-2 THE POTATO. 



reader to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest every 

 line of the advice given therein. Given a good soil and 

 fine weather, so that the soil can be comfortably and easily 

 worked without trampling it into a pasty mass, the plant- 

 ing may proceed in earnest between any of the dates men- 

 tioned. Do not overlook the importance of selecting 

 medium-sized whole tubers as " sets," getting these boxed 

 and properly sprouted, and then allowing ample space 

 between the " sets " and the rows. Give each plant good 

 soil to supply food, and plenty of room to develop, and 

 it will reward you a hundredfold for all your pains. The 

 drills in this case may be three to four inches deep, accord- 

 ing to the state of the soil. Directly the shoots appear 

 through the soil use the hoe occasionally to keep down 

 weeds and aerate the soil. At this period it will be oppor- 

 tune to apply guano or one of the nitrogenous manures 

 advised in Chapter V. When the shoots or " shaws " 

 are high enough, mould up the rows, choosing a fine day 

 for the work. Draw the earth up well to the stems, and 

 take care in doing so not to injure^ or expose the young 

 tubers. In damp seasons favourable to the potato disease 

 the Jensen system of giving a second earthing up might 

 well be practised. This, how r ever, can only be properly 

 practised where there is a good width between the rows 

 in order to get the necessary mould. The system is to 

 draw the mould up flatly on one side of the row and to 

 depress the stems over on to it, and then to earth up 

 freely with a fork on the opposite side, this causing the 

 potato stems to heel over on their sides. This plan pre- 

 vents the spores of the fungus being washed on to the 

 tubers. The lifting of the crop should be done on fine 

 days. As the lifting proceeds throw the haulm into one 

 row, the cooking tubers into another, the seed tubers in 

 another row, and the "chats " by themselves. Diseased 

 tubers, if any, should, if discovered, be thrown into a 

 basket or box, and burnt at the earliest opportunity. 

 Tubers for cooking purposes should not be exposed longer 

 than necessary to the light, but stored away. Fuller 



