POT 



[ 661 ] 



POT 



heaps of earth, with a stake in the mid- 

 die, and when the plants are about four 

 inches high, heing secured to the stakes 

 with shreds and nails, and the earth 

 washed away from the hases of the stems 

 by means of a strong current of water, so 

 that the fibrous roots only enter the soil, 

 %vill blossom and perfect seed. 



Forcing. The season of forcing is 

 from the close of December to the middle 

 of February, in a hotbed, and at the close 

 of this lastmonth on a warm border, with 

 the temporary shelter of a frame. The 

 Iiotbed is only required to produce a 

 :noderate heat. The earth should be six 

 inches deep, and the sets planted in rows 

 six or eight inches apart, as the tubers 

 are not required to be large. The tem- 

 perature ought never to sink below 65, 

 nor rise above 80. 



The rank steam arising from ferment- 

 ing dung is undoubtedly injurious to the 

 roots of potatoes; and to obviate this 

 they may be planted in narrow beds, and 

 the dung applied in trenches on each 

 -side; or all the earth from an old cucum- 

 ber or other hotbed being removed, and 

 an inch in depth of fresh being added, 

 put on the sets, and cover them with four 

 inches of mould. At the end of five 

 days the sides of the old dung may be 

 cut away in an inward slanting direction, 

 about fifteen inches from the perpendi- 

 cular, and strong linings of hot dung 

 applied. 



If the tubers are desired to be brought 

 to maturity as speedily as possible, in- 

 stead of being planted in the earth of the 

 Lad, each set should be placed in a pot 

 about six inches in diameter, though the 

 produce in pots is smaller. But young 

 potatoes may be obtained in the winter, 

 by the following plan, without forcing : 

 Plant some late kinds, unsprouted, in 

 a dry, rich border, in July, and again in 

 August, in rows two feet apart. They 

 wfll produce new potatoes in October, and 

 i n succession until April, if covered with 

 leaves or straw to exclude frost. If old 

 potatoes are placed in dry earth, in a 

 shed during August, they will emit young 

 tubers in December. 



Preparation of Sets for Forcing. They 

 should be of the early varieties. To 

 assist their forward vegetation, plant a 

 single potato in each of the pots intended 

 ibr forcing during January. Then place 

 in the ground, and protect with litter 

 from the frost. This renders them very 



excitable by heat; and, consequently, 

 when plunged in a hotbed, they vegetate 

 rapidly and generate tubers. The seed 

 potatoes are equally assisted, and with 

 less trouble, if placed in a cellar just in 

 contact with each other ; and as soon as 

 the germs are four inches long, they are 

 removed to the hotbed. 



Management. More than one stem 

 should never be allowed, otherwise the 

 tubers are small, and not more numerous. 



Water must be given whenever the soil 

 appears dry, and in quantity proportion- 

 ate to the temperature of the air. Lin- 

 ings must be applied as the temperature 

 declines, and air admitted as freely as 

 the temperature of the atmosphere will 

 allow. Coverings must be afforded with 

 the same regard to temperature. 



From six to seven weeks usually elapse 

 between the time of planting and the fit- 

 ness of the tubers for use. 



Potato Murrain. By the above name 

 was distinguished a moist gangrene 

 which first attacked, very generally, the 

 crop of England late in the summer of 

 1845. July and August were unusually 

 wet and cold, and early in August there 

 were sharp morning frosts. Immediately 

 after, the stems began to decay ; but the 

 weather continuing wet, instead of their 

 decay being dry, and attended with the 

 usual phenomena of their reduction to 

 mere woody fibre, the putrefaction was 

 moist, and the smell attendant upon it 

 precisely that evolved during the decay 

 of dead potato haulm partly underwater. 

 The stem decayed, whilst the fibres con- 

 necting the tubers with them were fresh 

 and juicy ; the putrefaction spread along 

 these ; the diseased sap, being absorbed 

 by their still immature and unusually 

 juicy tubers, imparted to them the gan- 

 grene ; the infection first being apparent 

 at the end nearest the connecting fibre, 

 spreading gradually throughout the bark 

 of the tuber, rendering it brown, like a 

 decayed apple, and, lastly, causing the 

 decay of its interior portion. Previously 

 to the final decay, the increased specific 

 gravity of the potato was remarkable, 

 amounting to one-third more than that 

 of a healthy tuber an increase caused 

 by its greater amount of water. When 

 boiled the potato became black ; but 

 when submitted to a dry heat of about 

 200, it rapidly lost moisture, and the 

 progress of the ulceration was retarded, 

 if not entirely stopped. 



