J14 POTATO. 



liable to disease. Do not, from a mistaken economy, re- 

 serve for sale or table use the largest and best potatoes 

 and save the poorest for planting; if you do, the future 

 crop will certainly be inferior both in quality and quantity ; 

 but, on the contrary, save the best for your next season's 

 planting. 



When sets are used, cut or divide the potato so that two 

 eyes shall be on each set, and spread them out on a floor, 

 not exposed to the direct rays of the sun, to dry, for three 

 or four days or a week. 



For the very early crop, the sets or tubers may "bo 

 planted as early in April as the ground is in a dry, friable 

 state ; the succession and main crops may be planted at 

 any time up to the middle of June. For garden purposes, 

 drills are preferable to hills ; the drills being from two and 

 a half to three feet apart, and in dry ; light soils five or six 

 inches deep. In very heavy or wet soils they should only 

 be half this depth. Some cultivators having such soils 

 plant the sets on the surface and draw the earth over them. 

 The sets should be planted from eight to ten inches apart 

 on the row. As soon as the plants come up the soil should 

 be hoed, and as the plants continue to grow, up to the 

 time of their coming into flower, they should receive two 

 or three earthings np, so as to cause them to make plenty 

 of side roots, as on the extremities of these the tubers are 

 formed. After they commence to bloom, no further culti- 

 vation is necessary, except to pull up any tall weeds that 

 may show themselves. 



The varieties of the potato can be counted by the hun- 

 dred. Until the past few years we were mainly dependent 

 upon English cultivators for new varieties, few of which 

 succeeded well in our climate. Our own cultivators have, 

 however, turned their attention to originating new sorts, 



