ESCULENT-ROOTED PLANTS.— THE POTATO. 



203 



(or plums, as they are" called in some 

 places) in September or October, and to 

 wash out the seeds and keep them dry- 

 till spring, when they should be sown in 

 drills in a warm situation ; or the seed 

 may be retained in the apples, and those 

 buried in dry dust till spring, when the 

 seed can be easily rubbed out. When the 

 young plants have reached the height of 

 2 or 3 inches, they should be thinned out 

 to 5 or 6 inches apart, and the thinnings 

 may be transplanted at the same time. 

 Towards the close of the season the tubers 

 will have ripened, and, as they are small, 

 select the largest, as they are the most 

 promising, and keep them for planting in 

 the February or March following, if cir- 

 cumstances prevent them being planted 

 as soon as they are dug up and examined. 

 The autumn following will determine 

 their size and productiveness, and any 

 old woman, after the first boiling, will 

 give ample evidence as to their quality. 



"A variety of the potato" originated 

 from seed "is generally considered to 

 continue about fourteen years in perfec- 

 tion, after which period it gradually loses 

 its good qualities, becoming of inferior 

 flavour and unproductive." — Cottage Gar- 

 deners' Dictionary, p. 739. To this rule 

 there is, we think, at least one exception, and 

 that is in the case of the old and highly- 

 approved American early, which we have 

 now known for about half a century, and 

 see little difference in it in either of these 

 respects. The case is very different with 

 others, for those of our early days are now 

 unknown even by name, and it is possible 

 that the variety above named forms the 

 exception to the above rule. May this 

 not have been the original variety im- 

 ported direct from America ? The types 

 of other varieties may have reached us 

 from a more southern latitude, and been 

 of larger size, more dehcate, and of diffe- 

 rent qualities. The early varieties do not 

 readily produce seed. This may be, how- 

 ever, effected, when desired, by planting 

 the sets on little mounds of earth, and 

 training the stem to a stake for support, 

 and washing the soil from the roots, so 

 that only the points of the fibres enter the 

 ground. The plants will blossom and per- 

 fect seed. 



Some sorts of potatoes produce seed, 

 while others do not. Most of the late 

 varieties produce seed freely; the early 



sorts rarely do so. This peculiarity was 

 not unnoted by Mr Knight, who also dis- 

 covered the cause, and accounts for it in 

 this manner : " I suspected the cause to 

 be the preternaturally early formation of 

 the tuberous root, which draws off for its 

 support that portion of the sap which, in 

 other plants of the same species, affords 

 nutriment to the blossoms and seeds ; and 

 experiments soon satisfied me that mycon- 

 jectures were well founded." His experi- 

 ments in connection with this matter will 

 be found fully recorded in the " Philoso- 

 phical Transactions for 1806," and also 

 in the " Transactions of the Horticultural 

 Society," vol. i. p. 188. Unless the object 

 be to secure seed, experience has proved 

 the advantage of cutting off the flowers 

 before the fruit is set. Knight accounted 

 for this, and states that the process will 

 increase the gross weight per acre by about 

 1 ton in weight ; subsequent experience 

 has confirmed this opinion. 



Planting. — The usual season for plant- 

 ing garden potatoes is from February to 

 the end of April, the early varieties being 

 planted first. Of late years autumnal 

 planting has been resorted to as one of 

 the many means recommended for saving 

 the potato from the attacks of the myste- 

 rious epidemic, and, no doubt, with very 

 beneficial effects, admitted by many as 

 well as experienced by ourselves. Many, 

 however, view this as a chimera. Autumn 

 planting is by no means a new feature in 

 cultivation ; we have practised it for up- 

 wards of thirty years, founding our data 

 upon the simple and indisputable fact 

 that the soil is the natural matrix for the 

 tuber to be preserved in during its season 

 of repose. As regards precise seasons for 

 planting, much depends on soil and situ- 

 ation. In all dry and warm soils, plant- 

 ing may commence in November; or, 

 indeed, the tubers may be replanted 

 the same day the crop is lifted : but 

 this will not much hasten the season of 

 their coming to maturity, only plants 

 originated from this early planting will 

 be stronger in spring on account of the 

 tubers losing nothing of their elaborated 

 sap, which all those taken up and kept, if 

 not completely excluded from the air and 

 kept in a low temperature, must inevit- 

 ably do. With this extra strength, there- 

 fore, they push away stronger in spring, 

 and not only arrive at a useful state 



