On the Cultivation of Annuals. 101 



and never grow vigorously. It is too frequently the practice vi^ith 

 many persons, to sell all those large and fair, and plant the small 

 ones remaining on hand. Nothing can be more prejudicial than this, 

 for it soon causes a deterioration in size and quality, which by some 

 is supposed to be a mixture with some other variety. Tiie pota- 

 toes were cut in half, and planted about six inches apart. I omitted 

 covering them for three or four days, unless frosty weather, as I 

 found that they were apt to rot ; but by leaving them to shrivel for 

 a short time, and then covering thcui at once, they started much 

 sooner and made stronger shoots, though it is characteristic of this 

 variety never to make strong vines. When they were hoed, I was 

 careful they were hilled up very sparingly, for when covered too 

 deep I observed their flavor was inferior to those grown where the soil 

 was more shallow. I have tried a number of varieties which were 

 reputed to be very early, and also of excellent flavor ; but 1 have 

 never found any of them so early as the Perkins seedling, or any that 

 would so well repay all the trouble bestowed on their cultivation. 

 The size of this variety is large, some that I dug on the VStk of June, 

 1830, measuring nine and a half inches in circumference, and per- 

 fectly ripe. The potatoes are of excellent qualhy ; where this variety 

 has been raised in the country, some distance from the city, it has 

 been preferred to almost every other, exclusive of its earliness, for 

 yielding large and abundant crops. 



I have now mostly given up the raising of potatoes, having my 

 ground chiefly occupied with grape vines, he. Among other varie- 

 ties, is one I have raised from seed, the fruit of which I have once or 

 twice exhibited to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. In some 

 future number 1 hope to give you an account of its origin, together 

 with some observations I have made, in raising several vines from 

 seed of the Isabella, k,c. v c -d 



' Yours, bAMUEL rOND. 



Cambridgeport, Feb. 6th, 1835. 



Art. VII. Observations on the Cultivation of Anmials ; with an 

 Account of those choice and beautiful of late Introduction ; and 

 Remarks on the Varieties most suitable for planting in 3Iasses. 

 By the Coxductors. 



The cultivation of annual plants is so common, by every individ- 

 ual possessing a garden, that it may seem unnecessary to have re- 

 course to a Magazine for further information. It is true, that many 

 of the old inhabitants of the flower border need no care to produce 

 their beautiful flowers, and some are almost as troublesome to the 

 gardener as weeds. It is not to these, however, that our remarks are 



