212 Culture and Preservation of Potatoes. 



and there was a necessit}' of raising new sorts from seeds, to replace the old 

 and decaying varieties. This theory has no doubt been carried too far, it has 

 been affirmed that all the grafts would die when the original tree died ; and 

 Mr. Aitken, I think, has also attached too much importance to it in the 

 potato; but that it is true to a certain extent, experience will warrant us In 

 affirming. This district, and about Paisley, has long been famous for raising 

 ranunculuses from seed ; and so superior in vigour are those recently raised 

 from seed to the older varieties, that it is customary for florists to point out 

 the new seedlings, in the beds of flowers belonging to their neighbours, before 

 they have come into flower, merely by the extra vigour of the plants ; and so 

 well is this known, and so much calculated on, that it is customary to hear 

 florists talking of destroying their old varieties, and to continue to grow from 

 seed only : the same thing has been remarked about the seedling pinks, and 

 we never have the large sorts of Lancashire gooseberries to come up to their 

 iirst-declared weights. 1 am, therefore, of opinion, that more attention ought 

 to be paid to the raising of new varieties from seed, and that much of the 

 success will depend on selecting the best varieties to breed from, and also the 

 most vigorous individuals of that variety; much also may be done in blending 

 prolific and farinaceous varieties, &c. Mr. Aitken, however, I think, attaches 

 too much importance to this. Any want of vigour arising from the age of the 

 variety must come on gradually, and cannot, as Mr. Tov/ers remarks, come 

 and go with wet and dry seasons : some peculiarity must be sought for in the 

 nature of those seasons in which the failure occurred ; and to the excessive 

 and long continued drought which prevailed throughout the most of Scotland 

 in the years alluded to, precisely at the period when the tubers should have 

 germinated, we must certainly look for the principal cause. We have had long 

 continued drought in other seasons : but, if sufficient moisture is found to 

 germinate the tubers, and allow them to protrude their fibres into the ground, 

 they may fail in vigour afterwards from a want of moisture ; the plant may not 

 grow so strong, but the fibres are strong and active in this species of plant, 

 and it is not easily killed when once begun to grow. As a proof that drought 

 did the most mischief, I need only remark that, in ovir own experience in that 

 greatest year of failure, we had not a single failure in the nursery grounds, 

 where the soil was well broke with the spade and the moisture and heat re- 

 tained ; while the same potatoes, from the same heap, and planted at the same 

 time by the plough in Mr. Fowld's field, were a total failure, from the rough 

 and lumpy state of the ground : many other causes no doubt assisted. Tubers 

 for seed too long cut and exposed to the weather, as Mr. Towers remarks, 

 will lose their vigour ; they may be thrown together in heaps after cutting, 

 or thrust into sacks, and thus heated and spoiled; they may be too ripe when 

 lifted, or too green ; the drills may be too long exposed to drought before 

 planting; the dung may be insufficiently rotted : all of these may cause partial 

 failures, but the excessive and widely extended failures of these seasons were 

 more deeply seated. Mr, Aitken's directions as to having the ground well 

 pulverised are excellent. Too much attention cannot be paid to this : it should 

 be broken as small as possible, and done in dry iveather ; when the particles of 

 earth are minute, and thoroughly dried on the surface, thej- keep separate 

 unless the after rains are heavy indeed. Confined air is retained in great 

 quantities between the particles which retain the heat ; any showers and dews 

 that fall are not so speedily evaporated ; and thus heat and moisture, two of 

 the most principal requisites in vegetation, are greatly increased. 



In planting with the plough, especially if the ground is ploughed wet, it is 

 too often planted with potatoes in a rough and lumpy condition, and the 

 drought penetrating, and the heat escaping, the tuber is left without the 

 necessary agents in furthering germination; and being generally planted from 

 cuts not whole, and thus deprived of the skin which nature has provided for 

 its preservation, it is no wonder if it become exhausted and perish. Mr. 

 Aitken and Mr. Towers both approve of unripe tubers being planted, and the 

 formei- goes into considerable detail as to the methods of procuring these ; 



