POT 



[ 740 ] 



POT 



apart, as the tubers are not required to 

 be large. The temperature ought never 

 to sink below 65, nor rise above 80. 



The rank steam arising from fer- 

 menting 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 cucumber 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 perpendicular, 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 bed, 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, according to 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 

 will produce new potatoes in October, 

 and in 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 for forcing, during Janu- 

 ary. 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 gene- 

 rate 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 pro- 

 portionate to the temperature of the 

 air. Linings must be applied as the 

 temperature declines ; and air admitted 

 as freely as the temperature of the at- 

 mosphere will allow. Coverings must 

 be afforded with the same regard to 

 temperature. 



From six to seven weeks usually 

 elapses between the time of planting 

 and the fitness 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 

 the year 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 con- 

 tinuing wet, instead of their decay being 

 dry, and attended with the usual phe- 

 nomena of their reduction to mere 

 : woody fibre, the putrefaction was moist, 

 j and the smell attendant upon it pre- 

 j cisely that evolved during the decay of 

 I dead potato haulm partly under water. 

 I The stem decayed whilst the fibres 

 I connecting 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 gangrene ; the infection first 

 being apparent at the end nearest the 

 connecting fibre, spreading gradually 

 throughout the bark of the tuber, ren- 

 dering it brown like a decayed apple, 

 and lastly causing the decay of its 

 interior portion. Previously to the 

 final decay, the increased specific gra- 

 vity 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. 



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 



