SOLANACEX. 
ridges. The beds may either be raised by previous digging, 
throwing on good earth till the terrace rise to the desired 
height, or in the different method described below. To plant in 
drills trace them at the medium distance above specified ; form 
them to a proper depth with a narrow spade, or large hoe; in 
these place the sets a foot, or 15 inches apart, and earth over. 
In wet ground, however, potatoes are hardly worth growing. 
Subsequent culture.—“ From the March or April planting the 
stems generally rise fully in May : after the plants have appeared, 
give an effectual hoeing on dry days, cutting up all the weeds, 
and stir the ground about the rising stalks of the plants. When 
advanced from 6 to 12 inches high, hoe up some earth to the 
bottom of the stems, to strengthen their growth, and promote 
the increase below; continue occasional hoeing to eradicate 
weeds till the plants cover the ground, when but little farther 
care will be required. Permit the stalks to run in full growth, 
and by no means cut down, as is sometimes practised; the 
laves being the organs for transmitting the beneficial influence 
vf the rain and air to the roots, which is most necessary to the 
free and perfect growth of the tubers.” Abercrombie. It is 
nov.-general admitted, that a certain advantage in point of 
produce is obtained by pinching off the blossoms as they ap- 
pear on the plants. The fact has been repeatedly proved and 
satisfactorily accounted for by Mr. Knight, who imagines that it 
may add an ounce in weight to the tubers of each plant, or 
considerably above a ton per acre. 
Taking the crop.—Clusters of roots in the early planted 
erops will sometimes by June or July be advanced to a sufficient 
size for present eating, though still small. Only a small portion 
should be taken up at a time, as wanted for immediate use, as they 
will not keep good above a day or two. In August and Sep- 
tember, however, they will be grown to a tolerable good size, 
and may be taken up in larger supplies, though not in quantities 
for keeping a length of time. Permit the main crops to conti- 
nue in growth till towards the end of October or beginning of 
November, when the stalks will begin to decay, an indication 
that the potatoes are fully grown, then wholly dig them up, and 
house them for winter and spring use before severe frosts 
set 1n. 
Housing and Preserving the Crop.—Abercrombie recommends 
* housing potatoes in a close, dry, subterranean apartment, laid 
thickly together, and covered well with straw, so as to exclude 
damps and frosts. There they are to be looked over, and any 
that are decayed picked out. In spring, when they begin to 
shoot, turn them over, and break off the sprouts or shoots from 
each tuber perfectly close, in order to retard their future shoot- 
ing as much as possible. Potatoes so stored will continue good 
all the winter and spring till May and June. Pieing as it is 
called in some places is a good method of preserving potatoes in 
winter. They are piled on the surface of the ground in a 
ridged form, of the width and length at pleasure, according to 
the quantity, but commonly 5-6 feet wide. This is done by 
digging a spit of earth, and laying it round the edge a foot wide, 
(if turf the better,) filling the space up with straw, and' then 
laying on a course of potatoes; dig earth on the outside, and 
lay it upon the first earth. Put straw a few inches along the 
inside edge, then put in more potatoes, and so on, keeping a 
good coat of straw all the way up between the potatoes and the 
mould, which should be about 6 inches thick all over; beat it 
close together, and the form it lies in with the trench all round 
will preserve the potatoes dry, and the sharpest frost will hardly 
affect them, in a severe time of which the whole may be covered 
thickly with straw. In the spring look over the stock, and 
break off the shoots of those designed for the table, and repeat 
this business to preserve the potatoes the longer good." 
Curl Disease.— The disease called curl has in many places 
I. SorawvM. | 403 
proved extremely troublesome and injurious. It has given rise 
to much discussion, and to detail all the various opinions would 
be a useless task. It may, however, be remarked, that the 
experiments of J. Dickson (Caled. hort. mem. 1. p. 55.) show, 
that it arises from the vegetable powers in the parts of the tuber 
planted having been exhausted by over ripening, he has shown 
that cuts taken from the waxy end of the potatoe produce 
healthy plants, while those from the dry or best ripened end 
either did not vegetate at all, or produced curled plants. John 
Shirreff (Caledon. hort. mem. 1. p. 60.) takes a general and 
philosophical view of the subject, applying to the potatoe the 
doctrine by which Mr. Knight had accounted for the disappear- 
ance of the fine cedar fruits of the seventeenth century. “ The 
maximum of the duration of the life of every individual, vege- 
table as well as animal, is pre-determined by nature, under 
whatever circumstances the individual may be placed: the 
minimum, on the other hand, is determined by these very cir- 
cumstances. Admitting, then, that a potatoe might re-produce 
itself from tubers for a great number of years in the shady 
woods of Peru, it seems destined sooner to become abortive 
in the cultivated champaign of Britain, insomuch that not a 
single healthy plant of any sort of potatoe that yields berries, 
and which was in culture 20 years ago, can now be produced.” 
Mr. Shirreff concludes, therefore, that the potatoe is to be 
considered as a short-lived plant, and that though its health or 
vigour may be prolonged by rearing it in elevated or in shady 
situations, or by cropping the flowers, and thus preventing the 
plants from exhausting themselves, the only sure way to obtain 
vigorous plants, and to ensure productive crops, is to have 
frequent recourse to new varieties raised from seed. The same 
view, it may be remarked, had occurred to Dr. Hunter. The 
fact ascertained by Mr. Knight descrves to be noticed, is that 
by planting late in the season, perhaps in June, or even in July, 
an exhausted good variety may in a great measure be restored ; 
that is, the tubers resulting from the Jate planting when again 
planted at the ordinary season produce the kind in its pristine 
vigour, and of its former size. Mr. Crichton (Caled. mem. 1. 
p. 440.) who has made a variety of experiments on the effects 
of exposure to the air in hampers and open floors, and on 
exclusion of the air by covering with earth, concludes, ** That 
the curl in the potatoe may often be occasioned by the way the 
potatoes are treated that are intended for seed. I have observed 
wherever the seed stock is carefully pitted, and not exposed to 
the air, in the spring the crop has seldom any curl, but where 
the seed stock is put into barns and out-houses for months 
together, such crop seldom escapes turning out in a great mea- 
sure curled; and if but few cur] the first year, if they are 
planted again it is more than probable the half of them will 
curl next season." 
Forcing the Potatoe.—TYhe potatoe is forced in a great variety 
of ways; but for a fair crop of tubers, which shall be somewhat 
dry and floury, and of the size of hens' eggs, plant sets of the 
ash-leaved variety in single pots, filled one-third with light 
earth, in January. Place them in a hot-house or hot-bed, 
earth them up as they appear, and about the middle or end of 
February, transplant them, with their balls entire, into a pit 
prepared as for asparagus. Distance from plant to plant 1 foot 
each way. Give water occasionally, and admit as much air as 
possible at all times. Potatoes so managed will produce a fair 
crop the end of March or beginning of April. 
Forcing potatoes in hot-beds.— Abercrombie says, “ A young 
crop is easily obtained soon in spring, by planting the early 
dwarf, or the sort called mules, on a slight hot-bed. Put in the 
sets pretty thickly, at 6 or 8 inches square distance, as the pota- 
toes are not to grow large. If planted successively in January 
and Pests they will produce young crops for use early in 
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