2±3 



HAIIDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Nov. 1, 186S. 



Fig. 226. 



"ACKERSPMT." 



ri^HE drawing at the head of this chapter re- 

 -*- presents a peculiar condition of the potato, 

 which is unfortunately very prevalent this year, and 

 which has, no doubt, been caused by the influence 

 of the weather. The long-continued drought caused 

 all kinds of crops to come to maturity very early, 

 and many of the potatoes, although not properly ripe, 

 had ceased growing before any rain came. Then at 

 the end of August we had plentiful and refreshing 

 showers, which changed the brown fields to spring- 

 like green in a marvellously short time. We had, 

 in fact, a second spring. Spring flowers began to 

 bloom again, though it was autumn ; plants that had 

 really come to their full growth received an im- 

 petus, and began to sprout again ; and the potato 

 tubers in the ground sent out buds, and sometimes 

 long shoots from the " eyes," as if newly planted, 

 and in many cases these buds formed a second crop 

 of new potatoes, as represented in the drawing. 

 Such a state of things is very detrimental to the 

 crop, for the new potatoes grow, or, at any rate, 

 commence their growth, at the expense of the old 



ones, which will be soft and spongy, like potatoes 

 that have been kept too long into the summer. 



The Gardeners Chronicle, in a leader of Septem- 

 ber 19th, explains the process of " supertubera- 

 tion," by supposing that the sprouting was caused 

 by the excessive heat acting on unripe potatoes, not 

 ripe ones ; and that the process would not occur to 

 any extent in ripe potatoes. That moisture was 

 undoubtedly necessary, but that it came, not from 

 the rain, because the process was noted before any 

 rain fell ; but that the moisture must have come 

 from the parent tuber, which in its unripe condition 

 contains considerably more water than when ripe. 

 This may be the correct explanation, but I am in- 

 clined to think that the greater part of the moisture 

 was supplied from external sources ; for here, at 

 any rate, the greatest amount of supertuberation 

 was observed after the rain fell ; and before the 

 chief rainfall we had had, now and then, a wet day. 

 The rain has undoubtedly been the cause of a 

 similar phenomenon taking place iu other plants, 

 where ripe, and apparently dying stems have shot 

 out again into leaves and flowers. But if the 

 potatoes supplied their own moisture, as they, no 

 doubt, did to some extent, they grew, not because 

 they were unripe, but because they had previously 

 come to a complete standstill iu their growth, and 

 were in the same condition as if they were ripe, and 

 had been replanted ; for when plants that are ripe 

 enough to be taken up are not taken up, — for ex- 

 ample, onions, they invariably commence a second 

 growth if the weather is mild enough ; and if the 

 potatoes had sprouted in some degree before the 

 rain, they did so with tenfold vigour afterwards, and 

 the haulms, in many cases, became quite green 

 again. 



This condition of the potato is known throughout 

 Cheshire, Staffordshire, and probably most of the 

 neighbouring counties, by the name ackersprit. The 

 word has no connection with the scientific term 

 acrospire, which is derived from Greek words, and 

 is explained in botanical dictionaries as meaning 

 " the first leaves that appear when corn sprouts." 

 The two words do not describe the same thing, and 

 it is extremely unlikely that farm labourers, spread 

 over a large part of the country, should have so 

 generally adopted a modern scientific term. The 

 similarity of sound is curious, but is accidental. I 

 have no doubt our word is derived from, or more 

 properly is, Anglo-Saxon, and has been in common 

 use ever since the Saxon times. Sprit means sprouted, 

 from A.S. spreotan, to sprout; and acker is from 

 A.S. cccer, a field. (Our word acre, which now means 

 a particular quantity of land, meant originally simply 

 afield, as in the old name for a grave-yard — God's 

 Acre, which did not imply that it was an acre in ex- 

 tent, but simply that it was a sacred enclosure.) It 

 is customary for potatoes to sprout in the spring 

 after being stored up ; and the meaning of " acker- 



