370 SATURDAY IN MY GARDEN 



and placing them directly in the ground are so great that they 

 require little emphasising. 



A merely cursory examination of the kitchen gardens of the 

 majority of amateur gardeners at a tune when the haulm of the 

 potato is in vigorous growth will reveal the fact that the rows 

 are uncomfortably overcrowded. This is due to neglect in the 

 proper preparation of the tubers, each of which in a congested 

 row such as I have referred to supports half-a-dozen or more stems, 

 four or five of which should have been removed in the early stages 

 of their development. 



This condition of things, which inevitably brings in its train 

 attenuated and unsatisfactory crops, can be avoided absolutely 

 if the system of " sprouting " the sets be adopted. The boxes 

 containing the seed tubers should be shallow not more than six 

 inches in depth and they should be half filled with leaf mould, 

 loam, and sand well mixed together. In this soil the tubers can 

 be packed closely, care being taken to place the thick end of the 

 set, where the strongest eyes or buds show themselves, uppermost. 

 The boxes should then be placed in a light and airy but frost- 

 proof frame, shed or attic. The tubers will soon turn green, and 

 in due time will begin to sprout. The shoots will be short, thick 

 and sturdy, and they will be in the best condition for planting 

 when they are about two inches in length. 



Before planting it will be necessary to remove all superfluous 

 shoots. If a comparatively small crop of potatoes of large 

 individual size, such as those required for exhibition, for example, 

 are required, it will be advisable to remove all but one shoot, but 

 for general purposes a much heavier crop of medium-size tubers 

 will be obtained if the three strongest shoots on each " set " are 

 retained. 



Another advantage to be derived from " sprouting " and it is 

 a great one where space is limited, and where only a few rows of 

 potatoes can be cultivated is that it enables one to detect blank 

 tubers before putting them in the ground. Any that fail to sprout 

 should be rejected, for it is the use of these which is chiefly re- 

 sponsible for the empty spaces which one often finds in a row of 



