198 EARLY POTATO. 



on boards covered two inches deep with moist sand, 

 chaff, or sawdust, in a place where there is light 

 and some heat. The loose covering encourages the 

 growth of fibrous roots, which may be lifted from 

 the board entire, with the chaff or other matter 

 adhering, and in the best condition for transplant- 

 ing. In the beginning of March, on ground newly 

 dug, by the foot of a south wall, where small frosts 

 have little effect, set the well grown plants in a 

 drill four inches deep, with a sprinkling of dry old 

 dung both above and below. Branches of spruce 

 fir or rough-twined ropes of straw, held a few inches 

 above the drill, may be used when needful as a de- 

 fence from hoarfrost. The planting must be later 

 according to the climate and to the degree of frost 

 usual at that early season. It is needless to men- 

 tion, that planting under cover in a hotbed is a 

 surer way to the early production of a few handfuls 

 of indifferent potatoes; but it is somewhat curious, 

 and perhaps less known, that potatoes covered with 

 earth on a cellar floor, without the access of light 

 or air, though they produce no leaves, may be taken 

 up in winter with pretty large young tubers, which, 

 however, have little of the mealy quality and as 

 little of a good flavour. 



It is far easier, however, to have old potatoes in 

 good condition than to contend with nature for the 

 production of new ones; and as those raised by 

 forcing are neither palatable nor wholesome, we 

 shall turn to what is more useful the obtaining 

 of a good early crop in due season. The sorts that 



