The record-union., 1896-04-05
FARM And ORCHARD.
How to Select Potatoes for Planting, and
How to Plant.
The Business Side of Farmfng-Gettfng
the Most Money Out of the Farm
Poultry Not Luxury by Any
Means and Better Than Many
Things.

~z14l
The bulletin of the United States De-
partment of Agriculture, from which ex-
tracts were taken last week, has the fol-
lowing on the subject of the selection OF
seed potatoes and on planting:
A study Of more than hundred ex-
periments testing the relative values OF
large, medium and small uncut tubers
confirms the general law that an in
crease in the. weight of seed planted af-
fords an increase in the total crop. The
yield Of salable potatoes increases less
rapidly than the total yield. With
whole potatoes as seed the salable yield
reached it's extreme upward limit in
one test when tuberS weighing about
half a pound were planted; in another
when those weighing four and one-half
ounces were employed. The limit of
profitable increase was reached with
tubers Weighing four and half and
three ounces, respectively. The size of
seed tubers selected becomes matter of
Importance when they are to be cut, for
we have seen that the heavier the cut
ting the larger the total yield, and seed
tubers for cutting should be of such size
shall not be extremely small.
Whether or not to use uncut small
potatoes for seed is an important ques-
tion on which farmers are divided.
Some present the plausible argument
that the use of undersized potatoes re-
suits in degeneration. If this claim is
based on the results of experience it
should determine practice, but if the
conclusion is simply a generalization
based on the fact that large seeds
usually give best results the reasoning
is defective and the question remains
open. The potato tuber is not a seed
but an underground stem, and the reIa-
items existing between seeds and their
progeny do not necessarily exist be-
tween tuber and its descendants
Others hold that potatoes just below
marketable size, If shapely and suffi-
clently mature, may be used without
serious deterioration; and that for eco
nomic reasons their use is especially de-
sirable because if not planted or used at
home they must be lost or fed to stock,
for which purpose their value is usually
smaller than the market price
The results of tests at a number of ex-
dicated that small tubers uncut can be
used for seed purposes without detri-
ment to the succeeding crop. 1t may
still be urged, however. that the choice
OF small seed year after year will result
In degeneration. On this question the
information is meager, but two expert
ments, extending over four or eight
years, respectively, have been reported
in which no degeneration resulting from
the continued use Of small potatoes
from the preceding crop was apparent.
Although the evidence seems fairly
conclusive that small uncut seed po-
tatoes may sometimes be used with
profit, we cannot advise that small seed
tubers be selected year after year from
a crop which has been grown from small
potatoes.
A custom not uncommon among those
who plant small cuttings Is to drop two
pieces in each hill. They usually get a
larger yield by so doing than by plant
ing single pieces, the increase generally,
though not always, being sufficient to
pay for the excess Of seed. This does not
prove the practice profitable, for better
results may be secured by planting a
combined weight of the two pieces
which would have been dropped in the
hill Thus the labor of cutting is con-
siderably reduced, and what is more
important, larger pieces improve the
chances of getting good stand In an
unfavorable season, because they have
less exposed surface than two small
pieces of equivalent weight, hence are
less liable to dry out excessively when
drought follows planting; they are also
better able to resist. rotting If wet
weather prevails.
The most common objection urged
against planting large seed pieces is,
next to the expense, the danger OF hav-
ing the hills so crowded with stalks,
and consequently with tubers, that
a large proportion of the potatoes never
develop to marketable size. This objec-
ton is probably valid for entire tubers.
and also for halves planted very close
in the row. The evidence available does
not permit US to conclude that In the
case Of quarters used as seed there re-
suits any injurious crowding, and 1T
may be questioned whether halves give
rise to this trouble when planted under
favorable conditions and at considera-
BILE distance apart.
The number of stalks that can be ad-
vantageously grown in each hill varies
greatly with variety, season. SOIL ana
distance apart. At Indiana Station 1t
was found that when uncut tubers or
I 10 ounces were planted In hills feet
apart. the gross yield of large potatoes
and the net yield of large potatoes in
creased with every increase In the num-
Der of stalks per hill. up to stalks for
Purhank and g stalks for Beauty of He
bron. growing in both cases from tubers
weighing 41b ounces. Eight stalks per
hill would probably be excessive for dis
tances less than feet each way. In ex-
periments in Maine, extending over sew
eral years. 6 stalks per hill gave larger
Yields than 4 to stalks, the amount or
seed planted being the same in each
case.
Asto the effects Of thinning the stalks,
recorded experiments are inconclusiye,
and with ordinary seed pieces 1t appears
to be unnecessary.
Soon after planting, and again, just
as the young plants are beginning to APP
pear above ground, the field should be
narrowed, inclining the teeth of the har-
row backward. This is a cheap method
of cultivation, since wide space is COW
cred. 1t Is also effective In destroying
small weeds, in leveling the ridges left
IN planting, in preventing the formation
of a surface crust, and in keeping the
land covered with mulch of dry earth,
thus conserving moisture within the
soil below. Subsequent cultivation
should be frequent, so as to accomplish
these same ends. Almost any pattern of
cultivator may be used. provided 1t is
p,ada m do shallow work. However. If