CHAPTER VII VARIETIES Selecting a Variety. For general farming advisable to grow only a few varieties. is Most success ful growers seldom have half a dozen growing for marketing, and usually one is selected as more suitable than the rest. The beginner is advised to select a variety from the more thoroughly tested kinds that have done well in his immediate vicinity and on his type of soil. The seed should be obtained from a reliable grower or a responsible seedsman. The importance of growing the best varieties cannot be too strongly emphasized. To many a potato is a potato, and anything is used for seed. Such haphazard methods cannot survive. Potatoes are grown for human consumption, and the public taste must be considered. Good quality and good yield are required. In some localities good quality potatoes appear to be grown in spite of adverse conditions, but not all of the crop can be produced in this way. Some of the points to consider in selecting the variety are: 1. Good cooking quality and flavor. This is partly influenced by the soil, season, ability to mature before frost, etc. 2. The yield. The late maturing varieties usually yield heavier than the early varieties. Yield is influenced, among other things, by the adaptability of the variety to the district and soil. 3. Ability to resist diseases. The potato is so subject to disease that this is now of prime importance in a variety in the Eastern States, although not so important in parts of the Trans-Mississippi area. 4. The color of the skin and tuber. In the Eastern States red varieties are not in favor at present, a white-fleshed and white-skinned tuber being preferred. In the South red-skinned varieties are sought.' 5. The nature of the skin. A netted, or rough, skin is preferred. 6. The shape. Some markets discriminate in favor of a particular shape, the flat-round and oval generally being popular shapes. 7. The depth and frequency of eyes. Potatoes with deep and numerous eyes are not economical in preparation for cooking. 8. The time of maturity. This is essential to know before planting, in order to facilitate the distribution of farm work and determine whether it is likely to mature in the locality. 9. The haulm. 10. The leaf. 11. The vigor of the variety. This is important, although it is of equal importance to obtain a vigorous strain of a variety, as wide variations are noted in the same variety. 12. Tendency to make second growth. 1 Tex. Bul. 71, P. 9. 13. Trueness to type. It is essential that the seed be as represented. As none but an expert can FIG. 18-SECTION OF A POTATO OF P-Envelope, or Periderm, consisting of an 1. Cooking quality and flavor are two of the factors which determine culinary value. They are distinct. Cooking quality is recognized in a boiled potato by mealiness or sogginess. This appears to depend upon the inner and outer layer. P.L-Pigment layer, physiological struc where coloring-matter of the skin is found. E.C-External Cortical, or Cambium layer, ture of the tuber, and usually poor in starch. I.C-Internal Cor- is not necessarily contical, or Cambium layer, rich in starch. E.M -External Medullary layer, rich in starch. nected with chemical I.M-Internal Medullary layer, or pith, or composition (Figs. A potato uniformity water-core, poor in starch. The objectionable features of this tuber are 18, 19). large pith area and lack of uniformity in showing cellular structure. Each layer is readily recognized, and each one varies in the amount of in the distribution of time required for cooking; hence, it is of poor starch in the various cooking quality. (Compare with Fig. 19.) layers may be considered to be of better quality than one not showing this uniformity. Immature potatoes tend to be soggy when cooked. Mealiness is due to the union of the starch grains in a cell into one mass, and the rup ture of the cell walls during cook ing. Sogginess occurs when the cell walls retain their form. Opin ions differ as to what constitutes good cooking quality. Amer icans like a white, mealy, or floury, potato. The French prefer a yellow, soggy potato which retains its shape when boiled. Good cooking quality can be determined by cook P E.C I.C. EM IM. FIG. 19-SECTION OF A POTATO OF (Compare with Fig. 18.) The desirable features of this tuber are wellnetted skin, showing maturity; large Internal Cortical (I.C.) and External Medullary (E.M.) layers, which are rich in starch; small pith area (I.M.), with marked uniformity in cellular structure. The different layers nearly approach each other in appearance, and cook uniformly. a sample and steam or boil some of the potatoes. When cooked the potato should be dry and floury, free from wetness, and readily break to pieces on slight pressure, or be readily reduced to a coarse meal free from hard lumps. The particles should glisten as though crystalline, and the potato should have a white color, which is retained when cold. Potatoes which are yellow when cooked, or turn dark or black, are not considered of good quality, even if the flavor is good, and can be sold only to a low-class trade. Tubers must not be hollow in the center, as this gives rise to a hard, dark-colored core, which is decidedly bjectionable if potatoes are to be mashed. Some varieties will cook better if they have been kept; they are, in other words, for spring use. Thus, in New York, Carman No. 3, White Star, and Doe's Pride come in this category. The flavor should be mild, and free from earthiness. 2. The yield. The average yield of potatoes from one plant in the United States is about half a pound. Having weighed the yield of hundreds of potato plants during the past year, we find that in the case of Early Ohio one plant yielded three tubers weighing half an ounce, while another yielded thirteen tubers weighing two and a half pounds. The latter yield is eighty times the former. In late varieties plants yielding four pounds of tubers were found. In some of the recent English productions whole plats would average six pounds of tubers per plant, while individual plants have yielded over twenty pounds of potatoes, as many as 150 potatoes being set on one plant.' These facts. emphasize the value of the farmer selecting seed himself and eliminating the poor plants. All the tubers from the best plants should be saved and planted separately to produce the seed for the following year. The expenses of growing a poor and a heavy crop vary little. The only additional cost of the latter is 1 Gardener's Chronicle, Oct. 15, 1904, pp. 276-278. |