54-6 GENERAL REVIEW. 



fruited dwarf varieties (WeatherilPs strain) sent out previously 

 by Mr B. S. Williams. 



The Potato (Solatium tuberosuni) is easily raised from seed ; 

 and any variety which grows and flowers freely may be selected 

 as the seed-bearing plant, but preference should always be given 

 to those kinds which produce good, well-formed tubers, with 

 shallow eyes, and which are floury and delicate in flavour when 

 cooked. Let the same qualities characterise the pollen-bearing 

 parent. Mr Fenn, who has raised numerous fine seedling 

 Potatoes, recommends the selection of a vigorous pollen-parent 

 in order to secure good-constitutioned offspring; and he re- 

 moves the anthers from the seed-bearing plant in the evening 

 rather late, and applies the pollen from a flower of the selected 

 pollen-parent in the morning. The Potato is protogynous 

 that is, it develops its stigma before the anthers of the same 

 flower discharge their pollen ; so that by adopting Mr Fenn's 

 method there is little danger of the stigma becoming fertilised, 

 except artificially. When the Potato-apples or fruits are ripe, 

 cut them open, and dry the seeds in a cloth, as recommended 

 for Melons. February is the best time for sowing the seeds in 

 pans of rich earth, giving them the assistance of a little bottom- 

 heat. When the young plants are large enough to handle, 

 prick them off on to a common dung-bed, covered with three 

 to four inches of rich soil, and protected with a frame. Treated 

 in this way, fair-sized sets may be obtained the second year 

 from seed. Another plan is to prick off the seedlings into 

 pans or boxes, and plant them out in May in trenches, so that 

 they can be sheltered with mats or straw frames in cold or 

 frosty weather. It is best to try each new variety a year or 

 two after good tubers are obtained before discarding it alto- 

 gether. Potatoes are readily propagated by dividing the tubers 

 so as to have an eye or bud to each portion, a plan which suc- 

 ceeds well, especially with the robust-growing American varie- 

 ties. Another plan of propagating is to layer the haulm in 

 light rich soil by pegging, and the stems so treated root readily, 

 and throw out numerous tubers. If this operation is carefully 

 performed early in the season, the supply of tubers of new or 

 select varieties for seed purposes can be largely increased. By 

 cutting the tubers up carefully into single-eyed sets very large 

 crops have been obtained from, say, one pound of seed Pota- 

 toes some of the American varieties, as Snowflake, Eureka, 

 and others, being remarkably prolific. In 1875, Mr Pink, 

 gardener at Lees Court, Faversham, dug upwards of 647 Ib. 

 of Eureka from i Ib. of seed, and 372^ Ib. of Snowflake 

 from a like amount. Some years ago several Potato-growers 



