The Kitchen Garden. 



73 



VI. 

 THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 



I consider the kitchen garden of very considerable importance, as pot-herbs, ealads, and 

 roots of various kinds are useful in housekeeping. Having a plenty of them at hand, a family 

 will not be so likely to run into the error which is too common la this coxmtry, of eating flesh 

 In too great a proportion for health. — Dr. Veane. 



I.— ESCULENT ROOTS. 



1. The Potato — Solanum Tuberosum. 



HE potato, called by tlie Frencli la pomme 

 de terre, and by the Germans bie ^artofcT, 

 is a native of the elevated equatorial regions 

 of South America, and is still to be found 

 in a wild state in the neighborhood of 

 Quito and other places. It appears to have 

 been introduced into North America and cultivated by 

 the Virginia colonists as early as 1584. A few yeai-s 

 later it was carried to England by Sh' Walter Raleigh. 

 The varieties of the potato are numberless; and, 

 while old sorts are constantly disappearing, new ones 

 are every year coming into notice and taking their places. 

 The duration of a variety is believed by Knight and others to 

 be limited to fourteen years. Very few sorts continue to be 

 cultivated even that length of time. New varieties are readily 

 produced by planting the seed found in the balls. The opera- 

 tion is a simple one, and should more frequently be undertaken. 

 There is no doubt but that varieties will yet be obtained in this 

 way far superior to any yet known. "We give in the Appendix 

 full directions for producing and proving new sorts. 



To give a list of the best varieties of the potato, were it 

 practicable, would be useless. The best sorts of this year 

 may be put in the second or third rank next year ; besides, 



