THE POTATO. 



279 



sorts of cuttings, 1. reasonably large; 2. very 

 small ; and 3. very large ; the result was, 



1. The reasonaWy large, or moderate sized, ) 



produced j 



2. The very small, ... 



Difference, 19 7 



This, upon an acre, would make a very material 

 difference. The produce of the very large was 

 little or nothing different from the reasonably 

 large or moderate sized. 



The mode of managing the sets requires more 

 attention than is commonly paid to it, more es- 

 pecially for early crops. In regard to them, the 

 following is the most approved method in Lan- 

 cashire. When the sets are cut, they are put on 

 a room-floor, where a strong current of air can 

 be introduced at pleasure, two lays in depth, and 

 covered two inches thick, with chaff, or saw- 

 dust. If desired to be very early, they remain 

 thus from November till March, much attention 

 being paid to give or to exclude air, according 

 to the weather. 



If the seed, after being cut, is suffered to lie 

 in a heap, it will heat, and it will cither be to- 

 tally destroyed, or at least so weakened as to 

 produce curled stalks and a poof crop. Curled 

 stalks will proceed from any other cause which 

 weakens the vegetative power either before sow- 

 ing or when the plant is in a state of growing ; 

 but nothing can more effectually produce it than 

 laying potatoes together in too large quantities, 

 in a wet or damp state. This must occasion re- 

 peated sprouting before planting, and perhaps 

 worms may be produced, which, wounding the 

 young shoots, may occasion much mischief. 



It is said that a set will not sprout until the 

 cut be healed ; and, therefore, if the cutting be 

 performed long enough before the setting, to al- 

 low time for the cut to heal or dry, so much 

 time will be gained by the planter, which is a 

 great object, especially to the poor, who are late 

 in planting. 



The quantity of seed per acre varies from fif- 

 teen to thirty bushels ; medium about twenty, 

 which is quite enough if the rows are kept at an 

 adequate distance from each other, namely, four 

 feet. Nothing can be more injudicious than the 

 clo.se planting so prevalent in many parts of the 

 kingdom, and more especially in the more 

 northern districts. 



Some recommend the plan of planting the en- 

 tire potato ; but the saving of the seed, by cut- 

 ting large potatoes, is considerable, amounting to 

 £1 10s. 8d. per statute acre; for it appears, by 

 repeated experiments, that the uncut potatoes 

 required 37^ bushels per acre, and the cut only 

 20^, making a difference of not less than seven- 

 teen bushels. 



Some years ago a gentleman in Fife tried 

 the following experiment : He took one of the 

 largest potatoes he could get, and planted it 

 whole in his garden without dung ; the produce 

 was seventy-two potatoes in all ; above twenty 

 of them were nearly as large as the mother-plant, 

 the remainder of different sizes, gradually de- 

 creasing to about the size of a walnut. Next 

 season he planted the whole of that produce also 

 uncut, setting the largest in the front row, the 

 next largest in the second, and so on, diminish- 

 ing the size in every row till the last, which was 

 the smallest of all. By this experiment he found 

 not only that the stems of the largest seed were 

 by far the strongest, but their produce was also 

 by far the greatest, none of them producing po- 

 tatoes larger than their respective seed. From 

 this it would appear that the larger the seed-po- 

 tato, the larger will be the produce. Whether 

 the original potato would have produced an 

 equal weight, had it been cut in three or four 

 sets, he could not say ; but unless it would have 

 produced a great deal more, the advantages are 

 certainly in favour of setting them whole, by 

 saving a deal of labour, and occupying a less 

 space of ground. 



It is well known that in the spring potatoes 

 shoot out, and that in stirring, moving, or cut- 

 ting slices, many of these shoots fall off, and are 

 commonly thrown away. They may, however, 

 be preserved and planted with success, instead of 

 cuttings; by which means there is a saving of 

 seed to a certain amount. Although it is highly 

 proper carefully to preserve all the sprouts which 

 can be collected in the sowing season, yet the 

 entire substitution of sprouts in the place of po- 

 tatoe-sets can never take place so as entirely to 

 supersede the necessity of planting a considerable 

 quantity of tlie latter. Every man's experience 

 proves, that when sprouts are put forth the po- 

 tatoes are considerably weakened, and that that 

 weakness increases in proportion as sprouts ap- 

 pear, until the potatoes are entirely exhausted, 

 and unfit either for food or seed. The general 

 practice therefore is, to prevent as much as pos- 

 sible potatoes from sprouting at all ; and when 

 that cannot be done effectualli/, farmers choose 

 to let the sprouts remain and wither, which they 

 will do by turning the potatoes often, shaking 

 the mould off, and keeping them in a dry state. 

 The withering of the sprouts, it is said, prevents 

 or retards new shoots, by which the potatoes ara 

 preserved in a better state for food than if they 

 were encouraged or suffered to put forth many 

 sprouts. But supposing all the sprouts of pota- 

 toes which are brought to view during seed time 

 be preserved for seed, yet the quantity of good 

 shoots will fall far short of the complement ne- 

 cessary for a general planting, inasmuch as a po- 

 tato, however large and full of eyes, will not, at 

 the first sprouting, put forth more than one or 



