ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE POTxVTO. 125 



planted, in the manner in wliicli they were before opened, and 

 at no time lay down more sets than can be covered np immediately; 

 for if left exposed to frost they will be useless, or if left to the 

 action of the sun and then covered up with the hot earth some 

 of their vitality maybe destroyed, and you will not get a regular 

 braird. If a top-dressing of wood-ash or charred vegetable 

 mould is thrown over the drills before the last furrowing up, it 

 will be serviceable as extra manure. Two hundredweight of 

 guano to the acre makes a good azote. On stiff and retentive 

 soils, decayed tan, if freely used, has been proved to be highly 

 beneficial in warding off blight. When the haulm appears above 

 the "round, which if the weather is favourable will be in about 

 a month, the hand hoe or scraper should be passed between the 

 drills so as to destroy all weeds, which are very injurious to the 

 growth of the potato. By the time the plants are meeting in the 

 drills they should have had their last furrowing up. 



" If the blossoms of the potato plant are picked off before they 

 run into plums (which could be done by boys), it will increase 

 the weight of the tubers considerably, as much strength of the 

 plant goes to nourish the plums." When potatoes are ripe the 

 sooner they are lifted the better, dry weather being chosen for the 

 operation. All should be lifted and stored by the end of October, 

 or before the frost can injure them. There are various ways of 

 taking them out of the ground, the hand grape, the plough, 

 single and double, and also machinery, but whatever method is 

 used, the principal object should be, to lift them oil, and to 

 gather ujJ all as yoic jjroceecl, for if once trod into the soft earth 

 no harrow will take them out. The intrinsic value of the potato 

 consists in its beincj neither too larc^e nor too small, rough 

 skinned, white fleshed, fine flavoured, mealy, and the eyes few 

 and shallow. 



After the trouble of raising and cultivating such a precarious 

 and valuable crop as the potato, great care should be taken in the 

 storing. The best method to keep them is in clamps or pits, 

 either round or prismatical in form, and should slope evenly from 

 the roof to allow the rain to run off easily. The pit should be 

 laid with the ends north and south to keep off as much as possible 

 the frosty winds of winter. The bottom should be four or five 

 inches below the level of the "round and three feet six inches 

 wide. The height of the pit from three to four feet. The lighter 

 and thinner potatoes are pitted the better. No matter how long 

 the pit is, supposing there is room and plenty of wheat straw to 

 cover it. The most important thing to guard against is heat, 

 and that especially in new seedlings, as they are young and 

 vigorous and full of moisture when taken out of the ground. 

 Place plenty of clean dry straw on your potatoes, say about a 

 foot thick from top to bottom. Then cover very lightly with 



