Connecticut western news., 1882-10-04
POTATO CROP EXPERIMENTS.
TESTS OF INTEREST TO A LARGE CLASS OF
 FARMERS.


 TESTS OF INTEREST TO LARGE CLASS OF l FARMERS. Bulletin No. 2 issued by Dr. B. Lewis Sturtevant, director of the New York agricultural experiment station at Gen. eva, reports the result of series of ex- periments upon the potato crop, in which a study was made of the under ground processes as well as the tops. Dr. Sturtevant says: I've, as early as
 March, started into growth potato plants
 in earth, in sand, and in water in glass | vessels. In the field five varieties, the
 early rose, the snow flake, Burbanks
 seeding, beauty of Hebron and early
 Ohio were used to form the unit of our
 system and were planted in rows of one
 hundred hills each on manured and un-
 manured soil. The seed used was cut
 in various ways and planted both for
 level and ridge culture. In the garden
 duplicate plants were planted for the
 purpose of furnishing plants to be dug
 at intervals during the growing season. I In the these garden plats the early rose
 variety alone was used. Some rows
 were planted with potato peeling, others
 with single eyes cut small, single eyes
 cut larger, single eyes cut still larger,
 half potatoes, whole potatoes, seed ends,
 stem ends and potato sprouts, under
 various circumstances of level and ridge
 culture. Some portions have been left
 undisturbed by the hoe, others spaded,
 others mulched, etc., etc.
 Our first observations were to note
 the variation which was apparent be-
 tween the vegetating of the various plants. Some were not only earlier in vegetating than others, but were also
 more uniform in the appearance of the ] plants. As soon as the growth was well
 established, we began digging up hills for the examination of the underground portion, and from this date until July 29 our observations have all harmonized and the conclusions at first arrived at have been in general substantiated. At n time has there been any definite re- ! relation between the appearance of the , tops and the tuber formation at the 3 roots. At no time did we feel certain 3 that abundance of top meant abundance 3 or earliness of tuber. Upon the manured
 and unmanured portions of the field planted with varieties, at no time has ? there been any appearance of superior 9 ity of the manured over the unmanured ] portion. Judging from the tops alone, we might say, the unmanured portion of the field shows decided superiority D over the manured portion.
 g Our earlier diggings showed the ear 7 Hest and largest formation of tuber upon @ the plants derived from the shoots which were broken from the potatoes an6
 covered as seed. This fact held good Q up to June 12, when growth seemed te D cease and other plats took the preced s ence. Continued examination also gives 5 origin to the following statements O. results In every case the eye GU ;, small produced later formation of tuber @ and fewer and smaller tubers than any !, other seed used. In the single eyes GU ,, larger we noticed an increase of earli u ness and prolifcacy over the eye GU ' small. In the eye cut large and deel t we obtained the greatest uniformity o '' plant and the earliest, largest and mos t abundant supply of tubers to the stalk In those cases where half potatoes, spli a lengthwise, were used as seed, we no ,f ticed lack of uniformity in the produc e of the different hills, and examination ,. has shown that where the vegetatinl T eye was shortened in it's depth, the yielG . was markedly inferior to that produces "a from the corresponding half of tn
 potato, where the vegetating eye wal n left at it's full depth. These observa l. tions led to a study into the reason 10 which produced these differences, an < opened the question whether by tn l. method of cutting the seed we could in n fuence the results of planting.
 In our first search after causes, " m split potatoes lengthwise and trie at to trace whether the eye penetrated tn 10 tuber, and to what depth-which W Id were led to think might be the case fro, a observing that in the seed taken frol a the growing plant the absorption ( a, substance seemed to follow defnit a. lines-but although our conclusions b' of came satisfactory to ourselves, yet tn tn method did not allow the demonstrate s, of our assumed facts to others. w, lg therefore, by soaking slices of potatot
 in carmine, succeeded in bringing o,
 the interior structure through the stai1
 ing of the tissues. This distinctly @.
 hibited the tuber as swollen stem, eac
 eye being terminal budon branch, tk branches running into central sten 0 We thus were able to assign different if in the character of the seed use, h. whether cut with reference to tl cd quantity of potato substance, or whetl oh CT cut with reference to securing lengt us of the stem inclosed within the potat Q substance.
 a Whole potatoes used as seed scene ly to give us results which were puzzlin e. in their character. In some hills but fe o. eyes developed, in other hills mutt sd plicity of eyes and forest of shoots ia For some time this fact seemed to adm 9n of no explanation, but in attempting ly destroy the vitality of eyes by bollin ve water, and observing that those injure U, U, eyes threw up shoots in great abunt ad ance, even to the limit of twenty-fiv Id shoots to an eye as an extreme,