C. 73 ] 



raifed by me; — fo neither is it in the leaft impro- 

 bable, that in that cafe fome of the beft of them 

 might produce bloflbm in the fecond year. On the 

 other hand, as the bulbs of the fecond and even of 

 the third year's produce, produced from the fmalleft 

 plants, were fome of them not fo large as fome of 

 thofe of the firft year's growth, and as the vigour of 

 the plant, and the fize of the bulbs, and quantity of 

 bloflbm produced, evidently depend on the fize of 

 the potatoes planted, it is probable that thefe fmall 

 bulbs would require a year longer than the formei 

 to attain the fame fymptoms of maturity. In ihort, 

 as the vigour of the future plant, &c. fcems in this 

 cafe to depend very much upon the fize of the bulbs 

 planted for feed, it is probable that if two plants of 

 very unequal magnitude were picked off from the 

 fame ftem, and planted out as feeds, the one of 

 them might be found to have attained its full de* 

 gree of perfection, fo as to carry bloflbms and fruit 

 in abundance, while the other yielded none at allj 

 and if the fame procefs were repeated, the fame phe- 

 nomena might be produced in infinitum. The age 

 therefore of the plants, by which we muft here be 

 underftood to mean the number of years from the 

 time that the feeds were fown, can give no precife in- 

 dication of the (late of the crop that may be expected 

 from them, independent of the fize of the bulbs. 



Although, 



