728 
“All of our potatoes suffered this season 
from attacks of the Flea-beetle and none of 
them has done as well as in more favorable 
seasons. We planted four hills of the Rural 
New-Yorker, No. 2, which I dug this morning. I 
found from four to five very beautiful, smooth, 
medium-sized potatoes in each hill and no 
small or irregular-shaped potatoes. I have 
had no opportunity to cook them yet, but con¬ 
sider the variety very promising.” 
R. P. SPIER. 
Iowa Ag. Ex. Station, Ames, Iowa. 
“The potato you sent mo last spring for trial 
(Rural New-Yorker No. 2) was planted May 
8th and harvested Sept. 11th fully matured. 
They are a very vigorous grower, tubers very 
large with very few small ones; shape perfect, 
quality the very best. I consider it one of 
the most valuable varieties of recent introduc¬ 
tion.” J. L. CONOVER. 
Wickatunk N. J. 
•‘The Rural New-Yorker No. 2 potato 
gave entire satisfaction. Our gardener pro¬ 
nounces them the best he ever saw.” 
w. B. PRESTON. 
Virginia Ag. and Mechanical College Ex¬ 
periment Station, Blacksburg, Va. 
“I submit the following, as a report of 
the “Rural New-Yorker No. 2” potato, 
sent us for trial on the 7th of April. The one, 
cut into 10 pieces, produced seven pounds of 
marketable potatoes, there being no small tub¬ 
ers at all. In appearance it is very attract¬ 
ive, being remarkably smooth, of a desirable 
form and white skin. The quality is No. 1. 
I can not say more until it has been tried on a 
larger scale.” Leslie h. alcont. 
“We have dug the potato Rural New- 
Yorker No. 2. It has yielded well of large, 
smooth potatoes and the quality is very good. 
We consider it very promising.” 
Rome, N. Y. Jonathan talcott” 
“The Rural New-Yorker No. 2. potato 
which you kindly sent us last spring for trial, 
has recently been harvested. 
Fig. 370.—In the Trench. (Ideal.) 
It seems to us a very promising sort, of 
good size, medium rather than large, with 
very few small potatoes. We shall carefully 
save the crop for trial another season.” 
SAMUEL JOHNSON.” 
Michigan Agricultural College. 
“Thirteen single eyes of the Rural New- 
Yorker No. 2 potato were planted in the 
Station garden April 28, the eyes being placed 
one foot apart. The tops did not die until 
killed by frost, which occurred about Oct. 12. 
The yield from the thirteen eyes was 40 
merchantable tubers, weighing 16% pounds 
and nine unmerchantable tubers, weighing % 
of a pound. The crop was very uniform in 
size. The tubers were smooth, and almost en¬ 
tirely free from scab. Tested on the table 
the quality was found to be No. 1. The flesh 
was very dry, and well flavored.” 
dr. peter collier. Director. 
N Y. Experiment Station. 
“The one potato gave 20 pounds of smooth 
shapely potatoes of superior quality. The 
largest potato weighed five pounds. It it 
probably equal if not superior to any otliei 
potato grown here." e. grimm, director. 
State Agricultural College, Oregon. 
THE ROME SSiW-YOMiR. 
8 
from ttoc (Stound.s 
of the ^utal 3Xetv-^orket, 
What sized seeds to plant ; how to \determine 
this ; how to secure aperfect stand ; “seed” 
and “stem ” ends; depth of planting ; what 
conditions are needed to increase the 
yield ; the old method ; the R. N.-Y. Trench 
Method ; its advantages; what does the 
farmer hill up for? Objections to the 
trench , valid and invalid ; exposed tubers ; 
stepping upon the seed pieces ; investiga¬ 
tions, notes, etc., etc. The half-acre ex¬ 
periment. A better yield than was looked 
for. It will be repeated next year. 
The Size of Seed. —Fig. 365 shows how 
potatoes usually sprout in a dark cellar when 
not in contact with other potatoes or with 
any damp substance. It will be seen that 
the buds (“eyes”) of the “seed-end” have alone 
sprouted. We have found that in many 
varieties these are the only buds which do 
push, either in the cellar or when planted. 
The “eyes” of the other parts seem “blind’’ 
or impotent. The pieces rot in the ground. 
With other varieties, every “eye” will sprout 
though those of the “seed-end” are almost 
always the strongest and the first to sprout. 
Hence, it would appear that the size of the 
“seed” to be planted should be determined by 
the habit, so to speak, of the variety and 
not by any fixed rule to use one, two, three 
eyes, half or whole seed. Hence it is, too, 
that reports of experiments to settle this vexed 
question are so contradictory. We will 
guarantee that an experiment of this kind 
with the R. N.-Y. No. 2, would show that 
one-quarter of each tuber, incluamg the 
“seed-end,” would give a greater yield than 
three-quarters of the tuber without the “seed- 
end.” And we are further confident that if 
the seed of this variety were cut in halves, 
one half being the “seed-ends” the otner 
the “stem-ends,” the stem-halves would 
fail to sprout in about six cases out of 
seven. Again, if we were using Wall’s 
Orange or any similar variety having 
many and prominent eyes, we should reject 
the seed-end and cut the rest to two or three 
eyes, depending upon the size of the seed 
tubers. 
Care Of The Seed. —It is the Rural’s 
opinion that it will pay farmers to place their 
seed-pieces (if sound, that is not sprouted) in 
light, sunny places 10 days before planting 
time. They can then cut their seed intelli¬ 
gently, according to the number and vigor of 
the eyes. In this way a perfect stand may be 
secured and we doubt if it can be secured in 
any other way. The seed, of course, must be 
kept sound or nothing can be gained by the 
exposure to light and warmth. In our opin¬ 
ion, seed raised in Ohio or Pennsylvania or 
Illinois will yield just as well as seed from 
Maine or Canada provided it can be kept 
from sprouting. 
Let us place our sound seed then in a tem¬ 
perature of 70° for 10 days. All the potent 
eyes will develop a short, stubby, warty 
growth not easily broken off in the usual 
handling, and the tubers may be cut accord¬ 
ingly. 
The loss in yield from “missing” hills is not 
well considered. In many a thrifty field of 
potatoes it is not uncommon to find 20 per 
cent, of missing hills. One-fifth of the crop is 
thus sacrificed; or if the actual yield be 200 
bushels to the acre, the loss would be 50 bush¬ 
els. 
Absurd Names. —Why call the ends of a 
potato “seed” and “stem” ends? These parts 
might better be called the top and bottom, 
since they are the top and bottom of a potato 
the same as there are a top and bottom or an 
apex and base to a leaf, to a twig or branch. 
We might even better say “butt” and “tip” as 
of the ear of corn. The seed end of a potato 
is just as much the top of a potato as the top¬ 
most bud on a branch is the tip or top, and. 
the stem end is the bottom or base, simply be¬ 
cause it is the lowest portion. As in any 
rooted cutting and as in most established 
plants, the top buds swell and grow first, so- 
the “eyes” of the “seed” or top of the potato 
push first. 
Potato Growth. —In our poor way we 
have studied during the past season the un¬ 
derground development of the potato during 
its several stages from the sprouting of the 
seed-piece to the maturity of the tubers, and 
we would ask our readers’ patience while we 
endeavor to explain it as well as we may. 
It seems to us that the distance between the 
joints of a potato vine (nodes), as well as the 
distance between the eyes or nodes or joints 
of the underground shoot is proportionate to 
the number of eyes on the potato—their near¬ 
ness together. That is to say, few-eyed pota¬ 
toes will give a vin9 with fewer joints (longer 
internodes) than many-eyed potatoes. Sup¬ 
posing this to be true, one would infer that 
the fewer-eyed tuber would give the greatest 
length of vine and the least compact or bushy 
habit. A many-eyed potato would give closer- 
jointed stems and a greater proportionate 
amount of foliage. To a certain extent there¬ 
fore, the number of eye3 of a given variety is 
a guide both to the distance apart to plant 
and the depth to plant. 
The first true roots issue not from the seed 
potato in any case, but from around the eye or 
bud, from the growing shoot which is the de¬ 
velopment of the eye or bud. These under¬ 
ground shoots make an effort to produce 
leaves at their nodes or joints which, being 
underground, die. From their axils the true 
fibrous roots grow, which support the plant. 
From every node or joint also issue stems 
which at their ends thicken or may thicken 
into tubers. 
Above ground, leaves develop at the nodes or 
joints and between them and the main stem 
(that is in the axil) secondary branches or 
stems grow. Underground, the leaf is sup¬ 
pressed and we have a leafless stem or slender 
shoot (provided with eyes or buds all the 
same) which at the tip or just behind it en¬ 
larges to form the tuber. The tip itself is a 
suppressed leaf and the suppression seems to 
induce the swelling of the stem. Fig 366 
shows a seed potato which we lifted from a 
six-inch trench just before the sprouts had 
reached the surface soil. It will be seen that 
roots have grown from all the lower nodes and 
that the tuber-bearing stems have not yet de¬ 
veloped. Fig 367 shows a potato taken from a 
barrel of potatoes. The potatoes were moist 
and decaying which gave the conditions es¬ 
sential for the growth of fibrous roots the 
same as if it were growing in the soil. Now 
if this condition of moisture and decay had 
not existed, the shoots would be like those of 
Fig. 365, and they would continue to grow un¬ 
til the seed or parent tuber became exhausted 
of its nutriment. In a lighter place leaves 
would grow from the nodes, but neither fib¬ 
rous roots nor tuber-bearing stems would 
appear. 
What we want is to provide those condi¬ 
tions economically that shall induce the 
greatest number of nodes to send out fibrous 
roots and tuber-bearing stems. In the usual 
system of raising potatoes, they are planted 
in V-shaped furrows scarcely three inches 
deep and covered: they are cultivated both 
ways and usually hilled up. 
We have tried to show that the sprout 
which is the growth of the “eye” changes into 
green leaves aud vines above the ground in 
the air and sunlight, and that below they 
remain of a whitish color and send forth roots 
aud tuber-bearing stems. In the old method 
all the tubers must form in a comparatively 
narrow, cramped space. » Between the seed- 
piece aud the air there is but a length of 
perhaps three inches of stem—the portion 
which is to furnish the fibrous roots for the 
plant’s support. There is, moreover, only a 
single node or so or several crowded together, 
aud it is from these that the tuber-bearing 
stems issue. The plant may give a great 
amount of foliage, but it cannot give a max- 
ium amount of tubers, because the space for 
them to grow is too limited. In the trench 
the conditions are different. The seed-pieces 
are four, five, six, seven or even eight inches 
below the surface and three or four nodes— 
well separated—send out their .fibrous roots 
and tuber-bearing stems. The root system is 
thrice as great. It is as if these were three 
or four tiers or planes for the growth of 
potatoes, a virtual extension of the area 
planted, the same as a ten-story house may 
occupy the same area of ground as a one-story 
house. Food is supplied in abundance. The 
roots grow deep and help to carry the plant 
through droughts. This they can not so well 
do in shallo ver plauting, being nearer the 
surface and more at the mercy of heat 
and drought. 
Fig. 36S shows a Thorburn (early) potato 
carefully lifted June 12. It was planted May 
2. It will be seen that several tubers are 
beginning to form, while others are an inch 
or more in diameter. Some of the roots were 
so soon, 18 inches in length. In the old way 
these roots would have extended for the most 
part laterally on either side of the furrow or 
hill, having no mellow trench-soil to go down 
and spread out in all directions. In the trench 
the roots grow from the bottom as,well as near 
the top. They prefer to go down, being the 
easiest course; while there, too, they fiud the 
most food and moisture. 
Hilling Up.—W hat does the farmer hill 
u' for? Some do it to “kill the weeds.” 
Others hill up to increase the crop. This does 
increase the yield, no doubt, but it also in¬ 
creases the proportion of small potatoes. The 
green stems, covered up by hilling, send out 
roots and tuber-bearing stems from joints or 
adventitious buds. The hill accomplishes on¬ 
ly what the trench accomplishes far better, 
by giving a depth of soil below instead of 
above and a more uniform pressure on all 
sides to be overcome by the rapidly growing 
tuber. 
Objections to the Trench. —Several 
friends have asked the Rural this question: 
“If I thoroughly prepare my field so that all 
of it is the same as the trench, what would be 
the use of plowing a trench?” There would 
be no use whatever in so far as the mellow¬ 
ness of the soil could increase the crop. The 
trench, however, would still enable the far¬ 
mer to place the fertilizer, just where it is 
most needed for that crop and it would fur¬ 
ther enable him to plant deeper, a considera¬ 
tion, as we believe, of the first importance. 
In practice, however, we have never seen a 
field so well prepared that plowing a trench 
and refilling it would not still further mellow 
the soil. 
Again, the objection to the trench and to 
level culture has been made that more tubers 
become exposed to the air, becoming green 
and worthless. Such an objection will never 
be made by those who have given it a thor¬ 
ough trial. Having lots of soil in which to 
form without being crowded, they rarely 
grow above the soil. Another objection is 
that it costs more to harvest trench than hill 
potatoes, an objection that is valid enough if 
the increased yield from the trenches is not 
enough to pay for the extra labor. It is not 
the work that a farmer puts on his crops 
neither is it the co3t of the manure that must 
first be taken into account. The question is 
will it pay? 
Treading upon the seed-piece after it ha 
been dropped into the hill or drill is approved 
of by many thorough-going farmers because 
it insures a closer contact of the piece with 
the soil. But this is quite at variance with 
our ideas of trench culture. If the design 
were to smash the piece of potato or to injure 
the eyes, it would be more or less effective no 
doubt. If the roots grew out of the potato, 
there might be some sense in it. But the soil 
Fig. 371.—In the Hill. (Ideal.) 
has nothing to do with the starting of the 
roots any further than it provides darkness 
and dampness. The roots, as we have said, 
grow out of the stem which is for a time 
supported by the seed potato itself. The 
sprout, shoot or stem makes its way through 
the soil, and the contact of the mellowest soil 
is sufficiently close. To keep it ^mellow—not 
to compact it—is the problem, and this 
problem is solved more nearly, in our opinion, 
by the trench than by any other method of 
potato culture known to-day. 
NOTES. 
When in usual cultivation it is found that 
at an early stage of the potato's growth, the 
roots extend from row to row or hill to hill, 
it seems evident that hilling up must sever 
many roots. All of these roots are needed, 
probably, when the tubers begin to form. 
In trench, level and shallow culture, it is 
doubtful if any roots are ever severed. 
It may surprise many to know, in com¬ 
parative trials 20 times or more repeated, that 
the seed pieces in trenches 10 inches deep 
gave in these trial grounds as full a stand as 
those planted three inches deep, while the 
shoots appeared above ground only a day or 
so after. 
Varieties of potatoes which grow so closely 
together that they may all be thrown out 
with one turn of the fork have, and nec¬ 
essarily so, short tuber-bearing stems. In 
varieties, like the Rural Blush, that “straggle,” 
the stem is long. This is shown at Fig. 369. 
