FORCING KIDNEY- BEANS AND PEAS. 519 



also be gained by starting the tubers in pots, and when they have 

 reached a height of about six inches transfer them to frames. Distance 

 from plant to plant one foot each way. Give water occasionally, and 

 admit as much air as possible at all times. The general mode is to 

 plant in frames or pits, on a bed of fermenting material, sufficient to 

 produce a gentle heat, for the potato will not bear rapid forcing, a 

 high temperature, or a dry atmosphere. They, however, cannot have 

 too much light, being natives of a high table-land with a clear sky. 

 Some gardeners plant them on old hotbeds and supply the heat by 

 linings; and many plant them on beds unprotected by glass, but 

 covered with hoops and mats during nights and very severe weather. 

 Six weeks may likewise be gained in the ripening of early potatoes by 

 planting them in light dry soils in front of south walls. 



A substitute for new potatoes is obtained by placing layers of 

 potatoes alternately with sawdust in a box, and placing them in a 

 moderate temperature in a room or cellar. The potatoes vegetate and 

 produce tubers in December and January, about the size of walnuts, 

 and sometimes larger, without any leaves having been protruded. This 

 plan is most successful when potatoes of the growth of the season- 

 before-last are used. By this treatment no leaves will emerge above 

 the soil, and, consequently, as no nutritive matter can be deposited by 

 them, the new potatoes, which may be produced at any required period 

 by burying the old potatoes three weeks before, are nothing more than 

 a recompositiou of the old tuber, in consequence of the application of 

 heat and moisture. Few persons, however, will be satisfied with this 

 kind of a substitute for a new potato formed by the aid of light and 

 foliage. Another mode of producing a substitute for new potatoes is, 

 by retarding the tubers of early varieties by keeping them in a cool 

 dry cellar till June or July, and then planting them. Being early 

 sorts, they produce, even when planted thus late, a crop of young 

 potatoes which possess in a great degree the flavour peculiar to 

 potatoes taken fresh from the stem. By covering the ground with 

 litter, so as to exclude the frost, young potatoes may thus be obtained 

 throughout the winter. In the mild climate of Cornwall, where the 

 winters frequently pass with little or no frost, the planting of sets can 

 be deferred till autumn; and with a little protection, the plants, 

 although pushed above ground, are preserved through the winter, and 

 in consequence afford an early supply of genuine young potatoes. 



Forcing Kidney-beans and Peas. 



The kidney-bean (Phaseolus vulgaris, L.), being a native of India, 

 may be forced in the same heat as that required for the pine-apple ; 

 but although it will bear this extreme, it will succeed in a temperature 

 very much lower. The varieties generally preferred are the Early 

 Speckled, Early Negro, and Dun-coloured Dwarf, the latter being thought 

 the best. They are planted in equal parts of rotten dung reduced to 

 a soil, and loam, in shallow 24-sized pots : place in the bottom of each 

 pot one inch of crocks, and above these two inches of soil ; then plant 



