THE POTATO. 173 



ishment required for sustaining the top being trans- 

 ferred to the roots ;" and he thinks that, on this prin- 

 ciple, the cutting of the hauhii early would be bene- 

 ficial to the crop of potatoes. 



We think there must be a fallacy in this mode of 

 reasoning. Numberless experiments, and the uni- 

 ted opinion of all writers on vegetable physiology, 

 go to estabhsh the fact, that the farinaceous or nu- 

 tritive matter of plants is prepared in the stem and 

 leaves, and deposited by them in the receptacles 

 which nature has provided, as, for instance, in the 

 kernel of wheat and the luber of the potato. If this 

 be the case, the stem of the potato must be essen- 

 tial to its perfection ; and this view of the matter is 

 established by the fact, that, when the root becomes 

 ripe, the stem, being no longer wanted for the pur- 

 pose of preparing nutriment, perishes of itself. But, 

 in addition to the reasons here assigned, experiments 

 have been instituted for the special purpose of put- 

 ting the question at rest. In the British Husbandry 

 it is stated that " cutting oft' the haulm or straw at 

 different stages of its grovvtli has been found to oc- 

 casion a deficiency in the crop, in exact proportion 

 to the earliness of the cutting. It was also preju- 

 dicial to the quaUty of the root ; for the tubers con- 

 tinue to improve till the stems begin to decay, but 

 become stationary the moment they are deprived of 

 it, and, consequently, do not arrive to perfection ei- 

 ther in size or nutritive properties. Thus, by an ex- 

 pei'iraent tried by Dr. Anderson (and reported in the 

 fourth volume of the Bath Agricultural Society pa- 

 pers) upon plants upon which the stems were cut 

 from the 2d of August to the 5th of September, the 

 loss in produce from the August cutting was very 

 great ; and that from the September cutting was cal- 

 culated at not less than 9.3 bushels an acre. When 

 the cutting is deferred until about the time the stems 

 show symptoms of decay, it will probably do no 

 harm to the roots, and an addition may thus be made 



