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tubers have not the same power of germination as larger ones." Mr. 

 Knight plants potatoes vrhole. When anxious to get the very earliest, 

 he removes all the eyes but one, that the growing stem may get an 

 abundant support. He starts that in a hot-bed, and transplants as 

 soon as the weather will allow. By this method we have known 

 potatoes to be ripened a fortnight sooner than they could have been 

 ripened by common field culture. Humboldt calls the cutting of the 

 roots into small pieces, a bad custom, which occasions degeneracy. 

 But for main crops, Mr. Knight cuts large potatoes, probably from 

 regard to economy, while others, of equal celebrity, insist that it is 

 better to plant the tuber whole. Some think one eye sufficient, on 

 the principle that the strength of the stem will depend, at the outset, 

 on the piece planted, from which it derives its nutriment. This 

 would forbid the planting all the seed ; for where a great number of 

 eyes shoot up together, the stems must be weak. And where the 

 stems are weak and crowded, we may expect a small crop of small 

 roots. It is well known that eyes from the seed end of the tuber 

 furnish the earliest crop, especially if one eye only is left upon the 

 whole root. 



The plant forms tubers until the flowers appear ; after that time, 

 it ripens them. Some cultivators infer, from these facts, that if you 

 would have the fruit ripen early, you must remove the flowers and 

 flower stocks, that none of the energies of the plant may be expended 

 in ripening the seed. Mr. Knight asserts, that cutting off the blos- 

 soms also increases the yield. He puts the additional yield up to the 

 high figure of one ton to the acre. The early formation of the tubers 

 is said to delay the blooming ; while the blooming and the ripening 

 of seed delay the growth of the tubers. Hence the practice of com- 

 pelling some early kinds to produce blossoms and seeds contrary to 

 their habits, namely, to remove the tubers from the hill as they are 

 being formed. By this means all the energies of the plant are con- 

 centrated upon the stem and the organs of fructification, and blossoms 

 and seeds are produced. 



The time of planting, the quantity of seed, the kind of soil, the 

 amount and quality of manure, the method of culture and preserva- 

 tion, are all worthy of special notice ; but the limits assigned to this 

 essay forbid us to enter upon them. 



