22 
Colorado Agricultural College 
less associated with the starch content of the tubers, and the 
amount of starch present in turn dependent upon soil and climatic 
conditions, especially those of rainfall. 
From determinations made of Colorado potatoes and those 
grown in other states, it would seem to indicate that the Colorado 
potatoes have a higher starch content, and hence should have better 
quality, tho this may not always be true, as quality may, tO' a large 
degree, be determined by local conditions during the growing sea¬ 
son. Too much rain or too much water in irrigation will invari¬ 
ably produce a soggy potato, and hence a potato of low quality. 
The climatic conditions of Colorado are eminently adapted 
to the production of high quality potatoes if proper precautions 
are taken in the use of irrigation water. Records show conclusively 
that over-irrigation here is just as harmful against the production 
of high quality of potatoes as an excessively rainy season is in the 
Eastern states, and that the Colorado grower may, and sometimes 
does, produce potatoes of inferior quality. 
DEGENERACY OF POTATOES 
During the last few years, a considerable amount of investiga¬ 
tional work has been done to determine what factors are responsi¬ 
ble for the general decline of a given variety in a given locality. 
These experiments seem to agree that the different varieties as gen¬ 
erally grown in a section do show a decline in productiveness and 
in type. This degeneracy or decline was not confined to any par¬ 
ticular variety, nor to fields where poor seed was used in planting. 
In many cases degenerate hills were found in fields that were planted 
to the best seed obtainable. This seems to indicate that the potato 
is more or less variable even under the best conditions, and calls 
for a greater care in selecting seed, especially in the selection of 
hills for future seed production. 
This universal tendency towards degeneracy or decline may 
possibly be due to a physiological condition inherent with the pota¬ 
toes. The fact that the tuber is a highly specialized part of the 
plant and one that has developed by repeated selection and breeding, 
and further, its development being dependent upon factors of soil 
and climate, would make the question of retaining a permanent type 
of a given variety difficult, and by the very nature of the plant, 
variable. This undoubtedly being a fact, the question of careful 
selection by the hill method becomes more important, if we are to 
retain the essential qualities we wish to perpetuate. A given variety 
cannot be made to retain its desirable qualities without constant 
care in selection and cultural methods. 
