628 RADIO A CEOUS ESCULENTS. 



new potatoes till the following spring. Any of the earlier varieties, 

 such as the Ash-leaved Kidney, or Early Manly, might be planted even 

 later, and still be in time to produce tubers before frost ; and they 

 would prove equally delicate when first taken up, but would not retain 

 the quality of new potatoes so long afterwards as a variety which is 

 less disposed to attain an early maturity." (N. in ' Gard. Mag.,' 1842.) 



Young potatoes during winter are obtained by the following modes : 

 In Cornwall the sets are planted in October ; they spring up a few 

 weeks afterwards, are pretty well advanced before the frost stops 

 their growth, and, the soil being covered with litter to exclude the 

 frost, they are first used about the end of December, and continue 

 in use till May, when they are succeeded by the spring-planted crops. 

 Of late years Covent-garden market has received supplies of early 

 potatoes from Cornwall, treated in the above manner (' Gard. Mag.,' 

 vols. ii. v. vi.) In various parts of the country young potatoes for 

 the table during winter are thus produced : Large potatoes are 

 picked out from the winter stock of any early variety, and buried in 

 dry soil to the depth of three feet. This depth, and the circumstance 

 of treading the soil firmly over the potatoes, so far exclude both heat 

 and air as to prevent vegetation. About the middle of July following, 

 take the tubers out of the pit, and pick out all the buds except a good 

 one in the middle of the potato. Plant these potatoes in a dry border 

 sloping to the south, the soil being in good condition, but not manured. 

 Place the eye or bud of each potato uppermost, and, as their growth will 

 be rapid at this season, earth them up carefully, to preserve their 

 stems from the wind. About the end of October the young potatoes 

 formed by the plants will average the size of pigeons' eggs, and all 

 that is now required to be done, is to cover them well up with long 

 litter, to preserve them from the frost. During winter they may be 

 dug up as wanted, and their delicate waxy taste will resemble that of 

 new potatoes (' Gard. Mag.,' vol. viii. p. 56). Mr. Knight procured a 

 crop of young tubers by planting large ones in September ; not a single 

 shoot from these tubers appeared above the soil, but a portion of the 

 matter of the old tuber was merely transformed into young ones, as 

 frequently happens when potatoes are laid between layers of earth in 

 boxes. (Ibid., p. 315.) The same thing has been effected by R. Taplin, 

 who selects the largest potatoes he can find in spring, continues rubbing 

 off the sprouts as fast as they appear till the month of August, when 

 he prepares a bed of light soil, about six inches thick, in a dry, warm 

 shed. On this bed he places his potatoes whole, and very close to 

 each other, covering them with light soil four inches deep, giving it a 

 moderate watering, and letting the bed remain in that state till it is 

 time to cover it over, in order to protect it from frost. On examining 

 the bed in December, he found an abundant crop of potatoes, without 

 the least appearance of haulm or outward shoot from the parent root. 

 (' Gard. Chron.,' 1841, p. 182.) 



For a main or late crop, sets, containing each a single eye, are pre- 

 ferable. In cutting sets, enter the knife a little above the eye, slanting 

 the section somewhat downwards : each eye will thus have a fair pro- 



