New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 172 
of the seed tuber by the plant growing on the poor soil, noticed 
in the experiments cited at the beginning of this article, was due 
to the dearth of moisture. 
CONCLUSIONS. 
Little or nothing was gained by using cut potatoes for seed, 
over whole tubers of the same weight. 
Seed tubers badly sprouted yielded about 83 per cent less than 
unsprouted ones. 
The earliness of the crop was not influenced by exposing the 
tubers to light and warmth before planting. 
The yield was materially reduced by removing the seed end of 
the planted tubers. 
Fertilizer placed below the seed may be slightly preferable to 
fertilizer placed above it. The fact was not clearly established. 
The more rapid consumption of the seed tuber on rich than on 
poor soil is probably due to a more abundant supply of moisture. 
THE INFLUENCE OF THE DEPTH OF TILLAGE UPON 
THE DEPTH OF ROOTS. 
In a former experiment* it was observed that the roots of corn 
plants grown in pits, filled with fertile soil, made a large develop- 
ment a foot or more below the surface, while the average depth 
of the roots of corn under ordinary conditions is decidedly less 
than this. This suggested the question whether the depth of 
tillage may not, in some degree, influence the depth of roots. 
With the hope of throwing light upon this question, five small 
plats were prepared on May 26 in the following manner: 
No. 1 was worked two and a half feet deep; No. 2, two feet; 
No. 3, one and a half feet; No. 4, one foot, and No. 5, six inches 
deep. In working the plats the surface soil and subsoil were well 
mixed, so that the soil was left nearly uniform to the depth 
worked. The plats were then planted with Waushakum corn, in 
rows three feet apart both ways. : 
On September 12 the roots of sample plants on all of the 
plats were washed out and examined. Although some roots on 
all reached to the depth of two and a half feet, a larger propor- 
tion reached to that depth on the deeply worked than on the 


*See Report New York Agricultural Experiment Station, 1887, pp. 95-6. 
