20 
The Coeorado Experiment Station. 
label on each sack would be a guarantee of quality, as is that of 
the various fruit growers associations in the West. Comparative¬ 
ly few consumers have any knowledge of varieties in potatoes. 
The people who buy Greeley potatoes and get a certain color and 
quality expect to get the same thing at the next purchase. If 
many varieties are grown and all go under one name disappoint¬ 
ment is sure to follow and the reputation of the product is injured. 
Only a few varieties are now grown. One or two of these do 
better than any of the others so there is little reason for growing 
any but these standard varieties for the general market. 
SEED TREAMENT 
Results from the use of formalin or corrosive sublimate treat¬ 
ments have not been such that we can recommend their use. Both 
substances have caused more or less trouble from retarding the 
germination of the seed and in some cases the seed has been 
killed by their use. In these cases it is probable that the material 
was used too strong or the seed was left in the solution too long. 
Granting that the use of these materials will clean the seed of 
infection of the scab, the treatment is practically worthless so long 
as the soils are contaminated with the fungus. The so-called 
“greening” of the seed potatoes as practiced by some growers in 
the Greeley District is undoubtedly beneficial. 
The treatment of cut seed should receive more attention than it 
ordinarily does. It is a well known fact that cut seed, allowed 
to stand for any considerable length of time, shrivels badly and the 
buds become weakened. Treating the fresh cut seed with air 
slaked lime, land plaster or sulphur tends to form a crust over the 
cut surface so as to prevent drying to some extent and they also 
tend to prevent the action of various fungi, worms and insects. 
These materials have not been experimented with sufficiently to 
know which of them is the best, but so far, observations of re¬ 
sults have led us to favor the use of the flowers of sulphur as being 
more repellant to disease than the other two. 
POTATO MACHINERY 
The subject of machinery is one of general interest. All 
machines do fairly good work but none have been perfected. Near¬ 
ly all the machines used in the state are made in the eastern states 
and are adapted to the conditions there. Some of the later mo¬ 
dels of planters are improvements on the older styles but none 
of them get a perfect stand of plants. Much depends upon the 
depth that it is desired to plant, and the depth of planting depends 
somewhat on the variety to be planted. Varieties differ consider- 
