POTATOES. 131 



manure. Plant the latter part of May, in rows three feet 

 apart, and eighteen inches between the plants. 



Marketing* The fruit is marketable when about half- 

 grown, though some may be sold when ripe, and may be 

 shipped in open barrels or crates. They should be cut 

 with a part of the stem, but never broken from the plant. 



Seed. The seed is produced about the core attached 

 to the stem within the pods, and is ripe when the pods 

 are red and begin to shrivel, at which time the fruit may 

 be gathered, mashed or ground, and the seed washed out 

 the same as that of the egg-plant. 



The seed retains its vitality two years. 



Varieties. The varieties are quite numerous, the lead- 

 ing sorts being the Bell or Bull-Nose and the Squash. 

 They are both red when ripe, the former large, quite 

 blunt and uneven at the lower or blossom end, but some- 

 times tapering. The latter is about one third as large as 

 the Bell, in shape broad and flat, very similar to a Tea- 

 plate squash. 



POTATOES. 



There is perhaps no vegetable grown in which the 

 public are so much interested as the potato, and many 

 farmers count upon it as one of their main crops. Of late 

 years, however, the uncertainty of getting a crop renders 

 it hazardous to plant largely. 



To those who have seen the tremendous yields of this 

 esculent in years gone by, there naturally arises in their 

 minds the query : " What is the cause of the failure of 

 the potato-crop of late years ? " " Is it because the soil 

 has become exhausted of some particular ingredient ? " 

 or " Have the seasons changed sufficiently to produce a 

 damaging effect ? " or " Is it not more likely the seed has 

 run out by long-continued planting from the same stock, 

 and too frequently the use of small or inferior seecl,? " 



