86 POTATO. 



of the seed 'roots, me /nanner of preparing, and mode of 

 planting the same. 



Potatoes may be jjlanted from the first week in April until 

 July, either in hills or drills ; the best way for a garden is to 

 plant them in drills four or five inches deep, and about thirty 

 inches asunder ; the sets may be dropj^ed six or eight inches 

 apart; and if a small quantity of combmaker's horn shavings 

 or sea weed be used as a manure for the early kinds, it will 

 expedite their growth ; the gi'ound should be hoed as soon 

 as the plants come up, and as they progress in growth it 

 will be proper to mould or earth them up twice. 



POTATO, (Sweet.) 

 PoMME DE TERRE DOUCE. Convolvulus batattts. 



Sweet Potatoes are grown to great perfection in the 

 Southern States, and may be raised in the vicinity of New- 

 York, by means of a moderate hot-bed, in which they should 

 be planted whole, early in April, three or four inches deep, 

 and about the same distance apart. In. about a month they 

 will throw up sprouts. When these are three inches above 

 ground, part them off from the Potato, which, if suffered to 

 remain, \vill produce more sprouts for a successive planting ; 

 transplant them into rich light soil, in rows four feet apart, 

 and the plants about a foot apart in the rows, or in hills four 

 feet apart. Keep them clear of weeds until the vines begin 

 to cover the gi'ound, after which they will grow freely. In 

 sandy ground, it is well to put a shovelful of rotten manure 

 lo each plant. 



A moderate' hot-bed, five feet square, put down early in 

 the month of April, with half a peck of good sound Sweet 

 Potatoesplaced therein, will produce a succession of sprouts 

 in May and June, which if planted and managed as directed, 

 will yield about fifteen bushels of good roots. 



