137 



Ashes are a good manure for the potato, but should not be 

 mixed with phosphates. An application of them to tlie vines, 

 at the second hoeing, will make thera thrive and destroy many 

 noxious vermin. A dressing of plaster is also good for the 

 vines. 



Seed potatoes. For seed, plant none that are less than 

 medium size and well matured. It is a law of nature that 

 like produces like, and, if you plant diminutive seed, in har- 

 vest time, you may expect a crop like what you plant. Cut 

 your seed potatoes lengthv^^ise, never less than into quarters, 

 halves would be better, and whole ones better still. It is said, 

 that the germ of the potato is in the stem end of it, and that 

 by finest branches, it is connected with the buds or eyes, so 

 that, if it be cut crosswise, those branches would be severed, 

 and thus the power of germination diminished, and the growth 

 of the young plants retarded. Whereas the whole potato 

 would furnish a good supply of nutriment for the plants, 

 before their roots could draw it from the ground. This would 

 give them an early start, and invigorate their growth, and the 

 crop would be matured earlier than that of those of which the 

 seed was cut. The former method would be like removing 

 soil and cutting fibres from the roots of trees to be trans- 

 planted; and the latter, like carefully preserving the soil from 

 dropping off tlieir roots, and preventing their fibres from being 

 severed. Potatoes, from which the crop produced may be de- 

 signed for seed, should always be planted whole. When cut 

 in pieces, their power of reproduction is enfeeliled, the crop 

 deteriorates, and disease is thus induced; and when there 

 comes a season unfavorable for their healthy growth, they can- 

 not withstand its deleterious influence; and when they seem to 

 be maturing, and the husbandman is flushed with hope, sud- 

 denly, to his surprise and sorrow, he beholds the foliage of his 

 field all blackened, as if a frost had killed it. He examines 

 the plants, and finds them covered, like mold, with deadly 



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