16 The Colorado Experiment Station. 
quality possible, as water may be given as needed, and in Colorado 
diseases rarely prevent the plant from reaching full maturity before 
frost. Where early irrigation can be practiced, and tubers can be 
set early, they reach fuller maturity and finer quality. The natur¬ 
ally dry climate of our State makes it possible in most seasons to 
mature potatoes in dry soil. 
varieties. 
Success or failure in potato growing depends most vitally upon 
selection of the right variety. 
The White Pearl .—This variety, known as Peerless in the 
eastern states, is adapted to more conditions and soils in Colorado 
than any of the others that have been grown. At least two-thirds 
of the potatoes grown in Colorado are of this variety. It is a 
standard at Greeley and in the San Luis Valley and does well on 
the West Slope and on dry land farms. The Pearl, in season, is 
neither early nor late. As this potato is the most common one 
grown in Colorado we shall use it more or less as a standard by 
which to compare other varieties. 
The Rural New Yorker No. 2 .—This standard variety, the 
leading sort in the United States, is ordinarily a little smoother and 
more uniform in size and shape than the Pearl, and is from a week 
to ten days later in season. It is somewhat more subject to dis¬ 
eases other than early blight, and is influenced by adverse weather 
conditions more than the Pearl. In the Uncompahgre district it 
seems to be even better adapted to the climatic conditions than the 
Pearl and gives fully as large yields. 
The Peachblow, wrongly known as Red or White McClure, 
is the potato with which Carbondale has made her name as a potato 
growing district. This potato is fairly uniform in size and quality 
but seems to be adapted only to the best environment. At Greeley, 
this variety quickly degenerates and changes its color and character¬ 
istics. It is the excellence of Carbondale conditions for potato 
growing and not any particular variety that has made the region 
famous. 
The Ohio Family, the leading early potatoes of the United 
States, are characterized by high quality, extreme earliness, low 
vitality, and moderate or low yields, with a tendency to poor shape. 
To this family, all much alike, belong the Adirondack, Six Weeks, 
Acme, and White Ohio. 
Other Varieties .—*The Irish Cobbler is a strong competitor of 
the Ohios, and is already displacing them to some extent in Colo¬ 
rado. The Charles Downing, a close relative of the Snowflake, is 
of excellent quality and is desirable in some localities for mid sea- 
*See Early Potatoes for comments on the Cobbler. 
