OF ESCULENTS. SECT. XV. 



from late crops should not be used for early planting, 

 as they are more liable to the curl: Potatoes grow- 

 ing sickly in a wet soil, are also subject to this de- 

 fect. This root being of superficial growth, should 

 be regularly weeded, as long as they can be walked 

 among without treading on. 



Ground, designed for &jield crop, should be twice 

 ploughed, and the first time it should be some weeks 

 before the setting, and if a light fresh soil, quality 

 and quantity will be superior. 



In the potatoe comities, they change their sorts 

 every third or fourth year ; procuring fresh kinds 

 from places farther North, as a means to avoid the 

 curl, and they admonish not to be too ea'rly in 

 planting. 



Seedling potatoes are procured by saving the first 

 thorough ripe pods, (called apples) and either pre- 

 serving them in very dry sand till spring, or imme- 

 diately separating them from the pulp, put the seed 

 up quite dry in papers, and occasionally look it over 

 to keep it so. In March, or April, sow the seed 

 half an inch deep, in alight soil, in drills a foot or 

 fifteen inches asunder, and thin the plants to six 

 inches. Earth them up as they grow. Dig them as 

 soon as the haulm dies, and carefully preserving them 

 from frost, they will be fit to plant the next spring 

 for table use. 



That potatoes are very susceptible of frost, is well 

 known ; but it is often not sufficiently guarded against 

 in time. Let them be brought in clean and dry as 

 possible. If not kept in a warm cellar, they may be 

 laid in a room, having some straw at bottom, and 

 when in prospect of frost entering the house, they 

 should be covered with straw a foot thick. 



Pying (as it is called in some places) is a good 

 method of preserving potatoes in winter. They are 

 piled on the surface of the ground, in a ridged form,, 



