224 



THE FLOEAL WOKLD AND GARDEN aUIDE. 



essential to tlie production of a useful 

 crop; tlie burning sun we cannot com- 

 mand, but drainage must be secured, 

 manure must be avoided or used witli 

 caution in a tliorouglily rotten state, the 

 plant must be got into growtli before its 

 strengtli is exhausted by tlie premature 

 sprouting of tlie tubers, and the crop must 

 be liarvested in the dryest weather that 

 can be had for tlie purpose. Our hope is 

 that we may j'et use tlie potato as our 

 forefathers did in the days when disease 

 was unknown, and we shall not consider 

 the space of a few columns wasted in bring- 

 ing before our readers tlie facts on whicli 

 future practice in the culture of the potato 

 must be based. 



Now there is one thing certain, over 

 and above what we have stated as to the 

 necessity for a dry soil, thorough exposure 

 to the sun by planting at wide intervals, 

 and generally the non-use of manure. It 

 is this, that the less the potato is exposed 

 to the atmosphere, the better for it. It is 

 not iu its nature to bo used as we use it ; 

 that is, in its native climate as a wild plant, 

 it is not kept in sacks under covei", or in 

 clumps exposed to damp for six months in 

 the year, and the disease being constitu- 

 tional is obviously the result of some viola- 

 tion of the natural habit of the plant. V/e 

 will not venture to say that the ordinary 

 method of storing potatoes is the cause of 

 disease. Wliere tlie most eminent au- 

 thorities differ we may be diffident to 

 hazard an opinion as entitled to any more 

 respect tlian an opinion can claim, for the 

 opinions of the ablest are often wrong, and 

 the greatest error in all discirssions is tliat 

 of confounding opinions with facts. But 

 we liave a fact liere, and it is this, that 

 potatoes planted in autumn generally pro- 

 duce larger and better crops than those 

 planted in spring, and the cause may be 

 that being committed to the ground before 

 the juices of the tuber undergo deteriora- 

 tion by exposure to the atraospliere, the 

 plant has its proper vigour and grows in a 

 manner consistent with its natural halnt. 

 Potatoes for culinary use improve by keep- 

 ing : they become more mealy by parting 

 with moisture, but the moisture which 

 leaves them by evaporation is doubtless 

 the life blood of the jilant, and autumn 

 planting saves it from being dissipated. 



There are two methods of adapt- 

 ing the culture to what we consider the 

 natural habit of the potato. The first is 

 to leave them in the ground rmtouched the 

 whole of the winter ; if seven inches deep 

 no frost will liurt thcin. They may be 

 frozen through, and every diseased tuber 

 Aviii be thereby destroyed, but not a single 



sound tuber, however large or small, will 

 suffer injury. Potatoes, like apples, may 

 be frozen without harm if in the dark until 

 completely and slowly thawed again. But 

 this method may be varied, the ground may 

 be got ready for the next crop by deep 

 trenching any time during September and 

 October, and the potatoes may be taken up 

 a few at a time, sotted for consumption and 

 planting according to sizes, the best sets 

 being those of good shape and not very 

 large, even small tubers will do for sets if 

 hard and ripe ; thus the two operations may 

 proceed together, one row at a time for 

 each, and the potatoes then removed from 

 tills year's crop are transferred to tlie soil 

 for next year's growtli, witliout being ex- 

 posed to the atmosphere more than from a 

 few minutes to an liour or so. The rows 

 should be not less tlian twenty inclies apart 

 for dwarf growers, and quite twenty-four 

 or thirtj^ inches for strong growers ; the 

 sets full eighteen inches apart in the rows, 

 and to be covered .seven inches deep with 

 loose and friable soil which is not to be 

 trodden on. The more freely the air cir- 

 culates through the soil about the sets, the 

 safer are they from frost, and it will settle 

 by its own weight sufBcientlj' without 

 trampling, which is decidedly injurious. 



If left in the ground all the winter, the 

 crop should be dug during mild weather, 

 very early in March, or even at the end of 

 February, sorted at once, and the sets 

 transferred to their rows Avithout delay. 

 They will lift as sound then as now, pro- 

 vided they are fall seven inches deep ; but 

 if they are at a less depth tlian that, they 

 may be injured : a'nd therefore the com- 

 pletion of the work during September and 

 October is far preferable, as it clears the 

 ground, liberates the crop for sale and 

 domestic use, allows of the planting being 

 finished at a season when there is more 

 time for it than in the spring, and enables 

 the plant to put out roots where it is to 

 remain and even to form tubers, which it 

 will do long before the season arrives for 

 the haulm to appear. Potatoes noAv green- 

 ing on the soil for seed, may be disposed 

 of in the same way, by planting at once ; 

 and we urgently recommend the practice, 

 with the observation of a few precautions 

 now to bo briefly stated. 



On sandy, chalky, and peaty soils of <a 

 dry nature, Avhere the Avet does not lodge 

 in winter, and on deep loams thoroughly 

 drained, autumn planting is the best system 

 of culture. On wet heavy soils of all kinds, 

 the planting must be defen-ed till spring. 

 In autumn planting tohole sets must be 

 used, cut sets will not do, as decay Avill 

 commence along tlie cut surface, and ex- 



