Potato Failures. 
does not necessarily indicate its seed value, and unless the select¬ 
ing is done in the field, the test will usually be in favor of the 
larger seed, since No. 2’s are most likely to have a poor form and 
come from vines which produced mostly small tubers. 
Another method which gives evidence of considerable practi¬ 
cal value is to set aside each year five or ten acres of land for the 
growing of seed potatoes. The soil of such tract ought to be fer¬ 
tile and free from the various diseases which attack the potato 
plant. The tubers used in planting the seed tract are carefully 
selected each year from the seed plat of the previous year. The 
surplus seed is used for planting the general crop and in this way 
a strain of pedigree potatoes is gradually developed. 
Corrosive Sublimate and Formalin Treatments .—The practi¬ 
cal value of these solutions has been carefully tested. Our 
experiments indicate that these treatments may prevent the scab¬ 
bing of tubers and improve the appearance of the crop, but usually 
they cut down the total yield per acre when the treated seed is 
planted on infected ground. However, the corrosive sublimate 
treatment gave marked gains when the treated seed was planted 
on new ground and the per centage of infected tubers in the crop 
was much lower. Formalin gave less favorable results, is more 
expensive, and weakens when exposed to the air; consequently it 
is difficult to keep the solution at standard strength when the dip¬ 
ping is done on a large scale. 
Sulphur .—Thoroughly covering infected seed with sulphur at 
planting time apparently had very little influence on the growth 
of this fungus. The plants were more or less injured by the fun¬ 
gus, and the crop of tubers was thoroughly infected with it. 
Lime .—Using lime at the rate of 3,000 pounds to the acre did 
not apparently check the development of this fungus. The plants 
did poorly, and the crop of tubers was also thoroughly infected 
with the fungus. 
