THE KUHAL NEW-YOKKER 
RAISING NEW POTATO VARIETIES' 
We have lmrl several quest Ions about 
bow to handle potato seed. Prof. IC. P. 
Bennett of the Colorado Agrlenltnre Col¬ 
lege gives the following statement. As we 
know Colorado has appropriated $10,000 to 
ho spent In finding new varieties suitable 
for that State: 
Halsing new varieties of potatoes from 
potato l’all.s, as they are called, Is 
a very simple process. The tirst es¬ 
sential Is to obtain the fruits which are 
mature. We have bad considerable experi¬ 
ence wllh fruits which were still green 
when frost came, and the results were un¬ 
satisfactory; that is. the seed wits found 
to be too immature to germinate. 
Collecting the seed Is done the same way 
as tomato seed Is' gathered. We take the 
fruits, crush them in a jar with water, 
and allow them to stand a few days to 
ferment. This fermentation separates the 
seed from the pulp, and then, with a lit¬ 
tle stirring, the Need will settle to the Isit- 
tom, after which they may he easily washed 
out and cleaned from all pulp. A couple 
of quarts of the fruits will produce an 
ounce or two of seed probably make from 
15,000 to 80,000 potato seeds. These 
Heeds may he sown in Ihe ground in (lie 
Spring. It is not desirable, however, to 
follow tills course, as the. young seedlings 
are very tender, and if not protected very 
carefully from insect pests, such as the 
Colorado potato beetle and the little black 
flea-heelle, they are very apt to be de¬ 
stroyed before they are large enough to 
take care Of themselves. The belter way is 
to sow the seed in boxes or beds in a cold 
frame or hothouse. We follow the practice 
of sowing in bods In the greenhouse. Seeds 
germinate fairly readily if sown about one- 
half inch deep, and kept moist. After the 
seedlings are out of the ground they should 
l>o thinned down to two or three Inches 
apart. 
One reason for sowing in a cold frame 
or greenhouse Is that II has appeared to us 
that the seedlings require a rather long sea¬ 
son to mature. The plants will attain a 
height, or rather a length (as they are 
inclined to he weak at the bottom and 
fall over like pen vines) of a foot or 18 
inches. These vines probably will not blos¬ 
som, at least they never have with me, but 
will produce small tubers. The tubers 
formed on these plants will range from the 
size of garden peas to that of cherries. I 
suppose that one should keep the tubers 
from each of these seedling plants separate, 
as each plant, in all probability, will pro¬ 
duce what is practically a separate variety 
of potato. Our practice, however, is simply 
to dig these tubers and the second year to 
keep the bills separate. The toilers will 
need to Ik- kept dormant for quite a time 
after digging before they will sprout. 
The second year, or (lie first year of 
planting the tubers, more or less trouble 
will lie experienced from insects' attacking 
the plants, as these plants are not ns ro- 
slstanl as the varieties grown for market. 
I'robably not more than one out of a hun¬ 
dred of these varieties will be good enough 
to make it desirable to save after the sec¬ 
ond year. About three seasons are re¬ 
quired to bring the tubers from seed to full 
size. We have produced in I be past two 
or three years some very line-looking pota¬ 
toes In this way, but so far, we have 
not produced anything which we consider 
superior, or even equal to Pearl, Kural 
New-Yorker, or Peaehblow. In fact, if we 
were to get one variety out of a million 
seedlings that was as good as' any of these 
named varieties we should think that we 
were getting valuable results. 
Considerable has been said recently in 
regard to hybridized potato seed; that is, 
hybridized or possibly a better term would 
be “crossed" potatoes. There is n possibil¬ 
ity of the different varieties crossing, par¬ 
ticularly in fields like cur experimental 
plots, where from 50 to 100 varieties are 
grown side by side. So far as we can 
estimate, however, this docs not happen. 
Many of our best varieties do not blos¬ 
som at all, and most of the blossoms that 
do form do not produce go<wl pollen. An¬ 
other thing, tin* potato blossoms are not 
visited nijieli by lnsVets, so that we have 
many doubts as to the truth of there 
being much natural crossing in the po¬ 
tatoes. The probabilities are that most 
of the balls that form in the held are 
close fertilized, or fertilized from blossoms 
in close proximity to the ones which form 
the fruits. 
We have bad in mind an attempt to 
make true hybrids of the potatoes by 
crossing Solnnnm tuberosum with Solatium 
■Tamesii. So far, however, we have not 
been able to bring this about. This kind 
of work is very simple' and Interesting to 
one who has the time to give it the de¬ 
tailed attention which Is required with all 
plant-breeding work. k. it. bknnktt. 
Col. State Ag'l College. 
SHORT STORIES. 
Raspberries and Scale. 
Would there be any danger in planting 
Cutbbert rasplierrics between currants 
slightly infested with scale, currants to be 
taken out in two years time, and currants 
sprayed. f. r. l. 
Troy, N. Y. 
Cutbbert raspberries can be safely 
planted close to currants infested with San 
.lose scale without fear of injury resulting. 
I have never seen raspiierries or blaeklwr- 
rh'H Injured by San Jose scale in New York 
State. n. v. n. 
Young Trees in Old Orchard. 
Would you advise planting young npple 
trees in an old orchard where trees are 
dying? j. s. 
Tills depends very largely on the abun¬ 
dance of roofs of the older trees with which 
they would have to contend, and also upon 
the care which the young trei's received. 
Jf they could have a fair amount of space 
for root development, and then be cultivat¬ 
ed annually, or well manured or mulched 
until they are eight or 10 years old. there 
is little doubt but that they would lie suc¬ 
cessful. J. p. 8THWART. 
Penn. Experiment Station. 
Fall Plowing for Potatoes. 
We have about 50 acres of light sod to 
plow for corn and oats, and we think of 
plowing it some time this Kail, disking it 
up in the Spring, so as to do ns much 
pi iwLng as possible now, to save on the 
Spring rush of work. It is rolling ground. 
Would you advise doing this for potatoes? 
Also what other crops can be treated in 
same way? m. j. k. 
Imng Island. 
Our experience is that potatoes do best 
on freshly plowed ground. We would like 
to plow tin 1 sod this Kali and then cross- 
plow It in the Spring for potatoes'. We 
would like the same treatment for garden 
vegetables. For oats. corn, other grain 
and most farm crops the plan you mentiou 
will answer well. 
Sweet Clover Before Alfalfa. 
On my Chemung County farm I have a 
Held that was once the clover Held of the 
farm, but for years the clover has failed to 
grow, and goldenrod, and blackberry bushes 
have grown. 1 want to get It into Alfalfa, 
and 1 am inclined to plow It, and lit It 
thoroughly, and put on one ton of lime 
per acre; manure it with barnyard mnn- 
September 25. 
urr, then sow Spring wheat, and seed 
with Sweet clover. Would it be Inst t 0 
sow the Sweet clover seed in the Fall or 
In the Spring? c . l. k. 
Millport, N. Y. 
We should not expect a good stand of 
Alfalfa in this way. That field should lie 
thoroughly cleaned tirst. A hoed crop ]j|<,. 
corn or potatoes, thoroughly cultivated and 
followed by rye, will give you a licit or 
foundation for the Alfalfa. The plan out¬ 
lined by T. E. Martin on page 055 is a 
good one. The Sweet clover may bo seeded 
in Spring. 
Corn With Imperfect Ears. 
1 am sending under separate cover an 
ear of corn. I ftnd that they are numerous 
In one of our fields that we fertilized well 
with manure anil nitrate of soda. Some of 
them are perfect ears, but seem to be minus 
the Imsk. aud instead they have the tassels 
growing on the sides. This growth is at 
the top of the stalk, while in every case a 
large ear of corn is borne on the’ side of 
the stalk. This ik the first year I planted 
this kind of corn; it is a 90-day dent. 
Do yon think that overfeeding the land 
causes Ibis behavior in growth, or is it onlv 
u sport ? t. m. K. 
Connect lent. 
We have bad a number of such ears sent 
us. They somewhat resemble the beads of 
Kaffir corn or sorghum. One theory is that 
the soil lacks phosphoric acid. The 
manure and the nitrate supplied nitrogen 
probably in excess. There was not enough 
phosphoric acid to “balance” this nitrogen, 
and tin* ear did not form properly. I’Iiok 
phoric field is the key to seed and grain 
production. 
Starting on a Poor Farm. 
I am a poor man, trying to get started 
In life by buying one of those rundown 
York State farms of 70 acres. Tills year 
I mowed (with one horse) 40 acres, ami 
for my pains' got 12 tons of hay, so you 
see 1 noisl lots of help such ns I get from 
the columns of The I!. N.-Y. to make my 
farm as productive as those around me 
(which 1 intend it shall be). The meadows 
are fairly smooth and not steep; the soil 
I can only describe as a slaty loam, nn<i 
though light and easily worked. It docs 
not suffer from the drought like they do In 
the valley lands, “flats." we call them, as 
they are gravelly. My intention is to keep 
ns many or more cows Ilian I cut hay for. 
to experiment with Alfalfa and lime, 
feed n reasonable amount of grain, whether 
I raise or buy it. I keep separate ac¬ 
counts for the farm, the dairy lmsim-s-, 
poultry, and living expenses, charging 
against the living expenses fill stuff talon 
from the various branches of farming, ami 
crediting them with same, except the gar¬ 
den, which I consider separate from the 
farm. If I am making any fundamental 
blunders I would like you to point tll'Ml 
out. as I want to start right, if il Is only 
on a small Beale.. r. it 
East <'hatham. N. Y. 
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