406 VILLA GARDENING PART v 



April. Heavy land may be manured at the time it is turned up, 

 but the manm-e for light laud should be worked into a compost by 

 mixing earth and any other manurial substance with it, to increase 

 its bulk, and fix the ammonia which is commonly evolved in fer- 

 mentation. This compost may be placed in the drills at planting 

 time with the Potato sets. I like to sprinkle the compost over 

 and between the sets, as then I think the Potatoes receive the 

 full advantage of it. There is no doubt that Potatoes are gross 

 feeders, and if we could ensure dry seasons in July and August 

 they would utilise profitably very liberal dressings of manure ; but 

 for producing Potatoes of good quality the compost I have recom- 

 mended is better than richer manures. In Potato-growing districts, 

 even where the land is in good condition, artificial manures are 

 largely used. It is not easy to say 



Which are the Best Manures for Potatoes on all soils, but 

 experience points to phosphates as being best and most profitable 

 to use. Probably on poor soils guano or manures rich in ammoni- 

 acal salts will be better, or a mixture of the two ; at any rate, the 

 land must be in good condition if 5 cwt. of phosphatic manures 

 per acre cannot be profitably used. The next question is. When 

 shoidd the manure be applied? In field culture it is generally 

 given at the time of planting, scattering it along the drills and 

 covering it in with the plough with the Potatoes ; but in gardens 

 the manure may with advantage be given at two periods, viz. one 

 at planting time, scattered along the drills, and the other, half 

 scattered between the rows, just before moulding up. 



Preparing the Seeds. — This question has assumed a wider 

 significance of late years ; formerly it was thought anything would 

 do to plant, and this carelessness about the seed Potatoes doubtless 

 had something to do with that deterioration which opened the 

 way for the attack of the Peronospora, which created such a panic 

 throughout the land. The seed Potatoes should be selected at 

 lifting time, and be spread on the floor in an open shed or some 

 airy building. Here they lie till the skin gets set and hard, then 

 they should be packed in shallow boxes and placed one above the 

 other in a building where air and light can enter freely when not 

 freezing, but where the means exist of keeping out frost. The 

 early kinds may be placed in single layers, crown upwards, in 

 shallow boxes or trays, and put under the stage in the greenhouse ; 

 or the Orchard-house is an excellent situation for them if the frost 

 is kept out. In such a light airy situation the central eye in the 

 crown soon takes the lead, and when planted out only one stem 

 appears. Such plants come in earlier, and the crop is more even 

 in size. Early Potatoes, at any rate, shoidd never have more than 



