82 Revporr oF tHe BorTANIST OF THE 
At Geneva the rows were 290.4 feet long and 3 feet apart. 
Hence each row contained exactly one-fiftieth of an acre and 
each series one-tenth of an acre. 
At Riverhead the rows of the different series alternated with 
each other, as at Geneva; but in this case there were 12 rows 
363 feet long and 3 feet apart. Each row contained one-fortieth 
acre and each series, consisting of four separate rows, one- 
tenth acre. | 
FITTING, PLANTING, CULTIVATION, ETC.1 
At Geneva.— In the season of 1901 part of the field grew corn 
and part cow peas. In the spring of 1902 the land was plowed 
and sown with oats before it was decided to use it for the potato 
experiment. On May 16, furrows were opened with a plow and 
commercial fertilizer? applied in the furrows at the rate of 1,000 
pounds per acre. The fertilizer was worked in with a hoe. 
The seed was of the variety Rural New Yorker No. 2, which 
is one of the most popular varieties in central New York. The 
seed pieces used were whole tubers of the size of a hen’s egg. 
A short time before planting they were given the formalin 
treatment? for scab. They were planted on May 16 and 17, 15 
inches apart im the row, the rows 3 feet apart, and covered with 
a hoe. The cultivation was all done with a horse cultivator, 
which was used five times. In the last cultivation the dirt was 
thrown toward the plants so as to hill them slightly. There 
was no hand cultivation except the pulling of a few large weeds 
late in the season. 
The soil was a black, clay loam with a clay subsoil. The field 
sloped gently toward the east, giving good drainage. 
At Riverhead.— The previous crop for two years had been 
timothy and weeds. The land was plowed six to eight inches 
These cultural details, although somewhat irrelevant, are given here for the reason that 
many persons desire to know how yields of 325 and 350 bushels per acre were obtained in 
the experiment at Geneva while potato yields in the surrounding country ranged from 25 to 
100 bushels per acre. 
2 The fertilizer used was from a lot which was in one of the Station barns when they were 
destroyed by fire on May 7. Before the fire the fertilizer analyzed as follows: Potash, 4.59 
per ct.; nitrogen, .83; available phosphoric acid, 14.11. Its market value was about $26 
per ton. 
3Tubers soaked two hours in a solution containing one pint of formalin in 30 gallons of 
water. 
