132 THE POTATO, 



inches long by two feet three inches wide being mentioned 

 as a suggestion only. The legs are three inches square, 

 the boards round the sides and ends four inches by three- 

 quarters of an inch, and the laths forming the stays about 

 two inches by one inch. The laths are fixed at an angle 

 of 45 deg., with a small space between each, as shown on 

 the sketch. Other necessary dimensions are also given on 

 the sketches. The rack can be made any height desired, 

 and the potatoes can be readily turned over and examined. 

 Or the " seed " tubers can be stored in boxes, a good and 

 simply made box being shown in Fig. 10. It is similar 

 to an ordinary box except that, instead of the sides being 

 solid, they are formed of two two inch by one inch laths, 

 fixed as shown in the accompanying sketch, Fig. 10. The 

 laths serve as handles, and at the same time the air is 

 allowed to circulate freely amongst the contents. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

 ON REARING NEW VARIETIES. 



FOR fifty years or more a few enthusiastic potato experts 

 have been quietly and busily engaged in rearing new and 

 improved forms of the potato. Few, however, recognised 

 the importance of this quiet, unostentatious labour, or 

 even troubled themselves very much about it. It was 

 not till the celebrated Northern Star and Eldorado ap- 

 peared and created such a boom in the agricultural and 

 horticultural world that people began to interest them- 

 selves in so important a branch of horticultural science 

 as the crossing and rearing of new varieties of the popular 

 tuber. Workers like Robert Fenn, William Paterson, and 



