Vol. J-XXViII. 
Published Weekly by The Bural Publishing Co., 
333 W. SOth 8t., New York. Price One Dollar a Year. 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER IS, 1019. 
Entered as Second-Class Matter, June 2B. 1879. at the Post 
Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act Of March 3, 1879. 
No. 455G. 
The Production of Reliable Potato Seed 
Can the Quality Be Kept Up? 
Pabt I. * 
A SOURCE OF FAILURE.—< >f all the different 
problems confronting the potato grower none 
is of so much importance or so difficult of solution as 
how to get reliable seed. From extended experi¬ 
ments and careful and repeated inspections of grow¬ 
ing fields on Long Island, New Jersey, New York 
and all of the New England States, including Maine, 
I am convinced the growers in these districts sustain 
a loss of 20 to 25 per cent in yield every year be¬ 
cause of diseased and inferior seed. Although not 
personally familiar with other producing sections, I 
see no reason why the condition of the seed should 
not be the same, so the losses to the potato growers 
of the country are enormous each year. For many 
year the potato growers have suffered these losses 
and have not known what the trouble lias been. 
Many crop failures due primarily to poor seed have 
been blamed on the weather, fertilizer or methods of 
culture. The seed was always bought from a local 
dealer who bought his supply from another dealer 
in the North. If by chance the grower in the youth 
did get a choice lot of seed that grew well, he would 
go back to the dealer and tel- him to try to get some 
more of the same seed from the same source, but we 
soon learned that we could not iu tlys way get a 
supply that could be depended upon. 
A CASE IN POINT.—In 1913 I bought 50 sacks of 
seed from a local dealer, who bought them from a 
local dealer in Steuben County, N. Y. As soon as 
they came up they showed they were very superior, 
A llotr of if tiling Shorthorn Cotes—an Increasingly Popular Breed—on a Massachusetts Farm. Fig. / f S3 
