THE POTATO. 



277 



food. The soil of Bengal, and the long continu- 

 ance of dry weather, may, perhaps, he obstacles 

 sufficient to prevent this root from becoming the 

 principal nourishment of the lower orders ; but 

 it is supposed that if it could be raised cheaper 

 than rice, the potato would be generally prefeiTed 

 by Hindoos. At present it is almost universally 

 served up at European tables in Bengal in the 

 same manner as in England ; and though the 

 crop is less abundant, and the roots are smaller 

 in size, they are scarcely inferior in quality to 

 those of this country. 



Wherever the Englishman seeks a home, he 

 always strives to naturalize this root, which was 

 so long struggling into notice in his own country. 

 Now amid all the luxuriant and delicious vege- 

 tation of tropical climes, he stiU retains his pre- 

 ference for that simple vegetable, which he con- 

 siders almost a necessary of life. At Ceylon all 

 his attempts to cultivate this plant have been 

 nearly vain, as it wiU not thrive in that island at 

 any place except at Candy, a town almost seventy 

 miles in the interior, and the only spot in the 

 country where European vegetables come to any 

 degree of perfection. A basket of these roots is 

 sent every morning thence for the supply of the 

 governor's table, as all the indigenous vegetables 

 are considered an inferior substitute for this 

 necessary auxiliary to the Englishman's more 

 substantial fare. 



There are a great many varieties of the potato, 

 arising from soil, culture, and other circumstances, 

 but even in the same soil, and under exactly 

 similar circumstances, there are few plants which 

 exhibit such endless diversities as this one, es- 

 pecially in the size, form, and colour of the 

 tubers. It will be sufficient to mention a few 

 of these varieties. 



The Spanish or White Kidney, is an oblong 

 flat potato, of a yellowish hue when boiled ; dry 

 or mealy, and of an early sort. 



The Wicklow Banger, is a very long flat root, 

 vrith very few eyes, and those scarcely sunk in 

 the surface, with a rose-coloured spot on one end 

 and sometimes on the side ; an early kind much 

 esteemed in Ireland. 



English White, or London lady, a smooth fair 

 potato, generally flat, at first watery but after- 

 wards dry and mealy. 



The White Eye, a large round root, of a red 

 colour, with the eye sunk very deep in the white 

 blotches ; a productive kind and moderately 



dry. 



There are other varieties of a deep purple 

 colour, and of a bright red or mottled appear- 

 ance. 



All these varieties are produced from sowing 

 the seeds. 



Potato plants raised from seeds do not blossom 

 for the first three years, nor are the potatoes fit for 

 use until replanted for two or three yearg, un- 



less care be taken to sow the seeds in rich ground 

 in small driUs, and afterwards transplant the 

 shoots and frequently hoe them. 



It is perhaps of advantage thus occasionally 

 to rise potatoes from seed in order to obtain fresh 

 tubers and new varieties. But if care be taken 

 to change the soil of the tubers every other year, 

 that is, to procure seed potatoes from a distant 

 and different locality, the healthy perfection of 

 the plants may be indefinitely prolonged. 



With regard to the best soil, the uplands and 

 the lighter grounds are found to be much better 

 adapted than rich and strong lands to the culti- 

 vation of the potato. This root has one great 

 advantage over all grain and leguminous crops, 

 in being perfectly secure against the late rains, 

 which often completely destroy the hopes of the 

 farmer. Rains which have no bad eflFects upon 

 the potato, injure the bloom upon the cerealia, 

 or cause them and the legumes to run so much 

 to straw as not only to be less productive of seed, 

 but actually to lodge and rot. The quality of 

 the roots is no doubt a little deteriorated by ex- 

 cess of moisture, but when they are sufficiently 

 matured, rain has little or no injurious influence 

 over them. 



This plant seems alone to have been wanted to 

 make the agriculture of the British isles com- 

 plete. Upon the western side, and among the 

 mountains, a grain crop is always precarious, and 

 seldom or never good. Scanty and bad as it is, its 

 culture is also expensive, as, after it has been 

 reaped, it cannot be left in the field to dry, but 

 must be taken wet into bams constructed of 

 wicker-work, for the purpose of obtaining a cur- 

 rent of air, and there suspended upon ropes. 

 Such a process is not merely tedious and costly, 

 but absolutely incompatible witli the culture 

 of any considerable quantity of grain. 



A new soil produces better potatoes than 

 worked land in the highest condition; and ground 

 which is light and spongy, provided that it has 

 the advantage of plenty of moisture, which does 

 not stagnate, is better than the strongest lands. 

 The reasons are obvious — the tubers will form 

 with the greater ease according as the resistance 

 is less which the ground offers to their expan- 

 sion, while so large a quantity of vegetable mat- 

 ter elaborated in so brief a space demands no 

 little supply of humidity. Now the little patches 

 among mountains are composed of the very best 

 soil for this purpose, being generally a mixture 

 of sand and vegetable matter. Such a soil is 

 readily penetrated throughout by every shower, 

 and yet the water does not stagnate ; as a moun- 

 tainous country near the sea is, in high lati- 

 tudes, always one in which there are frequent 

 showers, the watering of these mountain patches 

 is precisely that which is most beneficial, and 

 therefore it would be difficult to imagine a soil 

 and climate better fitted for the growth or for 



