Judith Gap journal. [volume] (Judith Gap, Mont.) 1908-19??, 1910-03-04
THE SELECTION OF
SEED POTATOES

Every man has in his mind al ideal
type of the varieties that he grows.
When digging hills will be found, all
the tubers of which will conform to
this ideal. If these tubers be saved
and planted large part, though not
all of them, ought to produce potatoes
like the seed. These should be Sc
lected again by hills and all should
be discarded except potatoes from
those hills which approximate the
ideal type, says the Billings Bulletin.
The longer this selection is carried
on. the greater should be the proper
tiOn of tubers like the original Sc
lected type.
The usual objection to this selec-
tiOn, in practice, is that at digging
time, when the work must be done,
the grower is too busy getting in the
crop to take time for improvement Of
future crops. The selection can be
done however, without taking a great
deal Of time. When the digger is
running, one man should follow with
basket and select the most desira BILE
specimens of tubers from hills that
conform to his ideal type Of that vari-
ETY.. Ordinarily the machine will
leave the tubers in such shape that
the individual hills can be separated.
In this work do not look for perfect
tubers only. Select perfect tubers
from hills in which all of the tubers
are of good shape and of sufficient
number to give good yield even
though some OF them are too small
for market.
With this system Of selection enough
seed ought to be secured in one day
to plant at least one acre Of land.
These potatoes should be sacked.
labeled and put into cool place by
themselves. The following spring
they should be planted at one side of
the field where they can be staked off
from the rest of the crop. Most
growers prefer to plant potatoes, that
are intended for seed, late. A very
rich soil is not desirable for growing
seed potatoes because Of the tendency
to produce overgrOwn tubers. This
may be overcome to some extent by
planting more seed to the hill or
planting the hills closer together.
When digging time comes the same
process of selection and elimination
should be gone through again. In
this way the improvement of type
and yield may 20 on from year to
year.
Many growers prefer green and i'm
mature seed to that which is fully de-
veloped. Experiments along this line
with plants produced from seed rather
than by vegetative parts have shown
that immature seed tends to produce
an early maturing plant and also
one that tends to produce more fruit
to the amount of plant tissue, but at
the expense Of vitality and size of
plant.
This law does not necessarily hold
good with the potato since the repro
duction is accomplished by means of
the vegetative portion of the plant.
Experiments along this line with the
potato have not been carried far
enough to give definite results.
The cost per acre of growing pota-
toes varies to considerable extent
according to the soil, season and price
of labor. One year with another an
average of the different farms would
not be far from the following figures:
Flowing land. ................... $3.50
Leveling and narrowing ...... 100
Seed potatoes. Observation-Disclosures. 800
Planting Observation-Disclosures. 1.5O
Cultivating 2.5O
Digging. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. $50
Sacks. ................ $50
Marketing 500