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table potatoes.) New kinds may be raised from the seed of tbe apple in 

 this manner : let the apples or berries be quite ripe or nearly rotten ; then 

 wash away the pulp from the seed, and having dried the latter, put it 

 up in a careful place, not too dry, for too much heat destroys the vital- 

 ity of seeds — not too damp, for that too will kill them. Early in 

 spring sow the seed on a hot bed in Uttle drills. They can be easier 

 weeded and watered in this manner, and thinned out, so as to enable 

 them to produce middle sized tubers. When these are ripe, take them 

 up, and select the best tubers, rejecting those which are worthless. 

 Plant these tubers whole the next spring, and from their produce you 

 may have some kinds worth naming and preserving. 



BOITZRMBURG. 



M. Zandu, of Boitzemburg, in Prussia, raised full sized potatoes from 

 seed in one year, by sowing the seed on a hot-bed early in spring, and 

 when the seedhngs had attained the height of four inches, planting them 

 out into drills prepared for the purpose. The drills were shaded, and 

 the seedlings watered carefully until they had struck root ; and after that 

 they received several earthings. In this manner the plants were grown 

 until the tops had attained the height of three feet, and produced full 

 sized tubers. 



Many varieties of potato have sprung from the seed of the same 

 apple, the pollen of one description being mixed with that of another, 

 or many others, by bees and other insects. The hybridirature of the 

 potato, or the crossing of one kind with another, is performed by care- 

 fully mixing the pollen (that is the dust discharged by the stamens) of 

 one plant with that of the other. The flowers operated on should be 

 covered by a lace or gauze bag to prevent the access of flies during the 

 mixing of the pollen. The anthers (these are the tops of the stamens) 

 should be removed and the fine dust shaken over the wounded stam- 

 ens, and into the calyx or cup of the flower. The operation is attended 

 with uncertainty, as very few potato blossoms bear seed. Many have 

 considered that one of the chief causes of the gi-eat potato failure was the 

 continual raising of potatoes from the tuber instead of from the seed. 

 Now this is a fallacy, for many trees and plants are raised from cuttmgs 

 as well as from seeds ; nearly every kind of poplar and willow can be 

 raised from either seeds or cuttings. The sugar cane produces seeds 

 but it is propagated by cuttings and layerings. The strawberry is pro 

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