Mountain advocate., 1919-03-07
sNchFAsn rms Isusn POTATO
cuor ny oNoWl>c sEfEcTEp

hIlNI NooN tuIi, ttIrCtIuI .tut Httu
nbets viii increase the yield OF
Irish potatoes more than any other
| practice Tho grower thus develops
a local strain which Is especially
adapted 70 the conditions on Ms
farm. Seed. win NOT run out when
selection ie followed. New soil IS
dangerous to use because OF the
great probability Of bringing in new
diseases, some OF which 40 not show
on the tubers. This - particularly
true when northern seed Is used be-
cause the northern potato sections
are troubled with diseases which we
do not have yet In Kentucky.
Select 200 potatoes that represent
as nearly as possible, your ideal Of a
marketable potato for food, not for
seed. A smooth, oval, medium size
potato with shallow eyes, so that
there is not much waste in peeling,
is the type generally desired. This
selection should be madein the win
ter or early spring but these 200
potatoes should not be planted until
the forepart of July. Better seed
potatoes Of the early varieties are Sc
cured by making planting for seed
purposes at the same time as late
potatoes are planted in July. In
order to avoid sprouting and shriv-
cling of the seed potatoes, in Feb
ruary or early March they are placed
in the farm icehouse or in some cold
storage plant A commission mer--
chant will store them for you. The
cost for A months storage is zoe to-
| 25c bushel. The potatoes should
be placed in wooden boxes, baskets
or barrels. and not in sacks for stor-
age.
Two weeks before planting time
in July, the potatoes should be taken
4 out OF cold storage and placed in the
shade to slowly ripen up. Along one
side Of the field of potatoes plant
these selected tubers After the
burrows have been opened, take one
| of the ideal potatoes and split sit
iengthwise into. four pieces. That
gives an equal amount Of eyes at the
bud OF blossom end in each piece
Drop these four pieces in the furrow,
| allowing one piece TO a hill. Skip q
hin and then quarter a second pota-
to and drop the pieces in the row.
| Thus each potato plants a hills and
1 each group of 4 hills is separated
from the other group by the missing
hills. These potatoes should be ct1l-
tivated and cared for the same as
the rest of the crop.
After the vines have ben cut down
by frosts, 4he Jews Of selected ngta-
toes must be dug byhand in ordes to
keep the different hills separate,
Put the potatoes from each group of
A hills in a pile, so that from the zoo
potatoes planted in July there will be
200 piles. Same of these piles will
contain nearly all little potatoes.
That is due to the fact that the good
size potato, which was planted, was
probably the only larsetuberin hill
of little potatoes. Other piles viii
have nearly all big potatoes. In this
case the big potatoe came from hill
made up chiefly Of large potatoes.
tPick the piles which havethe most OF
the ideal potatoes in them. Little
potatoes in d pile are not objectiona-
BILE if there are plenty of large ones.
From these best piles select 100 Pc
tatoes. as near your ideal as possible
for planting next year in July. 4.
Use the rest Of the potatoes from
these best piles and plant them in
IJuly 1920 so as to increase them to
make enough seed to plant the field
crop in the spring of 1921. Save'all
the potatoes from these best hills be
cause a small potato from hill Of
big. potatoes viii produce large pota-
toes. Throw out the low yielding
piles. The good piles that did not
come in with the highest yielding
ones should be used TO plant the
field crop in the. spring of 1920 as
far rs they will go.
This method OF selection applies
to both early and late potatoes of
course, the main crop and the seed
crop are both grown in the fall of the
year.
A very good early white potato
for Kentucky is the Irish Cobbler
and the Early Ohio is one Of the
best pink varieties for spring plant
ing. For second crop or late pota-
toes Bull Moose, Green Mountain and
Carmen No are among the best.
F. j. Sutton, Assistant Horticultur-
list University of Kentucky.