the method, which 
was really much the 
same and quite as 
simple as that of 
raising tomatoes. Al¬ 
most alone of all the 
farm journals we 
have since urged our 
readers to save the 
potato “balls” and 
raise their own varie¬ 
ties, believing that in 
this way strains may 
be obtained, which 
are better adapted to 
given soils than most 
of those annually in¬ 
troduced by seeds¬ 
men. Potatoes from 
true seed usually 
bear a greater or less 
resemblance to their 
parents; that is, in 
shape, color, quality 
and yield. 
The decided de¬ 
partures for the bet¬ 
ter are the exception 
—not the rule. Gene¬ 
rally, the seedlings 
will prove inferior in 
most respects. Seed¬ 
lings of Early Rose, 
for instance, will 
generally prove 
smaller yielders and 
of poorer quality 
than the parent, 
though still resemb- 
lingi t in all respects, 
as has been said. It 
is, therefore, to the 
occasional “depart¬ 
ure” that we must 
look for improvement, aua the necessity in 
most cases of raising many seedlings before we 
meet with success will discourage those who 
are possessed of little faith and perseverance. 
There are some kinds of potatoes that fruit 
abundautly, such, for instance, as Wall’s 
Orange. There are others which never bear 
seed balls in this climate, as the Early Ohio; 
while most varieties seed very sparingly. 
Further north, all kinds bear seeds more 
freely, or rather less sparingly, aud the ten¬ 
dency every where is to bear less and less as 
years go on. We have grown in one season 
as many as 75 different varieties without be¬ 
ing able to obtain any pollen for the purpose 
of crossiug. Certain seedsmen have offered 
‘ ‘hybridized potato seeds” for 50 cents a packet, 
containing maybe 50 seeds. It is our belief 
that if these seeds were really crossed, the 
raiser could not afford to sell them for 50 
cents each seed. It is also our belief that the 
published percentage of 90 per cent, of our so- 
claimed cross-bred varieties are not crosses at 
all, and that the statements are either false¬ 
hoods or mere guess-work. 
Our readers will not need to be told that 
seed balls should be raised from the best kinds, 
or those which are best suited to their purpose 
or market. The Rural has met with its best 
success by saving the seeds of the second or 
subsequent generations of seedlings—that is 
from the offspring of seedlings or their grand¬ 
offspring. 
Again, we believe it of importance that 
careful selections should be made from the po¬ 
tatoes which form from the seed the first and 
subsequent seasons. First, select from the 
largest hills; select, second, the shapeliest po¬ 
tatoes, avoiding deep eyes and prongy speci¬ 
mens; third, select the largest, all things being 
satisfactory. 
In our early experience we supposed that 
the first crop from seeds would be very small 
or that the largest would not exceed the size 
of hens’ eggs. It has since been found that 
seed sown in early February, with careful 
treatment from the beginning to the end, 
would produce tubers 10 per cent, of which 
would be of small marketable size. The en¬ 
graving, which has been carefully drawn, 
SEEDLING- POTATOES. From“Nature. Fig. 20. 
shows potatoes each taken from a different hill, 
and all quite true to nature, that will give the 
reader a fair idea of what may be expected 
from seed. He will also see that most of them 
are faulty in one way or another. One can 
only select the best of such for seed and by 
continued selection through from two to four 
years, hope to breed away the objectionable 
features. There is one thing upon which we 
lay particular stress, viz., that but one potato 
be planted as the beginning of a variety. No 
matter how closely the tubers of a hill from a 
single seed resemble one another, a variety 
should be started from a single tuber. We 
have found that tubers from a virgin seedling 
hill will thereafter vary so that several dis¬ 
tinct kinds may be propagated therefrom— 
distinct in yield, shape and quality. A disre¬ 
gard of this important fact will account for 
the conflicting statements often seen regard- 
the new potatoes sent out from year to year. 
They have been propagated from more than 
one tuber. 
SAVING AND PLANTING THE SEED. 
The seed balls should be gathered as soon as 
the vines begin to die. 
They may be crushed 
between the fingers 
and placed in a warm 
place to dry. It is not 
necessary at all to 
separate the seeds 
from the flesh. Let 
the flesh dry and be¬ 
come as hard as it 
will. At planting 
time crush the balls 
still further, even to 
a powder, and sow 
dust and seeds in pots 
or boxes filled with 
mellow soil and well 
drained. The after 
treatment may be 
just like that of to¬ 
matoes. The seeds 
will germinate in two 
weeks, aud when the 
young plants have 
grown two or three 
inches, transplant 
each to a thumb pot. 
If before the weather 
becomes warm 
enough to plant them 
in the garden, the 
plants become drawn 
and leggy, pinch off 
the tops of the vines. 
It will do no harm 
and produce a stock¬ 
ier growth, 
THE SOIL. 
Prepare this just 
the same as for the 
regular crop. Thump 
out the seedlings, 
keeping the soil about, 
the roots intact. The 
thing now to be fear¬ 
ed is the potato 
beetle. 
A single beetle 
would destroy a vine 
in a few minutes. 
Paris-green is no pro¬ 
tection because the 
tender vines and 
leaves cannot sustain 
the injury which the 
beetle inflicts before 
it is poisoned. The 
only safe protection 
is mosquito netting. 
This may be tacked 
over shallow boxes 
