Book I. POTATOE. 



625 



sorts by raising from seed ; but because any variety cultivated for a few years in the 

 same soil and situation, as in the same garden or farm, acquires a peculiarity of cha- 

 racter or habit, which distinguishes it from the same variety in a different soil and situ- 

 ation. The varieties in general cultivation may be distinguished in regard to yrrecocily, 

 tar dity, form, size, color, and quality. 



3653. Precocity. The earliest varieties are — 



Hog's early frame ; a small watery pota- 

 toe, fit only for very early forcing 



Royal dwarf; a mealy potatoe, much grown 

 at Perth 



Early Manchester ; waxy and red 



Common early frame; waxy 



Foxe's yellow seedling ; similar, but rather 



larger, waxy 

 American early; much esteemed at 



Edinburgh 



Early dwarf; waxy 

 Early ash-leaved ; dry 

 Early champion ; large 

 M'Cree's early; dry. 



3654. JVb blosso?7is are produced by any of the above sorts : they are roundish in form, 

 small-sized, white, and not of the best quality. 



3655. Tardily. The latest sorts are — 



The round purple } The speckled purple, or tartan ; commonly grown in 



The oblong purple mossy soils in Scotland. 



3656. The form of potatoes is either round, oblong, or kidney-shaped. 

 3o57. Of the round, the most esteemed are — 



The champion ; late and early varieties I Round red ; middle-sized, smooth 



The oxnoble ; very large, and of a peculiar flavor Round rough red ; or Lancashire, 



not generally esteemed 



3658. The oblong are — 



The red-nosed oval; often confounded 



with the red kidney 

 The oblong red ; varied with white 

 The oblong white 



The American red ; long and not thick 

 The Irish red, or pink ; oblong and en- 

 tirely red, with hollow eyes 

 The bright-red, blood-red, or apple-po- 



tatoe; ovate, with small full eyes, 

 much grown in Cheshire and Lan- 

 cashire, mealy and agreeably flavored. 



Purple; very mealy, productive, and keeps 



well 

 Red apple; mealy, keeps the longest of 



any. 



3659. The kidney-shaped are — 



The common white kidney; of a peculiar flavor esteemed by many | The red kidney ; reckoned somewhat more hardy. 



3660. In size, the early sorts are the least, and the oxnoble and late champions the 

 largest. 



3661. In color, the early sorts are in general white, the oblong sorts red, and the latest 

 sorts purple. 



3662. In quality, potatoes are either watery, as the very early sorts ; waxy, as the 

 American and Irish reds ; or mealy, as the ash-leaved early, the champion, the kidney, &e. 



3663. The following list is recommended by the principal London seedsmen at the 

 present time : — 



For forcing in frames, or for the first crop in the open garden. 

 Fox's seedling | Early manley | Early mule ( Broughton dwarf. 



For general cultivation in the open garden or field. 

 Early kidney; good flavor, and very early, keeps well | Nonsuch; early, prolific | Early shaw ; good early sort for general use. 



For main crops, arranged in the order of their ripening. 



Early champion; very generally culti- I Bread-fruit; originated about 1810, pro> 



vated, prolific, and mealy I lific, white, and mealy 



Red-nose kidney J Lancashire pink-eye ; good 



Large kidney I Black skin ; mealy, white, and good 



3664. In general, every toivn and district has its peculiar and favorite varieties, early 

 as well as late, so that, excepting as to the best early kinds, and the best for a general crop 

 in all soils, any list, however extended, could be of little use. Dr. Hunter, in his 

 Georgical Essays, has supposed the duration of a variety to be fourteen years ; and 

 Knight (Hort. Trans, vol. i. ) concurs with him in opinion. There are some excellent 

 sorts of party-colored potatoes in Scotland, which degenerate when removed from one 

 district to another ; and most of the Scotch and Irish varieties degenerate in England. 

 The best mode, therefore, to order potatoes for seed is to give a general description of 

 the size, color, form, and quality wanted, and whether for an early or late crop. 



3665. Propagation. The potatoe may be propagated from seed, cuttings or layers of the green shoots 

 sprouts from the eyes of the tubers, or portions of the tubers containing a bud or eye. The object of the 

 first method is, to procure new or improved varieties ; of the second, little more than curiosity, or to mul- 

 tiply as quickly as possible a rare sort ; and of the third, to save the tubers for food. The method by por- 

 tions of the tubers is the best, and that almost universally practised for the general purposes, both of field 

 and garden culture. 



3666. By seed. Gather some of the ripest apples in September or October, take out and preserve the 

 seed till spring, and then sow it thinly in small drills. When the plants are up two or three inches thin 

 them to five or six inches' distance, and suffer them to grow to the end of October, when the roots will 

 furnish a supply of small potatoes, which must then be taken up, and a portion of the best reserved for 

 planting next spring in the usual way. Plant these, and let them have the ensuing summer's full growth 

 till October, at which time the tubers will be of a proper size to determine their properties. Having con- 

 sidered not merely the flavor of each new variety, but the size, shape, and color, the comparative fertility 

 and healthiness, earliness or lateness, reject or retain it for permanent culture accordingly. (Abercrombie.) 



3667. To produce seeds on early potatoes. The earliest varieties of potatoes, it has been already re- 

 marked, do not produce flowers or seed. Knight, desirous of saving seed from one of these sorts, took 

 a very ingenious method of inducing the plants to produce flowers. " I suspected the cause," he says, 

 " of the constant failure of the early potatoe to produce seeds, to be the preternaturally early formation of 

 the tuberous root; which draws off for its support that portion of the sap which, in other plants of the 

 same species, affords nutriment to the blossoms and seeds : and experiment soon satisfied me that my con- 

 jectures were perfectly well founded. 1 took several methods of placing the plants to grow, in such a 

 situation, as enabled me readily to prevent the formation of tuberous roots ; but the following appearing 

 the best, it is unnecessary to trouble the Society with an account of any other. Having fixed strong stakes 



S s 



