VEGETABLE GROWING 



377 



ing light and air is to prevent the tubers from becoming green, as they will be if thus ex- 

 posed to light, and when so greened be quite unfit for eating. The seed tubers, on the other 

 hand, need to be so kept that, whilst dry and free from frost, yet they have ample light and 

 air, so that the skins by such exposure become hard, and when later in the winter the eyes or 

 buds begin to shoot or burst into growth, such shoots as may be formed will then be 

 stout, strong, and green, and can be retained on the tubers for planting. Were the 

 tubers kept in darkness, the shoot made from the eye would be long, weak, and blanched, 

 and in that way worthless, while their production would rob the tubers of much nutri- 

 ment, and check the production of strong shoots when planted. 



Preserving Seed Tubers. The best and simplest method of doing this satisfactorily is 

 to have shallow trays or boxes made from thin boards. These may be but 4 inches deep 

 inside, and be of such sizes as may be preferred. Those of 14 inches by 18 inches hold 

 quite a large number of seed tubers, which should be stood in the boxes with their shoot 

 or bud ends upwards, and close together. If a strip of stout wood be fastened to each 

 end of the box to form a handle, great convenience for moving and planting are furnished. 

 These boxes may be stood in quite a cool, airy place during open weather, and be stacked 

 close together and covered up, or removed into a less cold position when frosts threaten. 

 It is difficult to overestimate the value of such treatment meted out to seed tubers, as the 



PRODUCE FROM SETS WITH ONLY ONE 

 STRONG SHOOT WHEN PLANTED 



SEVERAL STEMS AND SMALL TUBERS 

 DUE TO BAD STORAGE 



crops from such cared-for sets are usually double in bulk to those that result from badly 

 wintered tubers, especially as bad storing always tends to weaken the stock. 



Raising from Seed. The Potato as grown now, with the object of securing the 

 greatest possible crop of tubers or root produce, seldom produces seed naturally, although 

 the plants will in the summer bloom profusely. The plants seem incapable of carrying 

 at once abundant root tubers and seed balls or apples which contain seed. Those who 

 wish to raise Potatoes from seed must obtain pollen or fine fertile dust from the flowers of 

 one variety, and employ it to fertilise the pistil points of one or two flowers on some other 

 variety, and thus induce the bloom to set, to carry seed, balls or apples. These when ripe can 

 be saved, kept in a box in a dry place for the winter, when only seed and skins will be left. 

 The seeds may then be cleaned, and about the middle of April sown in pans on fine soil, 

 and be stood in a greenhouse or frame to germinate. Later the young plants have to be 

 dibbled thinly into shallow boxes, and from these at the end of May be transplanted into 

 the open ground in rows, 2 feet apart, for the summer. 



Planting the Sets. A fairly light, deep soil suits the Potato well. It need not 

 necessarily be rich with fresh manure ; generally it is best to manure well for some pre- 

 vious vegetable crop, and then follow with Potatoes. But the soil should always be 

 deeply worked, and broken quite loose. Very early varieties may be planted on a warm 

 border during March, but some protection from frost must be furnished to the plants. 

 For all ordinary purposes and main crops, it is early enough to plant from the second to 



