424 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 7 



those from sets. On this subject I beg to add, that 

 for early potatoes it has long been my praclice to 

 spread sets on the (loor of a vinery, or on a hot bed 

 in March, vvilh a little sand over iheni. By the 

 time there is little risk of Irost, the shoots are long 

 enough for the sets to be planted out about the 

 middle of April. I have frequently had the shoots 

 nipt down, but they alwaj's recover ; that is, new 

 shoots spring up in a very short time, and I never 

 observed that this made qny ditlerence in the pe- 

 riod of the tubers becoming fit for use. The ear- 

 ly potatoes I use are the London early for the first 

 crop ; some of my own, which is a little later, and 

 remarkably mealy for an early potato. After the 

 heap is turned over, as I stated above, it may be 

 again covered, and the potatoes allowed to remain 

 a month longer, after which they should be re- 

 moved to a barn or shed, and picked. They should 

 now be frequently turned over, and picked free of 

 shoots. II the eyes of a potato are scooped out, 

 it will gradually dry, if properly exposed; and it 

 may then be scraped into flour, though not very 

 white. In this state they will keep for an indefi- 

 nite time : and there is no risk of their becoming 

 mitey, as flour does. Dried potatoes might be 

 found useful during long voyages, though potato 

 flour is better. 



It ought to be made generally known that there 

 are varieties of the potato which, though suffi- 

 ciently protected from frost, will not keep under 

 any management, for more than a few months. 

 Do whatwewill theydecay, owing to theirnatural 

 constitution ; other varieties again will keep very 

 long without any trouble. Hence the Society's 

 proper object is not to offer a premium such as the 

 one whicii has given occasion iljrihc present com- 

 munication, but to offer one for raising new varie- 

 ties, and producing one or more with as many as 

 possible of the qualities which a pota:o is desired 

 to possess. The same observation applies to the 

 keeping of apples and pears, and various fruits 

 and roots. Long keeping is a particular property 

 belonging only to some, and not to all varieties. 



Some varieties of the potato are best for the ta- 

 ble early in winter, and others are best in spring. 

 Instead of having the trouble to raise different 

 eorts, for different seasons, it is best to sow seeds, 

 and to procure a number of varieties in this way 

 for selection. It is now about twenty years since 

 I first began to raise new varieties ; and I will 

 now state my mode of proceeding, that others may 

 follow it if they think fit. 



I first noted down the qualities which it was de- 

 sirable a potato should have. These are, 1, dry- 

 ness, or mealiness ; 2, agreeable taste ; 3, mode- 

 rate size ; 4, regularity of shape, not having deep 

 eyes ; 5, not bursting when boiled ; 6, not having 

 a tendency to shoot at an early period ; 7, long 

 keeping ; 8, productiveness. Among hundreds 

 of varieties I have not found one possessing all of 

 these qualities, but I do not despair. 



Having gathered the apples from different vari- 

 eties, I keep them till spring, when I open them, 

 take out the seeils and dry them. A piece of 

 ground being prepared by digging in some ma- 

 nure, but s|)aringly, and the snrfiicc being finely 

 raked, the seeds are drop|)ed thinly into shallow 

 drills, two feet asunder. When the plants appear, 

 they are thinned out to eighteen inches in the 

 rows, and I have usually selected the strongest. 

 Those taken out may be transplanted to another 



spot. As the plants grow, the earth may be heap- 

 ed round them. I have observed that, with some 

 exceptions, those plants which flower the same 

 season seldom produce tubers. My experience 

 has proved that the produce of the first season is 

 not to be relied on as an indication of future pro- 

 ductiveness ; therefore no seedling should be re- 

 jected the first year. I recollect a y)lant that pro- 

 duced but one tuber, about the size of a walnut; 

 this produced the second year, one hundred and 

 twenty tubers of good size ; but this degree of 

 productiveness did not attend succeeding genera- 

 tions. I have observed, in general, that rough 

 or scaly skinned potatoes are the driest, and often 

 too, the earliest. 1 plant every tuber produced 

 t!ie first year, that is not less than a pea — for 

 should one hit on a good variet}', it is then more 

 rapidly increased : it is but a lottery, and some 

 space of ground must be allotted to the drawing 

 of it. I have had as many as three hundred va- 

 rieties growing at once. Of course each variety 

 must be tallied, and a memorandum kept of every 

 thing connected with each. Each variety should 

 be tested the second year, at the time it is taken 

 up, and aixain in the spring, and those that are 

 good at both seasons preferred for future trial. In- 

 deed, all may be rejected but the one that has the 

 greatest number of qualities noted. In this way 

 every one may procure sooner or later a good va- 

 riety of potato. It is of the greatest importance 

 to procure in this way — lor difference of soil, and 

 even perhaps of situation, seems to have singular 

 effects — a fine potato in one soil proving bad in 

 another, and vice versa. I have one variety that 

 possesses the 1st, 2d, 4(h, 5th, 6lh, and 7lh quali- 

 ties, which I have cultivated lor about 18 years, 

 and I have not yet succeeded in raising a belter. 

 it seldom, hov/ever, yields above twenty bolls an 

 acre, of old Ross-shire measure, the peck being 

 fifty-six pounds. Though there are many sorts 

 more productive, yet this potato, keeping very 

 long under the management already described, 

 has brought it into very general use in this quar- 

 ter. I have had young potatoes of this sort, of to- 

 lerable size at my table along with tubers of the 

 previous year. It is ripe by the middle of Sep- 

 tember. During the two last seasons, the sets of 

 potatoes decayed in many places. None of my 

 own were affected, but some of my tenants lost 

 large patches. I observed a wire worm on some 

 of the decayed roots, but whether this worm was 

 the cause of the failure, or the failure of the sets 

 induced the insect, from whose egg the worm pro- 

 ceeded, to lay them on the set, I could not ascer- 

 tain. It often happens that eflects are regarded 

 as causes in such matters. It is my practice to have 

 the potatoes cut into sets, and spread out to dry 

 during ten days, or a fortnight, before planting 

 them. This serves to prevent the risk of their rot- 

 ting in the ground. But I have known sets ol'some 

 varieties rot soon after the appearance of the plant 

 above ground; and others I have taken up sound 

 when the crop was ripe. Thus it is clear that 

 long keeping does not depend on the mode employ- 

 ed, to preserve potatoes, but on the natural quali- 

 ty of a variety ; and the varieties ought to be in- 

 creased from seeds until the qualities I have enu- 

 merated are found in one, or at least the most im- 

 portant of them. It is the opinion of some that 

 the productiveness of potatoes decreases by long 

 cultivation. I doubt : at least, it has not occurred 



