158 REpPoRT OF THE HORTICULTURIST OF THE 
THE POTATO—A TEST OF VARIETIES AND REPORT 
OF EXPERIMENTS. 
A test of varieties. 
Cuttings versus whole tubers of the same weight. 
Sprouted versus unsprouted seed tubers. 
The influence of treatment of the seed tuber upon the earliness 
of the crop. 
Fertilizer below versus fertilizer above the seed tuber. 
The consumption of the seed tuber by hi plant. 
Conclusions. 
A TEST OF VARIETIES. 
Forty-nine of the varieties of potato grown at the Station in 
1887 were planted again the past season with forty-eight varieties 
or seedlings not before tested. 
Observation has convinced me that in our former tests of varie- 
ties of the potato, the number of eyes planted has, in nearly every 
case, been too small to give reliable data as to the comparative 
productiveness of different sorts. The past season, therefore, the 
number was largely increased, except in a few cases, where only 
one or two tubers were sent for trial. 
The forty-nine varieties grown in.1887 were planted on soil in a 
moderate state of fertility, but well-dressed in the spring with 
stable manure. The seed was single eyes, placed one foot apart, 
in drills four feet apart, and was covered with two large or three 
small hoefuls of earth. 
The eighteen sorts not before tested were planted in the garden 
on very fertile soil, the seed, which was single eyes, being placed 
one foot apart as in the other case, but the drills were three and a 
half feet apart. 
As in former reports, the yields given in the table are calcu- 
lated on the basis of one hundred hills. As the eyes planted 
were, 11 most cases, nearly one hundred, such a calculation multi-- 
ples the errors but slightly. As the varieties tested in the garden 
can not strictly be compared to the others, the data for these are 
given by themselves. 
A somewhat less accurate but more lucid method of presenta- — 
tion has also been adopted for the benefit of those who do not 
