20 THE POTATO CROP. 



Scriptures ; but, whether we view it in reference to its 

 special adaptation to almost every soil and every climate 

 where cultivation exists, or as an important and most 

 useful source of food, grateful to the palate and nutritious 

 to the animal system, we cannot refuse to acknowledge it 

 as one of the most valuable vegetable gifts bestowed 

 upon the human, race. 



The genus Solanum contains three species, well known 

 in either garden or field cultivation ; a fourth is an indi- 

 genous perennial weed, the bitter-sweet (S. dulcamara), 

 growing wild everywhere in our hedgerows, and bearing 

 clusters of bright scarlet berries, tempting yet poisonous 

 to children. 



The name given to the potato by botanists is the So- 

 lanum tuberosum, of which the (so-called) varieties in 

 cultivation in different parts of the country are almost 

 without number. 1 These varieties, however, though they 

 differ in many cases but slightly from each other, have 

 generally some peculiarity of adaptation to different soils 

 or climates, or their quality or their productiveness gives 

 them a claim to the character of a variety. Mr. Lawson 

 divides the field varieties into three classes. 



No. 1. Early field potatoes, the leaves and stems of 

 which (under ordinary circumstances) are decayed by the 

 time when they are usually taken up, and the tubers of 

 which are then fit for use. 



No. 2. Large field potatoes, the foliage of which, in 

 ordinary seasons, does not decay until injured by frost, 

 and the tubers of which generally require to be kept for 

 some time before being fit for using to the greatest ad- 

 vantage. 



No. 3. Late large, prolific sorts, more particularly 

 adapted for cattle feeding. 



1 Lawson enumerates and describes, in the Vegetable Products of Scotland, 

 nearly 200 varieties. 



