592 



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THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



SOL 



glomerate, called also the Suftblk or Howard, and in Kent 

 the Hog Potato. It is red, and streaked with red within, 

 having a saccharine taste, tor which some persons highly value 

 it. 6. Early Cumberland. This is a large, prolific, and well- 

 flavoured sort, which ripens early enough to produce a second 

 crop. 6. Goldfinders. This is cultivated in the midland 

 counties : it is a good sort, yellow within, kidney-like, with 

 a scurfy rind. 7. Kidneys. There is a great variety of this 

 sort, both whites and reds : as, the Lincolnshire, the huge 

 and small Red-nose, which last is subject to curl ; the While, 

 the Flat White or True Spanish ; the Superfine White, said 

 to be the earliest Potato in Lancashire, where four crops in a 

 year are sometimes raised on the same ground ; the Manlty 

 White, which is large, white, mealy, and well-tasted; the 

 Blood-red; the Irish Red, or Painted Lord, which is late 

 and plentiful; Old Winter Red, which is peculiarly good in 

 spring, when others have lost their flavour; it never has 

 the curl: Rough Red; Purple; Red French, Irish; Red- 

 snout or Red-nob, large, prolific, and well-flavoured, but it 

 becomes rather strong-tasted in the spring: Winter White, 

 and Whiteblossom; good for the table, larger, and producing 

 a more bulky crop than ihe Champion. 8. Ox Noble, for 

 cattle This is often confounded with the White Cluster, but 

 is different; it is sometimes called White Surinam; large 

 and prolific, but liable to grow hollow. 9. Pink Eye, or 

 Red Streak; is hardy and strong; is late, and eats best from 

 spring to July. 10. Russet, Red and White, for winter use. 

 11. Surinam or Hog Potato, is often confounded with the 

 true Cluster : it is white and red, and very prolific. 12. Yam. 

 This is not the West Indian Yam, but a coarse Potato, raised 

 principally for horses ; it grows abundantly even on indif- 

 ferent land. A patent has been recently obtained at Paris, 

 and a gold medal bestowed, along with other honorary dis- 

 tinctions, granted for the discovery, ajid practice on a larger 

 scale, of preparing from Potatoes a fine flour, a sago, a flour 

 equal to ground rice, and a semolina or paste, of which one 

 pound is equal to a pound and a half of rice, to a pound 

 and three quarters of vermicelli, and to eight pounds of raw 

 Potatoes. An excellent bread, it is said, can be made of this 

 flour, at half the cost of wheaten bread. These preparations 

 are found valuable to mix with wheaten flour for bread, or 

 to make biscuits, pastry, pie-crusts, and for all soups, gruels, 

 and panada. Simply mixed with cold water, they are in ten 

 minutes fit for food, when fire cannot be obtained ; and twelve 

 ounces are sufficient, in cases of necessity, for a day's suste- 

 nance. The physicians and surgeons of the French hospitals 

 have successfully employed these preparations of Potato flour 

 in cases of great debility of the stomach. The essence of the 

 discovery is, to produce a cheap preparation from the surplus 

 growth of Potatoes, which are thereby converted into a keep- 

 ing stock in a convenient and salubrious form. Heat bfiing 

 an agent employed in the preparation, these articles will keep 

 unchanged for years, as, for instance, to China and buck ; 

 neither will rats and mice destroy, nor insects or worms infest, 

 this newly-fabricated flour. Propagation and Culture. The 

 Potato is generally propagated by its roots, which multiply 

 immensely if planted in a suitable soil. The common way is, 

 to plant either the small roots or offsets entire, or to cut the 

 larger roots into pieces, preserving a bud or eye to each ; but 

 when the smaller offsets are planted, they produce generally 

 a greater number of roots, which are always small, and the 

 cuttings of the larger roots are apt to rot, especially if wet 

 weather happens soon after they are planted : hence it is best 

 to make choice of the finest roots, and to allow them more 

 ground than usual, both between the rows, and also from plant 

 to plant. The soil in which they thrive best is a light sandy 



loam, not very dry nor very moist : it should be well ploughed 

 two or three times, in order to break and divide the parts, 

 and the deeper the ploughing the better. In the spring, just 

 before the last ploughing, there should be a good quantity 

 of rotten dung spread on the ground, and ploughed into it 

 in the beginning of March, if the season proves mild ; other- 

 wise it had better be deferred till the middle or latter end of 

 that month; for if it should prove hard frost after the roots 

 are planted, they may be greatly injured, if not destroyed, 

 thereby; but the sooner they are planted in the spring, after 

 the danger of frost is over, the better it will be, especially 

 in dry land. In the last ploughing, the ground should be 

 laid even, and then the furrows should be drawn at three feet 

 distance from each other, about seven or eight inches deep. 

 In the bottom of this furrow the root should be laid at about 

 one foot and a half asunder ; then the furrow should be filled 

 with the earth which came out, and the same continued 

 through the whole field or parcel of land intended to be 

 planted. After all is finished, the land may remain in the 

 same state till near the time when the shoots are expected to 

 appear above ground, when the ground should be well har- 

 rowed over both ways, which will break the clods, and make 

 the surface very smooth ; and by doing it so late it will destroy 

 the young weeds, which by this time will begin to make their 

 appearance ; and this will serve the expense of the first hoe- 

 ing, and will also stir the upper surface of the ground, which, 

 if much wet has fallen after the planting, is often bound into 

 a hard crust, and will retard the appearance of the shoots. 

 The rows being placed at three feet asunder, will allow the 

 horse-plough to be introduced between them, which will 

 greatly improve them by .stirring and twice breaking the 

 ground, which will not only destroy the weeds, but enable 

 every shower to penetrate to the roots, and greatly improve 

 their growth. These operations ought to be performed early 

 in the season, before the stems or branches of the plants 

 begin to fall, and trail upon the ground ; because after that 

 it will be impossible to do it without injuring the shoots. I 

 these ploughings be carefully performed between the rows 

 and the ground between the plants hand-hoed, it will prevent 

 the growth of weeds till the haulm of the plants cover the 

 ground, after which there will be little danger of weeds injur- 

 ing the crop ; but as the plough can only go between the 

 rows, it will be necessary to make use of a hoe to stir the 

 ground, and destroy the weeds in the rows, and, if it be done 

 carefully in dry weather, the ground will be kept clean until 

 the Potatoes are fit to take up. In places where manure is 

 scarce, many persons scatter dung only in the furrows where 

 the roots are planted; but this is a very poor method, be- 

 cause when the Potatoes begin to push out their roots, they 

 are soon extended beyond the width of these furrows, and 

 the new roots are commonly formed at a distance from the 

 old, out of the reach of this manure, by which they cannot 

 be benefited. And as most of the farmers desire to have a 

 crop of Wheat after the Potatoes are taken off the ground, 

 so the land will not be so thoroughly dressed in every part, 

 nor so proper for this crop, as when the manure has been 

 equally spread and ploughed in all over the land. Where 

 this is done, the land will produce a fine crop of Wheat 

 afterward, and very few Potato-shoots will appear among the 

 Wheat; which is probably owing to the fanner's planting 

 only the largest roots; for when they have forked them out 

 of the ground in the following autumn, there have been six, 

 eight, or ten large roots, produced from each, and often many 

 more, and scarcely any small roots among them ; whereas 

 in such cases where the small roots have been planted, there 

 has been a vast number of very small roots produced, many 



