FARMERS' REGJISTER 



557 



been manured ihe previous j'ear, in the usual 

 rourse ofcroppini^, and the soil beiiii^ well pulver- 

 ized, open drills, about a loot apart, into which 

 drop ilie seed thinly; cover with the raUe, and 

 beat down (gently with the back of the spade, so 

 as to close the particles of cat th, and allord little 

 access to the small black skipping bu^, so injurious 

 10 the seed leaves of turnips and cabbage, which 

 arc equally pernicious to this crop, and require to 

 be restrained from their depredations, bv the best 

 means in the grower's knowledge. When the 

 plants have attained about hall' a dozen leave?, 

 Iioe, weed and thin them out, to three or four 

 inches distance : the supernumeraries, taken up 

 with a ball ol' earth to their roots, may be trans- 

 planted sa/ely into a separate bed, and give the 

 cultivator a tairer chance oi' the improved variety, 

 and do away with the idea that may otherwise in- 

 trude on the imagination, that the belter kind may 

 have been lost in thinning. 



Following the nature of the potato, the vine 

 will now grow rapidly, and in a fortnight will re- 

 quire a second weeding, to be followed with what 

 in farmer's language is called, earthing up; and 

 it then remains only to watch the period ol' decay 

 or ripening of each plant, as some will reach their 

 maturity early, and others wdl continue growing 

 till the arrival of the autumnal li-osts. It may be 

 saiisliictory and useful to notice these periods, and 

 contrast iliem with their times of ripening the 

 successive year, and thus identify them, as "an 

 earl}' or late sort. They will now have to be care- 

 fully harvested, each root having its produce kept 

 separate, and placed out of the reach of the win- 

 ter's li-ost, for the next year's culture ; for this 

 purpose, it will be advisable to employ a flour bar- 

 rel of dry chatf, into which (he potatoes are to be 

 packed, each tort previously wrapped in paper and 

 thus secured from mixture with another. In the 

 ensuing spring they must be again submitted to 

 the earth. The growth of this year involves no 

 little care and trouble. Separate the early from 

 the late, and dwarfs from those of more luxurious 

 growth, and prepare the ground as belbre. If 

 you plant in hills, those with the longest haum 

 will require a distance of three feet; if on the 

 contrary you drop them in furrows, the same dis- 

 tance will be needed from furrow to furrow, les- 

 sening the space as tlie plants decrease in the 

 length of the vine to two feet. It may be as well 

 also before planting, to take ofl' a small piece of 

 the peel to ascertain the color, the prejudice being 

 in favor of the white potato over a yellow, and a 

 yellow over a black, lor tliere are all manner of 

 varieties of hues, both externally and internally, 

 and it would be useless to grow those which are 

 quite black. Four or five tubers, where there are 

 as many, will be sufficient for this year's cultiva- 

 tion, and as years are consumed in this undertak- 

 ing, it will be necessary to commence an early 

 system of experiment : for this purpose, of each 

 sort plant a tuber whole, next a half, then two 

 eyes, and lastly one eye, (Rohan fashion,) the dis- 

 tance between the planting when in drills from 6 

 to 8 inches, and if means are within reach, it 

 would be proper to try as far as may be the effects 

 of different soils on each potato, as the light, the 

 heavy and the medium. No further directions are 

 necessary for this year's culture; they are treated 

 as potatoes, and will at harvest have attained their 

 full growth and may be introduced into the kitch- 



en : for although popular opinion gives three 

 years for a potato to acquire its pro|)er qualities, 

 the foundation of which is perhaps more in the 

 mystery of numbers than in real truth, yet as it 

 will have reached its natural size, 1 can see no 

 reason why it should require another year to de- 

 velope its other properties. Should the experi- 

 menter resolve to put, faith in popular sayings, it 

 will be necessary, in harvesting, once more to se- 

 parate the sorts and repeat Ihe experiments he has 

 just gone ihroughj and any others that may occur 

 to him. 



The chief points of goodness or value in a po- 

 tato, are a white color, a good size, smooth skin, 

 with eyes or shoots gently depressed ; there is a 

 preference also for a kidney shape; the tubers 

 should grow close to the stem, be numerous and 

 keep well, and the haum or vine be short ; and 

 finally, above all, the potato must cook mealy : a 

 combination of these points, would be the perfec- 

 tion of the root. To attain such a consummation, 

 has been the continuous effort of the last nine 

 years of the writer's life ; that he has not accom- 

 plished his object, has been the result of a con- 

 currence of unfavorable circumstances, an over 

 fastidiousness to attain the most of the favorable 

 points, and a soil unfavorable to the culture of the 

 potato, stiff, cold, and clayey. Roots, that have 

 promised well in the light soil of garden culture, 

 have liiiled, when cultivated in the field ; hundreds 

 of sorts have been rejected on the score of color, 

 the white only having been selected ; length of 

 stalk has condemned many, and perverseness, or 

 incongruity of shape, with rude shoulders, &c., 

 many more; and I con 'ess that the celebrated 

 Rohan would have incontinently been condemned 

 to the hogpen, had it been first raised by the 

 humble individual who now addresses you. I 

 have not recommended manure for the seed beds, 

 as I have found an over rich soil raise anticipa- 

 tions, which were not realized in culture on a 

 large scale. Much care is requisite to the safe 

 keeping of the roots through the winter: the only 

 sort I continue to grow, I had nearly lost some 

 years back, by an early frost in November, which 

 continued with so much unexpected severity, that 

 I lost fifteen bushels, as I thought my whole stock; 

 but fortimalely one potato remained in the ground,^ 

 and was preserved by the accidental dropping of 

 a portion of salt hay on the spot where it lay. i 

 was obliged to commence operations afresh, after 

 having just raised sufficient seed to warrant the 

 expectation of a (nil crop the succeeding year, for 

 the market. I mention this to impress on the 

 grower, a due care. It remains to be observed, 

 that the experiment is (juite a lottery. Five and 

 twenty years since, I was fortunate the first trial ; 

 the last nine years I have industriously persevered, 

 and from a thousand plants, have only saved one 

 as deserving of culture, and that far from-Vny ideas 

 of a perfect plant. The fault lies in my seeking 

 for too much, and looking for too many good qua- 

 lities in the object of my experiment ; many valu-_ 

 able potatoes I have thrown away in search of 

 that which perhaps is not to be found. With 

 more moderate expectations, I might have been 

 more successful, and perhaps on a lighter soil, 

 might have obtained my object ; my want of suc- 

 cess must not deter your inquirer from making the 

 attempt. 1 still continue on a small scale. 1 have 

 bein led to prosecute a variety of expcrimcniej 



