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SOL 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



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ing some by themselves for that purpose the crop will not 

 be generally infested with the curl ; or, if a few of the plants 

 should be curled, they must be carefully pulled out. In 

 Lancashire, great attention is paid to changing the sets. If 

 any of their favourite sets are infested with it, they send them 

 to the Moss or Moor-lands to be cured. It is held as a gene- 

 ral opinion in Scotland and the northern counties, that Moss 

 or Peat earth prevents the curl. In the North Riding of 

 Yorkshire, in the dales of the Moor-lands, they make use of 

 sets of their own growth, only endeavouring to plant them 

 on a soil different from that on which they grew, as by that 

 means they in a great measure avoid the curl : but in the 

 lower parts, the sets of the kinds for the table are procured 

 either from the Moor-lands or from Scotland ; and it is found 

 necessary to renew them every year, for in the third year 

 they are found very generally curled. In the West Riding 

 they procure their sets of Red-nose Kidney from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Berwick; and until they adopted this plan of 

 changing, they were much troubled by the curl. In Argyle- 

 shire they attribute their freedom from the curl to their 

 changing their sets very often, and planting most of them in 

 new mossy ground; this is a strong inducement to cultivate 

 such waste lands. Raising from Seed. It is well known 

 that this is the only way of obtaining new varieties ; some 

 of which will be better, and some not so good, as the parent 

 seed. Thus, however, real improvement will be made, as the 

 good will be preferred, and the bad thrown away ; and if, as 

 has been already intimated, the old varieties will be found 

 to degenerate in time, which is the case with many vegetables, 

 recourse must be had to the raising from seed, in order to 

 make up for the deficiency. Great attention has been paid 

 to raising their Potatoes of the best quality, from the seeds of 

 the berries, or, as they call it, the Apple or Crab. They are 

 sometimes three years, but always two, in bringing the Pota- 

 toes raised from seed to a full size, though it is asserted that, 

 if transplanted in wide distances, they will attain their full 

 size in one season. Every fourteen years it is necessary to 

 bring back the sets from their original seed ; and it should 

 not be forgotten, that the increase of Potatoes, when raised 

 from seed, is exceedingly great. The seedlings produce 

 bulbs of all the varieties, and sometimes new ones. There 

 seems to be no real difference, whether the fruit be taken 

 from a round or a kidney Potato. Seed taken from a red 

 Potato, that has flowered in the neighbourhood of a white one, 

 will produce both red and white. To raise these roots from 

 seed, hang a bunch of the berries in a warm room during 

 winter, ^nd in February separate the seeds from the pulp, 

 by washing the berries in water, and pressing them with the 

 fingers. Then dry the seeds upon paper; and in April sow 

 the seeds in drills in a bed well dug, and manured with rotten 

 dung. When the plants are about an inch high, draw a little 

 earth up to them with a hoe, in order to lengthen their main 

 roots. When they are about three inches high, dig them up 

 with a spade, and separate them carefully for planting out in 

 a piece of fresh ground well trenched, sixteen inches apart. 

 As they advance in growth, earth them up once or twice, to 

 lengthen the main roots, and encourage the shoots under 

 ground ; and by this management the bulbs, in the course of 

 one season, will arrive at the size of lien's eggs, and the haulm 

 also will be as vigorous as if sets had been planted. Another 

 method is, to sow the seeds in the beginning of March or 

 sooner, on a hot-bed, in lines about nine inches asunder, one- 

 third of an inch deep, and very thin ; to water between the 

 lines frequently; and when the plants are risen a little height, 

 to introduce fine rich earth between the lines, to strengthen 

 them; and to admit air freely, and to water then^ plentifully, 



before they are transplanted, that they may rise with a large 

 ball of earth to their roots. Old rotten horse-dung and 

 yellow moss are the usual manures. Plant them in trenches, 

 like Celery, with a space of four feet between the trenches, 

 and twelve or fourteen inches between each plant: as they 

 grow up, draw the earth to their stalks, but do not cover the 

 top. When the ground is brought to a level, dig it, and earth 

 up the plants till pretty deep trenches are formed between 

 the lines. With this treatment, they will in the first season 

 produce from a pound to five pounds weight, on a plant, and 

 many considerably more than a hundred Potatoes each ; the 

 produce of which, for the next ten or .twelve years, will be 

 prodigious. Crops following. There is no doubt that the 

 Potato crop is an excellent preparation for corn, provided 

 the ground was well manured before, and duly hoed after the 

 setting. The frequent stirring of the land by hoeing, and the 

 complete opening of it by taking up the crop, must leave it 

 in a loose and friable state, fit for the reception of seed. If 

 the soil be a strong loam or clay, Wheat may be sown imme- 

 diately with advantage ; but on lighter loams, which are most 

 proper for Potatoes, the land is commonly left in too loose 

 and friable a state for Wheat, and on that account it is more 

 judicious to sow Barley or Oats. It also frequently happens, 

 especially in cold exposed situations, and in wet seasons, that 

 the Potato crop cannot be raised and got off the land before 

 November, which protracts the sowing of Wheat beyond the 

 proper time. In a cold climate, and on a light soil, never 

 sow Wheat after Potatoes, but ridge up your land, and leave 

 it for a sparing crop ; and perhaps that on any soil is good 

 husbandry. Domestic Uses. There does not appear to be 

 just ground for the opinion, that the meal of Wheat affords 

 much more nourishment than that of Potatoes ; because the 

 .proportion of animal matter, which each contains, is too 

 nearly alike to occasion any great difference. To obtain the 

 meal from Potatoes, they are well washed and grated down 

 to a pulp, by a grater or in a hand-mill. The pulp is then 

 put into a hair sieve, and repeatedly mixed with cold water, 

 till the strainings are clear, and the fibrous part perfectly 

 divested of the meal. The former may be set aside for the 

 use of hogs or cows, and the strained liquor suffered to settle, 

 after which the brown-coloured water is poured off, and fresh 

 water repeated, mixed with the sediment, and poured off 

 after it settles, till the water comes off perfectly clear. The 

 sediment is then dried in the sun or in an oven, as quickly as 

 possible, that it may not turn sour. It will keep many years, 

 if kept dry. The quantity of meal will depend on the kind 

 of Potatoes : but in general, one pound of meal may be ob- 

 tained from seven or eight pounds of the root. By this pro- 

 cess the meal is deprived of the greatest part, or all, of one 

 of the ingredients, which is the soluble mucilage. This muci- 

 lage by itself is undoubtedly nutritive, and probably may be 

 rendered more so by being mixed with the other constituent 

 parts of the root. It is, however, admitted, that the most 

 ready, profitable, and perhaps salutary mode of using this 

 root as food, is, to prepare it by boiling, and roasting or 

 bakina; ; by the two last methods they are thought to be the 

 most agreeable and nourishing, but the fact probably is, that 

 the boiling is very little understood. It really is amazing, 

 considering the universality of their use, that so vast a 

 majority of those who undertake to boil Potatoes, seldom 

 fail to spoil them; and it is a well-known fact, that in the 

 Metropolis this is generally the case. To boil Potatoes. Se- 

 lect them as nearly as possible of one size, pare off the skins, 

 and wash them clean ; then put them into an iron pot, and 

 cover them with cold water : place the whole on the n're, and 

 cause them to boil as soon as possible, then let them boil 



