THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



225 



have been made ; for, though they may 

 cost a little more at first, if they prove 

 good, seed can be carefully saved, and 

 the variety preserved for more exten- 

 sive planting. Among the early sorts, 

 the true Ash-leaved Kidney is, per- 

 haps, unsurpassed. It is very prolific, 

 seldom touched with disease, and a 

 first-rate potatoe for the table. The 

 Fluke, and the Lapstone, both first- 

 class kidney sorts, of recent introduc- 

 tion, have proved first-rate ; the Fluke, 

 especially, being least subject to disease 

 of any potatoe at present known. 

 Deane's Seedling, a variety introduced 

 by Mr. Spencer, of Bowood, is another 

 admirable sort. All that we have 

 named are early, or second early, and 

 these are the sorts that pay best, be- 

 cause they come off the ground in good 

 time to allow it to be dressed for a 

 winter crop, and, for the same reason, 

 they generally escape the ravages of 

 the disease, which seldom appears 

 xmtil towards autumn, when the nights 

 get cold, the weather damp, and hence 

 the plant, naturally exhausted by its 

 summer growth, has not sufficient 

 vigour to withstand untoward in- 

 fluences. Among late sorts, those 

 known as Scotch cups, are most to be 

 depended on ; but late potatoes are fast 

 going out of culture ; nor do we need 

 them, seeing how well the Lapstones, 

 Flukes, and Red Ash- leaf Kidney 

 keep till the new crop of the next 

 year is ready to succeed them. 



In planting, use none but whole sets, 

 of middling size; neither the large 

 potatoes, nor the little "chats." Those 

 of the size of hens' eggs, and from 

 that, to the size of a goose's egg, are the 

 best. At the time of planting, the sets 

 should be firm, and slightly sprouted, 

 the sprouts close, very stiff and strong, 

 and dark-green, or purple ; if at all 

 white, and tender, they will rub off, 

 and if rubbed off, the tuber must pro- 

 ■duce fresh sprouts, and so make the 

 first progress towards ruin. If you 

 are compelled to use large potatoes, 

 cut them in fair sized pieces, with four 

 • or five good eyes to each, and in 

 •cutting, separate the (juts that contain 

 the crown of each, and plant them 

 apart from the others, for they grow 

 .away to haulm very much, and do not 

 ripen at exactly the same time. When 



they are cut, lay them out, and dust 

 them with quicklime, and when pretty 

 well dried, plant them. 



The ground should be in good tilth, 

 not recently manured, but well and 

 deeply dug, and the sets should be 

 trenched in— not inserted with a dibber 

 — that is, laid along in drills, opened by 

 the spade at proper distances, and 

 covered by the spade in the making 

 of the next trench. The soil above, 

 around, and under them, cannot be 

 too loose and friable, and, from the 

 moment the sets are in, not a foot 

 should be set on it, until the time 

 comes for hoeing them over. 



The planting of potatoes may be 

 performed any time between the last 

 week in January, and the second week 

 in March, but the earlier the better ; 

 and the first week in February may 

 be set down as the best time for all 

 ordinary purposes, even if the grower 

 does not aim at having them specially 

 early. But they may also be planted 

 in October and November, and very 

 good results have followed from autumn 

 planting on dry soils, but on wet soils 

 it is better delayed till March. Pota- 

 toes planted as late as June, will fre- 

 quently produce good crops, but every 

 delay after the first week in March in- 

 creases the risk, and there is no know- 

 ing what disasters may happen before 

 you get them up; therefore, the old 

 adage about the " early bird," is parti- 

 cularly applicable in the planting of 

 potatoes. As to the distances at which 

 they should be planted, the " Cottage 

 Gardener's Dictionary " says, " the 

 early crops twelve inches apart every 

 way, and the main ones eighteen in- 

 ches," but I prefer and recommend a 

 different method — in fact, two methods. 

 One plan applies to the early sorts, 

 though it may be adopted with any ; 

 the other is specially applicable to late 

 ones, or those that are not to be moved 

 till quite ripe. Suppose we are to 

 plant Ash-leaved Kidneys on a piece of 

 ground ; I should not make beds, but 

 plant them over the whole piece in rows 

 eighteen inches apart, and the sets 

 eight inches apart in the rows. This 

 would be done from the middle of 

 January to the middle of February, 

 according to the state of the weather. 

 They would be hoed between, and 



