FRESH SEED POTATOES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11752, 19 August 1916, Page 5

FRESH SEED POTATOES.

SUGGESTIONS OF INTEREST

Good seed potatoes lead to large yields. Recent tests showed that dried or shrivelled seed potatoes gave ! only 21 per cent of good plants, while I freshly-cut seed potatoes gave 83 per cent of large, healthy plants wit" : dark green foliage. Plants from dried seed pieces came up live to 10 days later than plants from freshly cut Beed. The stand of plants from freshly cut seed wa s almost perfect, and the size of the plants was very uniform, while the stand of the plants from dried seed pieces was poor and the plants were scattering. The result of these tests seems to indicate that the old theory regarding the drying of seed potatoes before planting is incorrect. Every grower who wants to test this out for himself can very easily carry on this simple experiment: (Select a number of good sized seed potatoes and divide them into two lots. Cut those of one lot into the ordinary sized seed pieces. Count out 100 uniform seed pieces, and let them dry for several days. Then take the remaining seed potatoes and cut them. Be sure to have the seed pieces of both tests about the same size and weight. Plant the two batches and watch the results. Many persons give too little attention to the selection of potatoes before they are purchased, as well as to their storage and care after they ai. taken home. In order to get the maximum yield from either a commercial planting or a home garden the potatoes must be handled more carefully than many other seeds. The grower should learn, if possible, how the tubers have been stored before he purchases them for seed. Select tubers that are perfectly sound and firm. Dried or shrivelled potatoes should not be purchased for seed. Potatoes that have sprouted are not suitable for seed if good yields are expected, because the growing sprouts have robbed the tubers of part of their food. The <*!:<ivelled, dried condition of the tuber is an index to its decline. and vigorous, healthy plants cannot be grown from such seed. The ordinary seed is usually covered with some protective coat that helps to keep the contents in good preservation. The potato which is only fleshy is not protected in any way, and therefore cannot stand neglect. Common seeds do not lose their vitality nor their content when exposed to living-room temperature, but tubers rapidly lose their moisture and deteriorate very fast if kept at the temperature at which the ordinary seeds are stored. Therefore, seed potatoes should be stored in damp, cool cellars or placed in cold storage until they are needed for planting in the field or garden. A few warm days will cause the potatoes to become shrivelled up. ;