SO-i ON POTATOES. 



flry; the vessel best suited to preserve tlu^m js an earthen 

 ware jar with a cover, this will notoivly keep them coel, hut 

 it will restrain the loss of moisture without entirely prevent- 

 ing perspirrition, and thus eudanoerincj the loss of vitality, 

 the iiiunedi;jte (onsequence of which is the appearance of 

 must and mouldiness. 



X. 



On Potafoes. By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. 

 F. R. S. 4-e*. 



$y^jj"T<=»k)ns JLN the Horticultural Transactions of I807t, I huve de- 



th' culuiFcof seribed a method of cultivating early varieties of the potjj- 



ijotto2i to, by which any of those, which do not usually blossom, 



may be made to produce seeds, and thus afford the nneana 



of obtaining many other early varieties. 1 also offered a 



conjecture, that varieties of moderately early habits, and 



luxuriant grovvth, might be formed, which would be found 



well adapted to field-culture, and be ready to be taken 



from thie soil in the end of August, or the beginning of 



September, so that the farmer might be allowed ample time 



li-iTe sacceed- ^^ prepare the same ijroDnd for a crop of wheat. 1 am now 



ea in practice. , ' , , " ^ i < • 



enabled to state, that the success of the experiment has m 



both cases fully answered every expectation that I had 

 formed. 

 Thetiihers The iijcts that 1 have stated in the Horticultural Trans-, 



and blo^oras .jctions of 1807, and more fully iu the Philosophical Trans- 

 ihesamesap. actions, are, I believe, sufhcient to prove, that the same 

 fluid, or sap, gives existence alike to the tuber, and the 

 blossom and seeds, and that whenever a plant of the potato 

 affor«ls either seeds or blossoms, a diminution of the crop 

 of tubers, or an increased expenditure of the richness of the 

 LarRecTops g^ji must necessarily take place. It has also been proved 

 from wrjnenes ip i i 'f i • • 



produ ng no by Others, as well as niyself, that the crop of tubers is in- 

 creased by destroying the fruit-stalks and immature blos- 

 soms as soon as they appear; and I therefore conceived, 

 that considerable advantages would arise, if varieties of suf- 



t Trans, ofihs Hort, Sec. vol. I, p. 187. f Se^ Journal, yol. XIX, p. 97, 



ficiently 



Uoskoius. 



I 



