VEGETABLES DESCRIPTION AND CULTURE. 279 



asunder, and the sets from six to twelve inches in the 

 row, the greater distances for the tall-growing sorts. 

 Experiments in England have proved that there the best 

 crops are secured when the sets are planted six inches 

 deep, or in light sandy soil not less than seven inches. 

 The sets should be cut a week before planting, and allowed 

 to dry. A medium-sized tuber will make five or six sets. 

 After the ground has been well prepared by plowing 

 or spading, dig a trench eight inches deep, the width of 

 the spade, and in the bottom of this form a slight furrow 

 with a hoe, that the sets may be in a line. In this furrow 

 the sets are placed (for Mercers eight inches apart). Cover 

 with a good coat of manure of the kinds before directed, 

 to which manipulated guano, or superphosphate of lime 

 and gypsum, may be added with advantage. The earth is 

 hauled over them, leaving the surface some two or three 

 inches below the general level, that the plants may receive 

 and retain near them all the rain that falls. After the 

 plants come up, hoe them well, but do not disturb the 

 ground if there is any apprehension of even a slight frost. 

 When all danger of frost is over, they should, if possible, 

 receive a good mulching of leaves directly after a good 

 heavy rain, and some trash may be laid over to keep the 

 leaves in place. The leaves must not be put on too early, 

 as if applied before the frosts are entirely over the evap- 

 oration from a bed of damp leaves so lowers the tempera- 

 ture at their surface that a frost scarcely perceptible else- 

 where may prove fatal to tender plants thus mulched. 



If the leaves are not to be obtained, keep the soil free 

 from weeds by flat culture, until the tops cover the 

 ground. The early crop may alternate with Lima beans, 

 making the rows five feet apart in this case, and they will 

 be ready for digging when the beans are fit for use which 

 are planted in hills between the potato rows. This crop 

 should be planted as early in the spring as possible. At 

 the South, in January or February, and at the North in 



