202 



CULINARY OE KITCHEN GARDEN. 



duoed. The potato having no peculiar taste, 

 like bread it can be used long by the same indi- 

 vidual without becoming unpalatable, and is no 

 doubt a useful vegetable to be eaten along with 

 butcher-meat upon the same principle that most 

 other vegetables are. Long use has also habi- 

 tuated us to it, so that for such purposes its loss 

 would be felt for a time ; but as an article of 

 direct food, on which thousands are to depend 

 for sustenance, its total extinction would be 

 no great loss. And this the less so, seeing we 

 have substitutes for it as easily cultivated smd 

 as productive, could we only rid ourselves of a 

 confirmed habit. 



Propagation. — The usual and most ex- 

 peditious way is to propagate by planting 

 medium-sized tubers whole, or the larger 

 ones cut into sections or sets, as they are 

 technically termed, having one eye or bud 

 to each. By this means a crop is obtained 

 the same season, and the variety, if not 

 subjected to a considerable change of cli- 

 mate, continued for years without much 

 change in character or deterioration in 

 quality. It is also propagated by seeds, 

 when new or improved varieties are wished 

 for, and by this means most of the sorts 

 at present in cultivation have been ob- 

 tained. The process has also been had 

 recourse to since the appearance of the 

 disease, thinking thereby, by getting a 

 new breed either from seed home-grown, 

 or imported from its native country, that 

 a new progeny with increased vigour 

 would be produced. These hopes have 

 not been realised ; seedling plants, from 

 home-grown or imported seed, have suf- 

 fered almost alike. Seed has, however, 

 produced improved varieties ; but unfor- 

 tunately the process has been so carelessly 

 gone about, that, with very few exceptions, 

 we do not find any satisfactory informa- 

 tion as to the means employed. It is pro- 

 bable much of the success has been the 

 result of chance, or the natural proneness 

 of the plant to run into variety from seed, 

 some of which may be good, others infe- 

 rior to the parent plant. It is also propa- 

 gated by layers and cuttings, modes that 

 can only be considered expedient when 

 sets are scarce, or when it is desirable to 

 multiply a new or scarce variety. 



Propagating the potato by cuttings has for 

 several years been extensively employed 

 by Messrs Hay and Sangster of London, 

 with a view to restore vigour in the plant 

 and arrest the progress of disease, by ob- 

 taining through this means a healthy pro^ 

 geny. In procuring cuttings, the potatoes 



are placed in spring on a moderate hot- 

 bed, as they think it important that the 

 cuttings should be as short a time as pos- 

 sible on the old tubers. When the young 

 shoots have attained the height of 4 or 5 

 inches, they are cut off much in the way 

 dahlia cuttings are taken from the roots — 

 that is, taking no part of the old tuber 

 along with them. They recommend that 

 the planting of the cuttings in the open 

 ground should be proceeded with before 

 the 20th of May (that is, for the latitude 

 of London), and, at planting, that 1 or 2 

 inches of their tops should be left above 

 ground, and a slight watering given if the 

 ground is dry. In this way they have 

 secured a healthy crop over 5 acres of 

 ground from the tubers produced by the 

 plants originated by cuttings in the pre- 

 ceding year. " The only fault," they say, 

 " in planting cuttings, is that the tubers 

 grow too large, and some anything but 

 handsome ;', but this must be put up with, 

 if growing any description of potatoes 

 three years by that process is to bring 

 the stock to a healthy state, which they 

 have no doubt will be the result." By an 

 analysis of the tubers grown in the ordi- 

 nary manner by sets, the amount of fe- 

 cula or starch was found to be only 11 f 

 per cent, while those originated by cut- 

 tings gave 15^ ; and upon a subsequent 

 analysis the latter were found to yield 17 

 per cent, which is nearly the maximum 

 amount to be expected from healthy tu- 

 bers. How far Messrs Hay and Sangster 

 are correct in thinking that a deficiency 

 of saccharine matter in the potato, as it 

 now exists with us, is the cause of the 

 disease, may admit of doubt, as also that 

 their process has the effect of restoring to 

 the tubers that element ; one thing, how- 

 ever, is certain, that potatoes struck by 

 cuttings by ourselves have yielded an 

 abundant, early, and healthy produce. 



Layers of the young shoots will also 

 root freely ; but the advantage of the lat- 

 ter mode is, we think, very questionable, 

 except for the purpose of multiplying any 

 rare or new sort expeditiously. 



Propagation by seed is a very simple 

 affair. All that is required, where the 

 more nice and scientific process of inter- 

 marriage, or cross impregnation of the 

 pistil of one sort with the pollen of an- 

 other, has not been duly attended to, is to 

 select the largest and best ripened apples 



