162 REPORT OF THE HORTICULTURIST OF THE 
The marked differences in the prolificacy of varieties grown 
under apparently equal conditions is most striking, and suggest 
to what an extent the profits or losses of potato-growing may | 
depend upon the variety planted. 
In addition to the above list, seven seedlings kindly sent to the 
Station by Mr. Charles F. Waugh, of Ovid, N. Y., were grown, 
two of which possess some promise. The yields of these are not 
reported in the table because the seed tubers arrived so late as to 
make the results quite incomparable with those of earlier plantings. 
CONDITIONS OF THE EXPERIMENTS. 
Except when otherwise stated, the potato experiments here 
detailed were performed on the main experiment plats of the 
Station, but in each plat alternate rows or drills were devoted to 
the different treatments under trial. This was done in order to 
eliminate the influence of soil variations in the different plats. The 
rows or drills were four feet apart, and there were eight to each 
plat, making four duplicate pairs. These rows or drills were 132 
feet long in the tenth-acre plats and sixty-six feet long in the 
twentieth-acre plats. 
These ptats, which were in rather poor condition as regards 
fertility, were well plowed and harrowed, after which they were 
marked out with the ordinary corn-marker, and the marks were 
traversed with the corn-plow, making shallow furrows, in which 
the tubers or cuttings, in every case of the White Star variety, 
were dropped. The latter were then stepped on by the dropper 
and covered with two large or three small hoefuls of soil, when 
the hill was stepped on by the coverer. The plats were culti- 
vated as often as they appeared to require it, until the tops 
commenced to spread, and at the last cultivation the rows or drills 
were hilled slightly to prevent the tubers from protruding out of 
the soil. The potato beetle was mastered with London purple 
mixed with land plaster. } 
CUPTINGS Versus WHOLE TUBERS OF FHE SAME WEIGHT. 
Object of the Expervment: To ascertain if anything is gained by 
cutting tubers for seed. 
An experiment was made in 1886 and repeated in 1887* with 
1 aes 


*See report New York Agricultural Experiment Station, 1886, pp. 151-3; 
188%, pp. 86-7. | 

