Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 January 1875 — Cutting Potatoes for Planting. [ARTICLE]

Cutting Potatoes for Planting.

Of late years a certain class of farmers have tried hard to show that cutting potatoes used for planting is «a disastrous innovation upon the old practice of planting whole tubers. From time to time essays have appeared upon the subject to show that this dividing the tubers was the cause not only of the “ potato rot" but of the degeneration of many old and long-cultivated varieties. But, strange as it may appear, our most successful and scientific cultivators carry this practice of cutting up the tubers for planting to the fullest extent. The result of the system when continued for several years instead of being” degeneration,” as is so frequently claimed, is, we are assured by a gentleman who has probably had as much to do with the new sorts during the past fifteen years other man, a constant improvement. It is only a few days since this gentleman assured US that the use of single eyes for seed tended constantly to increase the size and yield of all varieties subjected to this sy£en.. Our own experience long since led us to abandon the old practice of planting whole or even half .tubers, and the largest yield and greatest proportion of good marketable tubers have usually been obtained by planting small pieces of only one or two eyes. The general practice of sprouting sweet potatoes and then pulling off the shoots and planting these instead of the whole or even a section of the tuber is a very old and generally adopted system; still we never heard that it caused degeneration or disease, as some say that cutting the common potato docs. A glance at the structure of a potato should convince almost any person with fair reasoning powers that dividing a tuber need not- in manner be injurious to the separate'parts as the seed

from which a future crop is to be produced. Ajxffato tuber is merely a thickened subterranean stem, with buds 'upon ' the surface the same as found upon the. stem above ground or upon the twigs of a tree which are used in budding tod grafting. In cutting up potatoes we merely divide them into sections, leaving one or more buds upon each. These, being planted in the earth, begin growing. At first the buds draw nutriment from the portion of the old tuber attached, but the young sprout very soon throws new roots from its base and through these obtains pabulum from the soil. If a whole tuber is planted tod all the buds are removed but one, the same change occurs, and there is no sucking out of the entire or of any appreciable portioh of the contents, as many persons suppose ; but, on the contrary, the decay oi the old tuber near the young, tender roots is far more likely to injure than benefit them. Now, in budding and grafting fruit trees a precisely similar operation is performed. A bud with a very small amount of bark attached is taken from one branch and inserted or planted in another, to which it unites, or takes root in fact, thereafter drawing support from the juices of the Btock plant. Constant experimenting for thousands of years in these modes of propagation of trees and other wood plants has fully demonstrated to the horticulturists that a large quantity of bark attached to a bud is worse than less, because positively injurious. In grafting trees a cion two or three inches long containing two buds is better than a larger one, and if experience had not demonstrated this fact beyond question those a foot or even'more in length would certainly be used instead. The maximum and minimum as regards quantity and size have been fully determined, and between the two points success is attained. There are no physiological laws which should deter the farmer from cutting potato tubers into sections, just as there “ are none forbidding his dividing the branch of a tree for cions, and the only point upon which there need be any diversity of opinion is that of the size or number of the buds upon the pieces. These have not been sufficiently determined by carefully-conducted experiments to fix the minimum, although the size will probably not exceed a cubic inch, with two buds upon each. Of-course the farmer may still plant his potatoes in Hills or drills, whichever suits him best. Every man who desires to learn and assist in the general advancement of agriculture should be willing to aid in determining the best method, even if it is slightly at variance with those to which he has long been accustomed.— N. T. Sun.