Tabor City Tribune

Good Seed Vital For Quality Potatoes
By DICK CROOK Assistant Farm Agent

Good seed stock is the foundation for growing high quality potatoes for permanent success in sweet potato production, it is necessary to produce a high quality product and good seed stock is the foundation for the production of high quality potatoes.

The time is behind us when we could sell anything we produced, the table has turned and farmers are having to sell sweet potatoes on a buyers and consumer market where quality sets the price.

Now is the time to obtain good sweet potato seed stock for the 1949 crop. Only seed produced from vine cutting potatoes should be used and only the copper skin Porto Rico potatoes need to be carefully selected each year in order to keep up the inside and outside color as well as other quality factors that are necessary when competition is keen on the markets.

Experiments have shown that small potatoes produce more plants per bushel, they are weaker and less liable to survive when planted in the field whereas larger potatoes, 1 1/2 inches up, produce larger more vigorous plants and will survive better when transplanted.

When selecting potatoes for bedding it is necessary to select potatoes with a good copper skin outside color and a rich salmon inside color that extends through the potatoes. All potatoes showing off color on the outside or inside color should be discarded.

Growers who do not have a good supply of seed for bedding their 1949 crop may secure certified seed from any of the growers listed below.

A. L. Wright-R. 1, Tabor City.
Shannon Gore R. 1. Nakina
Fred Nobles--R. 1. Cerro Gordo.

Growers interested in securing good seed may place their orders directly with the above certified growers or at the County Agent's office or with one of the sweet potato dealers in Tabor City.