The annual meeting of the Potato Association of America, held at Pittsburgh, December 6, 7 and 8, I948 was well attended despite the fact that announcements of the meeting were late in reaching the majority of the membership. A total of 94 persons registered and numerous other persons who did not register attended some of the sessions. The quality of most of the papers presented at the meeting was excellent and they will be published in subsequent issues of the Journal for the benefit of all members.

The workers in the Irish potato breeding and development program in Louisiana have devised a method for the very rapid screening of large populations both North and South. Since Southern states depend upon northern areas for seed production, any variety that is grown for seed should be thoroughly tested in all areas before it is released. With this system, complete evaluation, testing, and increase of seed can be brought about within a period of 8 to 10 years.

An experiment was set up to evaluate the effect of three techniques on the flowering of four varieties of Irish potatoes commonly grown in Louisiana. Records were taken in regard to the production of flower clusters and open flowers. As averages of the four varieties, flowering was highly stimulated by the wire girdling and stem incision treatments. The pruning of stolons had no significant effect on flowering. None of the treatments had a significant effect on the flowering of the sparsely blooming varieties, Triumph and Red LaSoda. The flowering of both Sebago and Katahdin was greatly increased by wire girdling; meanwhile the maximum increase in flowering of Sebago was obtained through stem incision.

LaRouge (L42-4S) is a smooth very attractive velvety red potato and has some scab resistance. This variety is about ten days earlier than Red LaSoda when grown in the North, and is well adapted both in the North and the South. This clone has also been the most outstanding entry in our fall yield trials.

Red LaSoda produces a very attractively colored tuber and several growers are anxious to obtain seed tubers. It has proven its adaptability in the seed-producing areas of the North and also its superior yielding ability over Triumph in the southern potato-producing areas. The Red LaSoda variety will yield equally as well as LaSoda and the tubers do not require added coloring to make an attractive product. The quality of the tubers is equally as good as most potato varieties grown in the southern states.

Several varieties of potatoes that are grown in the south have been evaluated for their suitability for processing.

President--John R. Tucker, Central Experiment Farms, Ottawa, Canada. Vice-President--H. O. Werner, College of Agriculture, Lincoln, Nebraska. Secretary-Treasurer--Win. H. Martin, Agricultural Experiment Station, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Executive Committee-E. L. Newdick, Maine Department of Agriculture, Augusta, Maine. Julian C. Miller, Agricultural Experiment Station, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

A number of progenies from selfings and crosses of Irish potatoes were studied to determine the differences in the degree of stolon development and the relation of stolon development to certain other growth characters, under field conditions at Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Journal Article FURTHER STUDIES AND TECHNIC USED IN SWEET POTATO BREEDING IN LOUISIANA Get access JULIAN C. MILLER JULIAN C. MILLER Louisiana State University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Heredity, Volume 30, Issue 11, November 1939, Pages 485–492, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a104638 Published: 01 November 1939