VEGETABLES DESCRIPTION AND CULTURE. 40 3 



wood ashes would be very beneficial to this crop. Next 

 to potash it demands a supply of the phosphates. They 

 do well ou fresh lauds, if well broken up and friable. At 

 the .South, the Spanish potatoes are generally planted 

 where they are to remain, like the Irish potato, whole or 

 cut up into sets. But both these may, and the yams must, 

 be propagated by slips, as they grow larger and yield 

 more abundantly by this method. 



To raise slips, select a suuuy spot sheltered by fences 

 or buildings, and lay it off in beds four feet wide, with 

 alleys of the same width between them; slope the beds a 

 little towards the sun, dig them well, and if not already 

 rich, add plenty of well-decomposed manure. Do this in 

 Georgia in February, or early in .March. At the North a 

 gentle hot-bed will be required, and it will be found very 

 useful in every locality, in order that the slips may be 

 ready as soon as all danger of frost is over. 



Choose smooth and healthy-looking potatoes and lay 

 them regularly over the bed an inch or two apart, and 

 cover them about three or four inches with fine soil; rake 

 the bed smooth, and it is done. In large operations, ten 

 bushels of potatoes should be bedded for every acre of 

 ground. 



While the slips are sprouting prepare the ground to 

 receive them. It should be rich, or made so with well- 

 rotted manure, and thoroughly and deeply broken up 

 with the plow or spade. Phosphoric acid and muriate of 

 potash at the rate of 400 pounds per acre may be applied 

 in the furrows. The formula recommended is 600 pounds 

 of phosphoric acid and 200 pounds of muriate of potash. 

 Lay off the soil just before the slips are ready in low, 

 parallel ridges or beds, the crowns of which are three and 

 a half feet asunder, and about six inches high, on which 

 plant out the slips with a dibble eighteen inches apart, 

 one plant in a place. Choose for this operation such a 



