32 WILLIAM KROEMER & SONS, INC., HICKSVILLE, L. I. 

BETTER SEED POTATOES BY RESEARCH 
Certification of Seed Potatoes is not enough. That is our contention and why in 
19389 we began a program of intensified testing of Seed Potatoes previous to delivery 
to our farmers. A true representative sample is taken from each lot and variety of 
Seed Potatoes when harvested and placed in storage. This sample is halved part for 
greenhouse testing here at Hicksville and the balance for testing in the State of Florida. 
The Florida testing is under the complete control of the Maine Department of Agri- 
culture. The greenhouse testing is strictly our own program. Considerable time and 
expense is involved in this program to place at your disposal Seed Potatoes which will 
be a decided advantage to you. These test plots of Seed Potatoes are checked thor- 
oughly each day fro mthe time of planting until when the final readings are made. 
As you know, Certification or field inspection of Seed Potatoes while in growth is a 
necessity. But from that time until such potatoes are shipped for replanting many 
other items enter into the picture, care while in storage, temperatures, etc. also have 
a direct bearing on Seed as to whether they are fit for Seed purposes, or not. Seed 
borne diseases often do not show until some time after harvest is made. This is where 
our program of Seed Potato testing takes up. This greenh ouse photo before you shows 
these samples in growth. The markers which yu see are the identification covering 
each sample so that each lot may be individually and carefully checked. While all these 
samples represent lots of Certified Seed Potatoes now and then complications set in 
which will make a certain lot of seed unfit for replanting, these are then discarded 
and used for table stock. On the following page you will see a large photograph de- 
picting the Florida testing program. We hope that from this you can in some way 
picture our efforts in the production of Seed Potatoes bearing the name Kroemer. 
