VARIETIES AND SPECIES. 129 



As few of the early varieties of the common potato produce blos- 

 soms, seeds may be procured for changing the varieties by depriving 

 the plant, of its tubers as they appear, and keeping the runners above 

 ground by not earthing them, and blossoms and seeds will soon be pro* 

 duced. The flowers of superior kinds should also be plucked to in- 

 crease the tubers. The rationale of this is found in the fact, that the 

 same sap gives existence to both the tubers and blossoms. This is di- 

 minished, of course, by both, and the flower, therefore, wastes a part 

 of the crop of tubers, by consuming the sap necessary to their growth. 

 The importance of plucking the flower, to increase the crop of tubers, 

 and of removing the tubers to improve the seed, and the variety of 

 potatoes they produce, is therefore apparent. And this may answer 

 equally well with other fruit plants. 



The varieties are so numerous that it would be needless to particu- 

 larize them, or the peculiar soil and treatment they require. The ash- 

 colored kidney is in high repute abroad. For keeping, they should be 

 fully ripe and dry, and stored in dry straw, but not in heaps. The 

 Mercer is also a good, if not the best variety. Many others have their 

 advantages. 



This extensive genus, solanece, includes the tomato and egg plant, 

 celebrated in cookery, but not many handsome plants. S. dulcamara 

 has roots which smell like the common potato, but being chewed, it 

 excites at first a sensation of bitterness, and then of sweetness. The 

 berries excite vomiting and purging. The twigs and leaves have been 

 successfully used in rheumatic and scorbutic cases. 



S. lycopersicum a deceitful fruit, is cultivated much about Naples 

 and Rome, for the berries. It is used in stews, soups, and sauces, and 

 makes excellent sauce for fish, meat, &c. This begins to be cultivated 

 in England, but not here, we believe. It is there raised on hot-beds 

 and walls. S. nigrum grows on dunghills, and is narcotic and poisonous. 

 S. pseudocapsicum is cultivated inChina for the fruit, served on the tables 

 of mandarins, like our cherries. S. melongena is cultivated in Eu- 

 rope and the E. and W. Indies ; and the fruit is used boiled, stewed, and 

 in sauces, like the love-apple. 



A plant has recently been introduced into this country from S. Am- 

 erica, the fruit of which grows some 15 feet above ground, and has 

 been incorrectly denominated a potato. It is said to possess excellent 

 edible qualities. From a description of it, there is no doubt it belongs 

 to the genus solatium, of which there are some 360 species, and pro- 

 bably to the species lycopersicum, as cultivated in Italy and the W. In- 

 dies, to the love-apple or tomato family, a native of S. America, the 

 S. melongena, egg plant, or others of the berried species. A variety 

 answering to this is cultivated in the W. Indies for the fruit, which is 

 eaten, boiled, stewed, in sauce, &c., like the love-apple. These, like 

 all of the night-shades, to which the potato belongs, are poisonous ia 



