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PHOTO 'LN'e.CQ.N- 
Vol. LXX. No. 4088 
NEW YORK, MARCH 4, 1911 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR 
THE POTATO SEED QUESTION. 
Is Northern Stock Best for Long Island? 
The question as to why Long Island potato growers 
prefer northern-grown seed in preference to home 
grown, was presented to the Riverhead Town Agri¬ 
cultural Society, and the following answers given: 
“Northern seed does not set as heavily and matures 
earlier than home-grown seed. In the particular sec¬ 
tion covered by this So¬ 
ciety prior to 1900 each 
grower purchased a few 
bags of northern seed 
each year to renew his 
stock. In 1900 there was 
an entire failure of home¬ 
grown seed. Since that 
time growers have used 
northern-grown seed and 
appear to be unable to 
break away from the bad 
habit.” Possibly there 
is one other reason, be¬ 
sides those given above, 
why northern-grown may 
do better than home¬ 
grown seed, viz., the eyes 
of an immature potato 
will usually start to 
grow more quickly than 
those of a mature one. 
Personally, I do not 
sanction the last half of 
the first reason. If cor¬ 
rect this fault could be 
remedied b y selection. 
My judgment is that 
these are the only rea¬ 
sons that can be given 
in favor of northern- 
grown seed. Are they 
good and sufficient rea¬ 
sons ? 
The question as to 
whether home - grown 
seed can be used will 
have to be answered 
from observations. The 
growers at Orient say 
•they grew the Early Ohio 
for 30 years without re¬ 
newal. An early potato 
grown for 30 years with¬ 
out importing new blood 
from the North! flow 
could they keep an early 
potato, which ripened in 
July, for seed? Was the 
seed selected? Did they 
used the hill method of 
selection ? The growers 
who continued to use 
the home-grown Early 
Ohio for seed the long¬ 
est, selected their seed as 
farmers usually do, from 
the bin, but actually selecting enough of it with care 
to plant an acre or more to grow seed for the fol¬ 
lowing year. When time came to dig the main crop 
and rush same off to Connecticut markets to get in 
ahead of the Jersey grower, or to get the crop off 
the ground for a crop of squash or cucumbers, the 
acre of selected seed was left and allowed to mature, 
to be dug later in the Fall and all stored for seed. A 
selection was made from this seed for the stock acre 
4he following year, and so on. 
Lhifortunately many were not as careful, or con¬ 
versely too careful; they selected from the bin for 
potatoes with shallow eyes, and even cut off the eye 
end of the tubers and planted only the stem end 
pieces. Object, a perfectly smooth Early Ohio and the 
avoidance of too many sprouts in each hill with its 
resultant heavy set of tubers. Result, seed pieces 
that never sprouted, seed pieces with sprouts the size 
of knitting needles, sprouts so weak they could not 
stand much fertilizer near them and subject to “stem 
rot’ (Rhizoctonia ». Consequently poor stands, poor 
crops, the loss of a good strain of early potato, and a 
search for new seed, a new variety, etc. The fact 
that the “Hamptons” use home-grown seed has al¬ 
ready been given, page 1183, of last year. Unfortun¬ 
ately these are becoming few and far between. They 
are following the bad habits of the “North Sider.” 
Do they select seed? Yes, some of them sell all the 
firsts and plant the seconds left in the bin. These are 
the growers who have contracted the “bad habit.” 
The foregoing shows that in some sections, at least, 
of Long Island home-grown potatoes can be or have 
been used for seed. I know of a grower who has 
recently grown home-grown Carman No. 1 three years 
in succession. There is an apparent tendency for his 
home-grown Carman to increase the set of tubers per 
hill. Whether this can be overcome or even deferred 
by hill selection remains to be proven. 
In conclusion, the ad¬ 
vantages o f northern- 
grown seed are supposed 
to be as follows: Us¬ 
ually start growth quick¬ 
ly, make a small set per 
hill with resultant large 
tubers, sometimes over- 
g r o w n. Disadvantages, 
coarse seed that cuts to 
waste, mixed seed, and 
for several years past 
seed which in many cases 
has been more subject to 
stem rot and given 
poorer stands than home¬ 
grown seed (possibly 
selection needed where 
grown). Another disad¬ 
vantage not often noticed 
is that northern-grown 
seed is grown in sections 
where late or rot blight 
is prevalent each year, 
and not all the growers 
practice thorough spray¬ 
ing. The result is blight- 
affected seed, in which 
if it becomes heated in 
storage or in transit, rot 
follows; seed which, if 
not planted deep, is liable 
to rot in growth before 
the sprouts start and get 
on their own roots. That 
is, where such seed is 
planted shallow and we 
have a hot spell at time 
or just following plant¬ 
ing, which warms the 
surface soil to the proper 
temperature, the blight 
seeds or spores on the 
seed pieces grow, caus¬ 
ing the same to rot be¬ 
fore sprouting. 
Even though the weight 
of evidence is against the 
use of home-grown seed, 
the indications are that 
for the Long Island 
grower, if not for all 
growers, it might pay 
well to import only 
enough northern - grown 
seed each year to grow 
an acre or more of stock 
seed and depend on one-year home-grown stock for 
the bulk of his crop. Hill selection from the acre of 
stock seed would undoubtedly carry the good quali¬ 
ties of the northern seed along for a few years. By 
following this method a complete failure of Northern 
grown seed for one season would not be such a severe 
loss. The danger of seed maturing too early and not 
keeping well in storage can be partially overcome by 
leaving part of an acre, or several acres if need be, to 
be dug late in the Fall. When the vines are nearly 
NOT HIGH CULTURE, BUT A GOOD YIELD. Fig. 71 
