GARDENING. 77 



afterwards. When you raise your crop, let the sun 

 shine on them as httle as possible: if it turns them 

 green they are poison. They should be kept as cool as 

 may be without freezing, and somewhat moist. 



SWEET POTATO. 



Plant them in a hot-bed early in April, about three 

 inches deep. When the sprouts are three or four 

 inches above ground, part them from the potatoe, and 

 set them into hills properly manured, and raised a little 

 above the surface. The seed-potato, if left in the 

 ground, will continue for some time to furnish sprouts. 



Good crops of sweet potatoes may be raised in the 

 neighborhood of Lat. 40. by a little attention to the 

 nature of the plant. Sweet potatoes are produced from 

 the joints of the vine, and not from the old potato. To 

 make them fruitful these joints must be covered with 

 earth, and the potato forms there. 



The best method of cultivation is as follows: — Some 

 time in April make a hot bed of horse manure about 

 eighteen inches thick; on the manure put three inches 

 of earth; on this earth plant the seed potatoes three 

 inches apart, and cover them four inches deep with 

 earth. 



When the sprouts are three inches above the ground, 

 draw them out with the hand, and transplant them (aa 

 you would cabbage plants) in soft rich ground, in rows 

 four feet apart, and put the plants about a foot apart in 

 the rows. Keep them clear of weeds until the vines 

 begin to cover the ground, after which they are left to 

 themselves. 



If the hot-bed is made early in April, the early 

 sprouts will be ready for transplanting early in May. 

 The bed will continue to throw up a second and third 

 succession of sprouts, all of which will afford good po- 

 tatoes, if planted out any time before the end of June. 

 A hot-bed five feet square, with half a peck of seed 

 potatoes, will produce a succession of sprouts, sufficient 

 to yield about fifteen bushels of sweet potatoes. 



g2 



