POT 



[ 662] 



POT 



The disease seems to be the result of 

 an excessive degree of wet and cold, at 

 that period of closing growth when all 

 bulbs and tubers require an increased 

 degree of dryness and warmth. If the 

 hyacinth, or tulip, or dahlia is sub- 

 mitted to similar unpropitious contin- 

 gencies, its bulbs or tubers similarly 

 decay. It is not a new disease, for to a 

 less extent it has been noticed before. 



The best rules to obtain and preserve 

 sound potatoes, and a good crop, are 1. 

 Grow none but those which ripen by 

 August. 2. Plant whole, middle-sized 

 potatoes. 3. Plant on moderately light 

 soil, manured some months previously. 

 4. Apply no manure at the time of plant- 

 ing. 5. Plant in November in light, dry 

 soils, but not until February in wet soils. 

 6. Preserve your seed potatoes between 

 layers of earth until required. 7. Plant 

 as you dig ; that is, dig enough for one 

 row, and then plant it with the dibble, so 

 as to avoid trampling on the ground, 8. 

 Let the tops of the sets be six inches be- 

 low the surface. 9. Do not earth up the 

 stems. 10. Do not cut down the stems. 

 11. Take up the crop as soon as the 

 leaves begin to look yellow in July or 

 aarly August. 12. Store in a dry shed 

 between layers of earth, sand, or coal- 

 ashes. 



POTATO, or UNDER -GKOUND ONION. 

 (All turn aggrega'tum.) Produces a cluster 

 of bulbs or offsets, in number from two 

 to twelve, and even more, uniformly be- 

 neath the surface of the soil. From be- 

 ing first introduced to public notice in 

 Scotland by Captain Burns, of Edinburgh, 

 it is there also known as the Bum Onion. 



Varieties. There evidently appear to 

 be two varieties of this vegetable, one of 

 which bears bulbs on the summit of its 

 stems, like the Tree Onion, and the other 

 never throwing up flower-stems at all. 

 One variety is much larger than the other, 

 and this vegetates again as soon as ripe. 



Both varieties are best propagated by 

 offsets of the root of moderate size, for if 

 those are employed which the one va- 

 riety produces on the summit of its stems, 

 they seldom do more than increase in 

 size the first year, but are prolific the 

 next; this also occurs if very small off- 

 sets of the root are employed. 



Planting. They may be planted dur- 

 ing October or November, or as early in 

 the spring as the season will allow, but 

 not later than April. In the west of Eng- 



land, assisted by their genial climate, 

 they plant on the shortest, and take up 

 on the longest day. They are either to 

 be inserted in drills, or by a blunt dibble, 

 eight inches apart each way, not buried 

 entirely, but the top of the offset just 

 level with the surface. Mr. Maher, gar- 

 dener at Arundel Castle, merely places 

 the sets on the surface, covering them 

 with leaf-mould, rotten dung, or other 

 light compost. The beds they are grown 

 in are better, not more than four feet 

 wide, for the convenience of cultivation. 



The practice of earthing over them, 

 when the stems have grown up, is unna- 

 tural ; and by so doing the bulbs are 

 blanched, and prevented ripening per- 

 fectly, on which their keeping so much 

 depends. So far from following this plan, 

 Mr. Wedgewood, of Betley, recommends 

 the earth always to be cleared away down 

 to the ring from whence the fibres spring, 

 as soon as the leaves have attained their 

 full size, and begin to be brown at the 

 top, so that a kind of basin is formed 

 round the bulb. As soon as they vege- 

 tate, they intimate the number of offsets 

 that will be produced by showing a shoot 

 for each. 



They attain their full growth towards 

 the end of July, and become completely 

 ripe early in September; for immediate 

 use, they may be taken up as they ripen, 

 but for keeping, a little before they at- 

 tain perfect maturity. 



POTENTI'LLA. Cinquefoil. ("From potens, 

 powerful ; supposed medicinal quality. 

 Nat. ord., Moseworts [Rosacese]. Linn., 

 12-Icosandria 3-Trigynia. ) 



Hardy herbaceous perennials. Ca'ndicans and 

 lineari'lobn require protection in the winter; 

 seeds and division of the plant in spring; shrubs, 

 by cuttings of ripe wood in the autumn, or by 

 cuttings in summer, under a hand-light; good, 

 deep, sandy loam. All yellow-flowered, except 

 where otherwise mentioned. 

 P. arfsefl'ndens(ascending).l. June. Hungary. 1806. 



agrimonioi' des (agrimony-like). &. July. Cau- 



casus. 181J. 



a'lbn (white). . White. May. Wales. 



alpe'stris (mountain). . Orange. July. Britain. 



ambi'gua (doubtful. Three-toothed Himala- 



yan), f. Yellow. June. Himalaya. 1851. 



angitstifo'lia (narrow-leaved). . June. Siberia. 



18-24. 



anseri'na (goose- tansy}, f . July. Britain. 



.Apenni'na (Apennine). . White. May. Apen- 



nines. 1821. 



arge'ntea (silvery-leaved). 1. June. Britain. 



Astraca'nica (Astracan). I.July. Siberia. 1787. 



a'tro-sangui'nea (dark -bloody)-, l. Purple. 



July. Nepaul. 1822. 



bi'color (two-coloured), l. Yellow, red. March. 



Nepaul. 1843. 



