POTATO. 



POTATO. 



considerable depth about the stems, it must be 

 even injurious ; but if properly performed, it is 

 certainly beneficial. Throughout their growth 

 they should be kept perfectly clear of weeds. 

 It is very injurious to mow off their tops, as is 

 sometimes recommended. The foliage ought 

 to be kept as uninjured as possible, unless, as 

 sometimes occurs on fresh ground, the plants 

 are of gigantic luxuriance, and, even then, the 

 stems should be only moderately shortened. 

 It is, however, of considerable advantage to 

 remove the fruit-stalks and immature flowers 

 as soon as they appear. This has been de- 

 monstrated by the experiments of President 

 Knight, and others ; indeed, that such would 

 be the case is a reasonable expectation, since 

 it is known that the early formation of tubers 

 prevents the production of blossom. It is also 

 worthy of notice, that a potato plant continues 

 to form tubers until the flowers appear, after 

 which it is employed in ripening those already 

 formed. 



The very earliest crops will be in production 

 in June, or perhaps towards the end of May, 

 and may thence be taken up as wanted, until 

 October, at the close of which month, or during 

 November, they may be entirely dug up and 

 stored; or, at all events, before the arrival of 

 any severe frost. Their fitness to be taken up 

 for keeping is intimated by the decay of their 

 foliage, which generally loses its verdure with 

 the first frosts. The best instrument with which 

 they can be dug up is a three-flat-pronged fork, 

 each row being cleared regularly away. The 

 tubers should be sorted at the time of taking 

 them up ; for as the largest keep the best, they 

 alone should be stored, whilst the smaller ones 

 are first made use of. The most common mode 

 of preserving them throughout the winter is in 

 heaps or clamps, sometimes called pycing them. 

 These are laid in pyramidal form, on a bed 

 of straw, and enveloped with a covering 6 or 8 

 inches thick, of the same material, laid even, 

 as in thatching, and the whole enclosed with 

 earth, in a conical form, a foot thick, taken 

 from a trench dug round the heap, well smooth- 

 ened with the back of the spade. Potatoes 

 should not be stored until perfectly dry, nor 

 unless free from mould, refuse, and wounded 

 tubers. It is a good practice to keep a hole 

 open on four different sides of the heap, entirely 

 through the mould and straw, for a week or 

 two after the heap is formed ; for in proportion 

 to its size it always ferments, and these orifices 

 allow the escape of the vapours, and perfect 

 the drying. An equally good mode, and much 

 more convenient, is to have them heaped in a 

 dry shed, and covered thick with straw, as op- 

 portunity is given to look over them occa- 

 sionally for the removal of decayed tubers, 

 shoots, &c. If carefully preserved, they con- 

 tinue in perfection until late in the following 

 summer. A variety of the potato is generally 

 considered to continue about 14 years in per- 

 fection, after which period it gradually loses its 

 good qualities, becoming of inferior flavour and 

 unproductive. Fresh varieties must therefore 

 be occasionally raised from seed. For doing 

 this there are two modes; the first of these, 

 about to be detailed, is, however, the one 

 usually pursued. 



117 



The berries or apples of the old stock having 

 ' hung in a warm room throughout the winter, 

 the seed must be obtained from them by wash- 

 ing away the pulp during February. This is 

 thoroughly dried, and kept until April, and then 

 sown in drills about half an inch deep, and 6 

 inches apart, in a rich mouldy soil. The plants 

 are weeded, and earth drawn up to their stems 

 when an inch in height ; as soon as this has 

 increased to three inches, they are moved into 

 a similar soil, in rows 16 inches apart each 

 way, and during their future growth earthed 

 up 2 or 3 times. Being finally taken up in the 

 course of October, they must be preserved 

 until the following spring, to be then replanted, 

 and treated as for store crops. (Dr. Hunter's 

 Georg. Essays.) 



Some gardeners sow in a moderate hot-bed, 

 very thin, in drills, the same depth as above, 

 and 9 inches apart. Water is frequently and 

 plentifully poured between the rows, and earth 

 drawn about the stems of the seedlings, until 

 they are a few inches in height. They are then 

 transplanted into rows, water given, and earth- 

 ing performed as usual. The only additional 

 advantage of this plan is, that as the seed can 

 be sown earlier, the tubers attain a rather 

 larger size the first year. 



It is to be remarked, that the tubers of every 

 seedling should be kept separate, as scarce 2 

 will be of a similar habit and quality, whilst 

 many will be comparatively worthless, and but 

 few of particular excellence. If the seed is 

 obtained from a red potato, that flowered in the 

 neighbourhood of a white-tubered variety, the 

 seedlings in all probability will in part resem- 

 ble both their parents, as a cross fecundation 

 may take place ; but seldom or never does a 

 seedling resemble exactly the original stock. 

 At all events, only such should be preserved 

 as are recommended by their superior size, 

 flavour, or fertility. It may be stated as an in- 

 dication before these qualities can be positively 

 ascertained, that President Knight remarks, that 

 the rough, uneven surface of the foliage, which 

 in excess constitutes the curl, appears to exist 

 as, and form a characteristic of every good 

 variety ; for he never found one with perfectly 

 smooth and polished leaves which possessed 

 any degree of excellence, though such are in 

 general more luxuriant and productive. 



The early varieties, on account of their never 

 flowering, were, until 1807, obtained by chance 

 from plants that might now and then be pro- 

 duced from seed of the late kinds. In that 

 year, Mr. Knight discovered that the cause of 

 their deficiency of bloom was the preternatural 

 early formation of the tubers. His mode of 

 causing them to produce seed is to plant the 

 sets on little heaps of earth, with a stake in the 

 middle, and when the plants are about 4 inches 

 high, being secured to the stakes with shreds 

 and nails, to wash the earth away from the 

 bases of the stems, by means of a strong cur- 

 rent of water, so that the fibrous roots only 

 enter the soil, and these being perfectly dis- 

 tinct from the runners that furnish the tubers, 

 and which spring from the base of the stem, 

 none of these are produced, and the effect is, 

 that blossoms appear and perfect seed. 



There are numerous valuable communica- 

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