Cultivation of Aralk Land. Potatoes-*-Varieties of. 7 



to be more than two diftinct fpecies; the red-rooted^ or that which bears a pur 

 ple bloilbm or flower, and the white-rooted , or that which has a white flower. 



It is fuggefted by an intelligent practical writer, that much ftill remains to 

 be performed in refpecl: to the improvement of the quality and productivenefs of 

 this plant, by railing it from feed. The farmers in Yorkshire, it is obferved, 

 adopt this method. &quot; In autumn when the apples are beginning to fall fpon- 

 taneoufly, they are gathered by hand, and preferred among fand until the fpring, 

 when they are mafhed among the fand, or among frefh mould, feparating the 

 feeds, and mixing them evenly with the mould. So foon as the fpring froftsare 

 judged to be over, they are fown in fine garden mould ; and as faft as the plants 

 get into rough leaf, and are ftrong enough to be handled without injury, they 

 are tranfplanted into another bed of frefh mould in rows, which arc kept clean 

 during fummer. In autumn, bunches of fmall potatoes are found at the roots 

 of thefe plants, varying in fize, the firit year from an hazel nut to that of a crab 

 apple. Thefe being planted in the fucceeding fpring, produce potatoes of the 

 middle fize ; but they do not arrive at their full bulk until the third or fourth 

 year. When the ufe of the ftove or the garden frame can be procured, this 

 procefs may be fhortened; the feeds being fown within thefe early in the fpring, 

 the plants will be fit to be planted out as foon as the frofts are gone, by which 

 means the fize of the roots will be much increafed the firft year, and will, in 

 the fecond year, rife nearly to perfection.&quot;* It is alfo added, that, in felecting 

 proper plants from feedling potatoes, two circumftances are neccffary to be at 

 tended to ; which are, the quality of the potatoe, and its productivenefs. In 

 cafes where thefe different properties are combined in the fame plant, there 

 can be no difficulty in deciding in its favour. 



The varieties of this root, that are at prefent in cultivation in different parts 

 of the kingdom, arc extremely numerous. In Lancafhire, where the potatoe 

 hulbandry is well underftood and largely practifed, there are, according to the 

 account of Mr. Kirkpatrick, upwards of twenty forts of the more early kinds, 

 and more than half as many of thofc of the late.f 



* Donaldfon s Modern Agriculture, vol. II. 



I Thefe different varieties are thus denominated in his Traft on the Culture of the Potatoe- 



Early kinds, 



Smooth yellows, Mather s feedlings, 



Red champions, Kerkham marbles, 



White ditto, * Donbobin s feedlings, 



Lady queens, Poor man s profit, 



Drunken landlord, Golden gulleon?, 



Birchal s golden yellow, -Invincible, 



