THE POTATO. 179 



sorts have been derived from Ireland. Its multitudinous 

 varieties almost set enumeration at defiance, and new ones 

 are appearing and disappearing every year. By much the 

 most correct list of the varieties now in cultivation is to be 

 found in Mr, Charles Lawson's useful book, entitled The 

 Agriculturists } s Manual. They are arranged in various 

 classes, out of which we shall select a very few names of 

 the more esteemed sorts. The first class consists of the 

 earliest garden varieties of dwarfish growth, and therefore 

 well adapted for forcing, such as Fox's Early Delight, and 

 the Early Kidney. The next class contains those very 

 early kinds, of taller growth, which yield the first garden 

 crop ; including the Hopetoun Early, Harold's Early, In- 

 vermay Early, the new Elm-leaved Kidney, and Ash-leaved 

 Early, and Early Seedling. Of these, the Hopetoun is 

 perhaps the best : the tubers are round, dry, early, and of 

 tolerable size ; but in all the kinds, the mealiness and 

 earliness necessarily depend a good deal on soil, situation, 

 and the quality of the season. The third class embraces 

 those which generally form the principal garden crop, and 

 includes the Prince of Wales Early, tall American Early, 

 Shaw's Early, Taylor's Forty-fold, and Matchless Kidney. 

 For cultivation in the home-farm, the Edinburgh Dons, 

 and the Perthshire Reds (of which last there are two or 

 three subvarieties), have not yet been surpassed. The cul- 

 ture of the late sorts properly belongs to the farm, and 

 when the gardener has to take them under his care, he will 

 find it best to adopt such as are common in the agriculture 

 of the district. What is called the Everlasting Potato is 

 a late sort, the tubers of which have the property of re- 

 taining, during winter, the delicate waxy flavor of young 

 potatoes. They are left in the ground, but covered with 

 litter to prevent the access of frost. It may here be re- 



