274 



THE GENESEE FAR^fER. 



plants, select and plant as before, and so proceed 

 till the allotted space is occupied. Manage these 

 seed-bearing plants in all respects the same as tliose 

 of the preceding year. Preserve and sow the 

 seeds, and attend to the young plants as befoi-e. 

 Mark, again, the most perfect and healthy, whose 

 |^.^:i,ubers are to turnish the seed-bearing plants of the 

 ^a "following year; and when, by persevering in this 

 •" process, the main object is attained — hardiness of 

 constitution and freedom from disease — we may 

 then more especially endeavor to obtain varieties 

 uniting excellence of quality, and other desirable 

 properties, with robust health. A careful and prac- 

 ticed experimenter will indeed have an eye to this 

 from the beginning. He will, at the outset, con- 

 sider the various points which constitute perfection 

 in the potato, and to this ideal standard he will 

 constantly aim. He will observe the habits of his 

 select plants, what is the length and strength of 

 their stems, whether the foliage is ample or scanty, 

 if the leaves are smooth and polished, or wrinkled 

 and ragged, what is the period of ripening, and 

 what the quantity, quality and shape of the tubers. 

 He will then be in a position to aim each year with 

 Bome degree of certainty at perfection, by crossing 

 his plants, with a view that the defects of one pa- 

 rent shall counteract the defects of the other; I 

 mean, he will let one be too full where the other is 

 deficient, so that if he could take from some of tlie 

 points of one parent, and add this to the same 

 points of the other parent, a more perfect plant 

 would be obtained than either. 



"Some seedlings maybe raised in the first or 

 second year possessing a considerable degree of 

 health, and yielding tubers of good quality. It 

 would, of course, be advisable to try such a second 

 year, with a view to supersede some of the more 

 worthless of the vari6ties now in use, but to be 

 grown only until more perfect and hardy varieties 

 can be obtained. 



*' These seem to me the most likely means for 

 the speedy restoration of the potato to a healthy 

 condition. 



"If any who desire to raise plants from seeds 

 consider the above too' troublesome a process, or 

 have doubts of succeeding in cross-breeding, &c., 

 let them plant a few tubers of a second early va- 

 riety, deprive the plants at an early st.ige of 

 growth of some of their tubers, taking special care 

 to limit the number of berries to three or four on 

 each plant. 



"It is generally known that seeds of the 

 apple, gooseberry, potato, &c., afford plants differ- 

 ing widely from their parents aud from each other; 

 but it is a question whether this is owing to a pro- 

 pensity of these plants, (which have been much 

 altered from the normal condition of the species.) 

 to sport into varieties,' or whether it is due to the 

 action of adventitious pollen conveyed by the wind 

 or insects. Baron HBPBrRN, in a communication 

 to the Board of Agriculture, stated that ' he had 

 repeatedly renewed the seed of a favorite kidney 

 potato from the apple, and as no other potatoes in 

 flower were growing near them, the return was 

 pure. One year, however, he planted them in a 

 field with other varieties, to try that mode of reno- 

 vation, and the crop was mostly hybribs.' I have 

 met with two or three observations to the s;ime 

 effect. It is highly desirable that this should be 



sntisfactorily determined by experiment, because if 

 the observation is really well founded, then when 

 once we have obtained a variety posne^sing a com- 

 bination of good properties, it would be an easy 

 matter, by adopting certain precautions, to con- 

 tinue it to an indefinite period, by occasionally 

 renewing it from seed. We may also then antici- 

 pate, with a considerable degree of certainty, what 

 will be the character of our seedlings in cross- 

 breeding. 



" They who possess a cool green-house, and who 

 know how to manage plants under glats so as to 

 cause healthy and vigorous, yet short-jointed stems, 

 would probably find some advantage by forwarding 

 their plants in pots, to be afterwards plunged in the 

 open border, when danger from frost had passed. 

 By this means seeds of early varieties might be 

 ripened during the generally dry and sunny weather 

 of June ; they would also blossom before the ordi- 

 nary crops of the garden, consequently it would be 

 the experimenter's own fault if any adventitious 

 pollen interferred with his experiments. If, how- 

 ever, the temperature of the green-house is suffered 

 to become so high as to force the plants, this prac- 

 tice can not be recommended, and on no account 

 should the seeds be ripened in artificial heat. 



"Sir Joseph Paxton says: 'Seeds ripened or 

 germinated in heat will never produce such hardy 

 plants as those matured and vegetated in the open 

 air. This has been abundantly corroborated in 

 practice, and proofs of its accuracy are constantly 

 transpiring.' " 



CUTTING OFF THB FL0WKE3 OF POTATOES. 



" Mr. Knight advised that the flowers of potato 

 plants should be plucked off, and he was very de- 

 sirous to obtain varieties which, owing to some 

 malformation of the floral organs, or peculiarity of 

 habit, did not naturally blossom; because the pro- 

 duction of blossoms and seeds must tend to diminish 

 the weight of tubers, or they must be formed by 

 an increased expenditute of the riches of the soil. 



"If a Dutch florist wishes to propagate a 

 hyacinth, he adopts means to prevent its flower- 

 ing, and a progeny of young bulbs is the conse- 

 ouence. If a tulip-grower has a bulb which grows 

 lf)0 strong, producing seven or eight petals instead 

 of six, in order to tame it he allows it to ripen its 

 seeds. An onion forms its bulb one year, blossoms 

 and seeds the next, and so dies; but persist in not 

 snfToring the i>lant to blossom, and the formation 

 of other bulbs will be the result. Th# snp which 

 these i)lants would have naturally employed in the 

 formation of seeds, is thus made to contribute to 

 the growth of bulbs. By depriving the [)otato 

 j)Iant of its tubers we cause it to blossom and seed 

 abundantly; obviously the same sap gives exist- 

 ence alike to tubers and seeds ; therefore, by pre- 

 vetiting tlie growth of flowers and seeds, we must 

 add to the growth of tubers. 



"Many experiments have been made, from time 

 to time, with a view to determine whether any 

 and what benefit is to be derived from plucking off 

 the blossoms of the potato plants, and very dif- 

 ferent results have been arrived at — some main- 

 taining that they have proved experimentally that 

 it is highly beneficial to remove the flowers ; others 

 with equal confidence refer to their experiment^*, 

 and contend that po advantage whatever is to be 

 gained from the practice. Both may be perfectl7 



