Potato Culture. 



INFLUENCE OF SOIL ON SEEDLINGS. 



The characteristics of a potato, such 

 as quality, productiveness, healthful- 

 ness, uniformity of size, etc., depend 

 much on the nature of the soil on 

 which it originated. These charac- 

 teristics, some or all, imbibed by the 

 minute potato from the ingredients 

 of the soil, at its first growth from the 

 seed of the potato-ball, adhere with 

 great tenacity to it through all its 

 generations. A seedling may, in size, 

 color, and form resemble its parent ; 

 but its constitution and quality are in 

 a great degree dependent on the na- 

 ture of the soil, climatic influences, 

 and other accidental causes. 



True crosses are generally more 

 vigorous and healthy than others; 

 and it is probably to accidental 

 crosses we are indebted for many va- 

 rieties that differ so widely from their 

 parents. A cross is most apparent to 

 the eye when the parents are of diffe- 

 rent colors, in which case the offspring 

 will be striped or marked with the 

 colors of each parent. 



HOW TO CROSS VARIETIES. 



In order to comprehend fully the 

 principles of this subject, and their 

 application to practical operations, it 

 will be necessary to take a general 

 view of the generative organs of the 

 vegetable kingdom, and the manner 

 in which they act in the production 

 of their species. If we examine a 

 perfect flower, we shall find that it 

 consists essentially of two sets of or- 

 gans, one called the pistils, the other 

 the stamens. The pistils are located 

 in the centre of the flower, and the 

 stamens around them. The summit 

 of the pistil is called the stigma ; and 

 on the top of each stamen is situated 

 an anther a small sack, which con- 

 tains the pollen, a dust-like substance, 

 that fertilizes the ovules or young 

 seeds of the plant, 



These organs are supposed to per- 

 form offices analogous to those of the 

 animal kingdom the stamens repre- 

 senting the male, and the pistils the 

 female organs. 



When the anthers, which contain 

 the pollen, arrive at maturity, they 

 open and emit a multitude of minute 

 grains of pollen; and these, falling 

 on the pistils of the flower, throw 

 out hair-like tubes, which penetrate 

 through the vascular tissue of the 

 pistil, and ultimately reach the ovules, 

 thus fertilizing them, and making 

 them capable, when mature, of repro- 

 ducing plants of their own kind. 



The ovules are the rudimentary 

 seeds, situated in a case at the base 

 of the pistils, each consisting of a 

 central portion, called the nucleus, 

 which is surrounded by two coats, 

 the inner called the secundine, the 

 outer the primine. When the hair- 

 like tube of the pollen-grain passes 

 through the orifice in the coatings of 

 the ovule, and reaches the nucleus, or 

 embryo sack, it is supposed to emit 

 a spermatic or plantlet germ, which 

 passes through the wall of the em- 

 bryo sack and enters the germinal 

 vesicle contained in it. The vesicle 

 corresponds to the vesicle, or germinal 

 spot, in the eggs of birds, and ovum 

 of mammiferous animals. The germ 

 remains in the vesicle, and finally be- 

 comes the embryo, fully developed 

 into a plantlet, as may be seen in 

 many seeds. 



Flowers of plants are called perfect 

 when the stamens and pistils are in 

 the same flower, as the apple; mo- 

 noecious, when in different flowers 

 and on the same plant, as the white 

 oak ; and dioecious, when in different 

 flowers and on different plants, as in 

 the hemp. In that class of plants in 

 which the stamens, or males, are on 

 one plant, and the pistils, or females, 

 on another, the males of course must 

 always remain barren \ and the pisti- 



