100 Cultivation of PerMns's Seedling Potato. 



Prepare the soil where each plant is to be set, by first taking out 

 two or three spades full ; then till the hole partly up with old rotten 

 manure, composed of decayed leaves, or dung from an old hot-bed ; 

 mix the soil first taken out with this, place in the plant and level off, 

 finishing with a very light watering, if dry weather. If the plants 

 are well rooted in the pots, and the transplanting judiciously done, 

 they will not require shading from the sun. When they show flow- 

 er, they should have a stake put dow^n to each, to which they 

 fshould be tied, as the weight of the fruit, as it grows, will be liable to 

 break the branches. No other particular care is requisite throughout 

 the summer. 



Art. VI. Observations on the Cultivation of the early Variety of 

 Potato called Perkins's Seedling. By Samuel Pond. 



Gentlemen, 



Having repeatedly been requested by you to give an account of 

 my success in raising early potatoes, I send you the following brief 

 remarks : — The early potatoes that have been exhibited by me for 

 several years in succession at the Hall of the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society, and so frequently the first in the market, were raised 

 from the variety generally called Perkins's seedling. I first receiv- 

 ed a small quantity from my friend, Solomon Perkins, Esq., of South 

 Bridgewater. They were the produce of a kind which he raised 

 from the potato balls, a year or two previous. Whether or not 

 he adopted the method pursued in England by many of the most 

 scientific cultivators, of cross impregnation in the parents of this va- 

 riety, 1 am not aware ; but that this kind is much earlier in com- 

 ing to maturity, than any other raised about Boston, is too well 

 known to need repetition. 



The manner in which I have planted the potato is somewhat dif- 

 ferent from that generally pursued by most gardeners ; the soil where 

 they were grown was deep, and rich. Early in the spring I usually 

 gave the ground a deep ploughing, after which it lay exposed till the 

 time of planting ; — this was done according to the earliness or late- 

 ness of the season — sometimes early in March, and again not till the 

 latter part of the month. When ready for sowing, drills were made 

 three and a half feet apart. The manure that I generally made use 

 of, was very strawy and coarse ; I have had good success by using 

 the covering of leaves, sea-weed, &,c. taken from strawberry beds in 

 the spring ; — spreading it in the furrows. The potatoes that I have 

 generally selected for seed were fair, and about the middle size ; I 

 prefer such, to those that are large and overgrown. The small ones, 

 however, I invariably refuse, as they do not come forward so early, 



