In such high-class potato-growing as this, special attention must be given to the stock seed. A "seed piece" of two acres is grown according to the very best approved methods. This area is planted with the choicest large tubers, and all inferior plants are eradicated as rapidly as their deficiencies become known. Very promising hills are saved for stock seed the following year. This "seed piece" or field supplies the tubers for raising the main potato crops.
European experience.
The potato crop assumes great importance in Europe, partly because the corn plant is not suc cessful, and the po tato is the cheap starch-producing plant. It is the stand ard crop for starch and alcohol factories, is the staple food of the poor, and is much fed to stock. The aim, as compared with American po tato - growers (and reported for this article by L. R. Jones), is for a product adapted to one or another special purpose, and for a large yield quite irrespective of the seed or labor invested. Careful attention is paid to the seed, which is generally secured from more north erly countries. The crop from the best northern-grown seed is con sidered more disease-resistant and more productive. The origination of new varieties has been espe cially stimulated during the last two decades in Great Britain and Germany, in order to meet the more specialized demands. Seed balls are more abundant, owing probably to climatic conditions, and hence less difficulty is expe rienced in crossing varieties. In Great Britain, where potatoes are grown primarily for table use, the ideal tuber is white-fleshed, rich in starch, medium size, oval, smooth and with shallow eyes. Much attention is given to securing increased disease-resistance. On the continent the ideal table variety is smaller, yellow-fleshed, relatively poorer in starch and richer in proteids. The breeding of starch-rich varieties for stock-feed and factory purposes has received attention, especially in Germany and Austria.
Potato-growing in the South.
In recent years the potato, in common with other truck crops, has received an increasing share of attention in the southern states. On the Atlantic seaboard the southern potato territory may be said to extend from Florida to Virginia, the area of greatest production being in northeastern North Carolina and around Norfolk, Va.
Cropping system.
One of the principal differences in the culture of the potato in the North and in the South is that in the South two crops are grown, one in autumn and the other in spring. The spring crop is by far the larger and more important, being grown to supply the north ern spring demand for new pota toes, while the relatively small fall crop is disposed of locally. Plant ing for the fall crop in Florida is made in late September or early October ; in the latitude of Savan nah, in the latter part of August or early September ; and farther north in the early part of August. The spring crop is generally planted in the latter half of January and in February and March, depending on the section. This crop is marketed between the latter part of April and the middle of July.
Culture.
Varieties.—Earliness is the principal considera tion in the selection of varieties for the southern crop. If the variety is not early it will not meet the exacting conditions imposed on the culture of the crop by market competition. The favorite variety with Florida planters is Early Rose No. 4, nine-tenths of the seed used being of this variety. In other sections Bliss Triumph (Red Bliss) and White Bliss are grown, though the latter, because of its being a white variety, although equally early, is not so favorably received in the mark _As.
Seed. — Generally, seed grown in the North (Maine, New York and Michigan) or Virginia second crop is preferable for use in the extreme south, although in the more northerly sections seed from the fall crop will give good results for spring planting. Throughout the whole area seed from the spring crop is used for fall-planting.
Preparation of the land.— The best preceding crop for potatoes in the South is a cover of cow peas. The land should be broken two or three months in advance of the spring- planting, thoroughly harrowed and ridged slightly. Unless the land is very well drained, ridging is advan tageous in increasing the earliness of the crop, and everything which will hasten the growth of the spring-planting must be carefully considered. The rows may be laid off as close as three feet apart if a single planting is to be made, but if corn, cotton or some other crop is to be planted between the potato rows they should be five feet, or thereabouts, apart.