THE POTATO. 629 



portion of substance till the crown only is left of similar size to the 

 other pieces ; but here the eyes are generally too much crowded, ar.d 

 therefore all the eyes, except one or two, should be pared off. The 

 sets should have been previously cut and exposed to the air for two or 

 three days, and dusted with hot lime or burnt ashes, to dry up the 

 moisture of the wound. They should be planted in rows two feet or 

 two feet and a-half wide, and from six inches to eight inches apart in 

 the row, according to the richness of the soil and the vigour of the 

 sort, and about six inches deep. The best time in the climate of 

 London is the first week of March, if the soil and the weather are 

 suitable, or a week or more later if they are otherwise. They may 

 either be planted in the Lancashire manner in drills drawn six inches 

 deep, or in holes made by the potato dibber (fig. 17, in p. 83), the 

 latter being the usual mode. They require no further culture than 

 stirring the soil between the rows, keeping it clear of weeds, and 

 drawing the earth up to the stems to the height of three inches or four 

 inches above the general surface ; not, however, in a narrow ridge, as 

 is sometimes done, but in a broad rounded ridge, thereby providing 

 soil for covering the tubers that may be protruded into it from the 

 stem, and pinching off the blossom-buds as soon as they appear. The 

 crop will be fit to gather when the leaves and the points of the shoots 

 have begun to decay. They may either be wholly taken up and stored in 

 a cellar, or in a ridge, or left in the ground covered with litter, and 

 taken up through the winter as wanted. For potatoes to be used 

 before March this is an excellent mode ; but at that season they gene- 

 rally begin to grow, and then recourse must be had to such as have 

 been covered, so as to retard vegetation. 



Selecting and Preparing the Sets. As the buds at the top end of the 

 tuber, like those on the points of shoots of trees, always vegetate first, 

 these are chosen for sets for an early crop, and they are found in the 

 case of the Ash-leaved Kidney to produce a crop nearly a fortnight 

 earlier than sets taken from the root end of the tuber, where the starch 

 being more concentrated, it requires a longer period to be converted 

 into mucilage. For a main crop the point of the tuber should be 

 rejected whenever it contains a number of small buds, because these 

 produce an equal number of weak stems, which, as shown above, 

 are far inferior in productiveness to one good stem ; and the root 

 end ought to be rejected, because the buds there, especially when 

 the potato is over-ripened, sometimes do not vegetate. Early potatoes 

 intended for being cut into sets are found to keep better and sprout 

 earlier when they are taken up before they are ripe, just when the 

 outer skin peels off, and before the stalk or stem begins to wither, and 

 exposed to the direct influence of the sun on any dry surface, till they 

 become green. This will require a month or six weeks, when they 

 become quite green and soft, as if frosted, and often much shrivelled. 

 They are then put away in a cellar or pit, where they remain dry and 

 cool till February, when they will be found sprouted and fit to cut 

 into sets, and planted at once. 



Greening potatoes for sets is practised as above stated with a view 



