Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1898-06-24
Growing Seed Potatoes.

There ought to be business by itself
in growing potatoes to be used for seed
The success of the crop always depends
very largely on the seed planted Its
care after harvesting ought not to be
such as average farmers give to their
potato crops. For preparing the very
best seed the potatoes need to be exposed
to degree of sunlight that will entire
ly spoil them for market or for cooking.
Still more is it necessary that the pota-
toes be we'll grown and ripened while
the foliage is untouched by the potato
beetle or its Larvae and uninjured by the
fungus which causes blight and potato
rot.
In expressing the foregoing timely
ideas The American Cultivator further
remarks that after the potatoes are har-
vested it is we'll nigh impossible to Sc
lect from the bin the potatoes that are
sure to produce strong, vigorous hills if
cut and planted as seed A we'll shaped,
smooth potato may have been the only
one fit for market that the hill which
grew it produced 1t may have had its
foliage badly eaten by potato larvae or
be prematurely ripened when its vine
blghted. In some seasons, and last year
was one Of them, very few potatoes came
to maturity without injury of some sort
The quality of potatoes for cooking has
been very poor this year, and for seed
it ia probably much worse. The fact
that a potato is rough and scabby and
that it is "waxy" rather than mealy
when cooked is presumptive evidence
that it suffered either from blight or its
foliage was injured by the potato Larvae
Only with healthy and whole foliage can
potatoes be grown that will be fit for
seed. There are always some hills that
are considerably injured by the potato
beetle. These the grower Of potatoes
for seed will throw out by themselves
when be is harvesting the crop.
Potatoes thus grown will naturally
cost more than those taken from crops
grown and harvested the usual way. II
is not necessary for seed potatoes that
the tubers should be large If well
ripened, medium and even small pota.
toes are as good as any, though in plant,
ing small tubers it is best to cut out all
the eyes except the strongest one and
then plant the whole potato. 1t will
produce stronger stalks than If more
than one bud is allowed to grow.
Much Of the admitted advantage from
planting new Seeding potatoes comes,
in the opinion of the journal quoted,
from the fact that the interest of the
originator impels him to give extra care
to the growing of seed, and so long as
he can sell it at much above usual po-
tato price he is pretty sure TO maintain
the original vigor which every Seeding
potato starts out with. II is only when
the new variety gets into the hands Of
those who are careless about growing
potatoes that the potato begins to run
out, as it is commonly called Even
the most prolific varieties, after eight or
ten years, become poor yielders aud are
extremely liable to become affected by
blight. And yet we have known farm
ers who by careful selection and care Of
seed potatoes we're able to keep the old
fashioned Early Rose as a good pro6ta.
BILE potato TO grow, and that without
renewing this variety from seed. as has
often been done since.