218 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



quality, for at those periods, particularly 

 if the weather is warm, and accompanied 

 with " May showers," the young tubers 

 swell amazingly fast. In July, August, 

 and September, they will be in fine condi- 

 tionfor familyuse. Those intended forseed 

 should be gone over, and if any spurious 

 ones have crept in by accident, tliey had 

 better be removed, as they will be readily 

 distinguished by their haulm from the 

 others. When the foliage of these begins 

 to decay they may be lifted, so that the 

 ground may be cropped with something 

 else ; and if they are buried in a deep pit, 

 in a dry yet cool shady place, they will 

 require no further care till the season of 

 planting arrives. Care, however, must be 

 taken that they are not laid in too great 

 quantities together, for fear of their heat- 

 ing ; and also that each sort be kept sepa- 

 rate and correctly named, to prevent con- 

 fusion at planting time. 



Late varieties constitute the great bulk 

 of crop, and are those which require most 

 care in taking up and storing. So long 

 as the haulm continues green, the potato 

 should be allowed to remain in the 

 ground, as this is quite indicative that 

 the tubers have not arrived at full ripened 

 maturity, which again is indicated when 

 the haulm begins to wither and die off. 

 This is an important point in their 

 management, so far, at least, as relates to 

 those intendedfor the table, in which flouri- 

 ness (or starch) cannot too much abound; 

 and unless fully ripened, that conver- 

 sion cannot properly take place. The art 

 of keeping potatoes (if really free from the 

 disease) is founded upon sufficiently cor- 

 rect principles, the leading point of which 

 is exclusion from light ; for if this is not 

 attended to, they not only become injured 

 in their nutritious qualities, but are ac- 

 tually rendered poisonous when allowed to 

 become of a green colour, which they 

 readily will do if exposed to light — and this 

 the sooner, if vegetation is in the least ex- 

 cited. Keeping them in potato-houses, 

 therefore, unless so constructed as to ex- 

 clude light, must be considered injurious 

 to them. In this state of darkness they 

 should be placed the very day they are 

 taken out of the ground ; and it were 

 better that they were stored by in rather 

 a damp state, than that they should be 

 exposed for a day to the light with a 

 view to dry them. Drying has a bad 



effect on the skin of the potato, for if 

 subjected to this, the skin and part of the 

 epidermis are made to part with their 

 natural juices, which ever afterwards 

 renders them incapable of absorbing 

 moisture, even if presented to them. 

 Fermentation is an important evil tq 

 guard against, as it changes the whole 

 substance of the tuber, and, so far as seed- 

 potatoes are concerned, destroys their 

 vegetative principle. To guard against 

 this, they should be placed in small quan- 

 tities together, in long narrow ridges with 

 partitions of earth between them, divid- 

 ing the whole into compartments of a size 

 such as will probably be sufficient to 

 supply the wants of the owner for a week 

 or so at a time. Potatoes once dried 

 should never be again wetted imtil they 

 are going to be used. Straw or any other 

 littering matter is an objectionable cover- 

 ing for potatoes, for by its decomposi- 

 tion carburetted hydrogen is formed, and 

 mixes more readily amongst the potatoes 

 in the heap than it escapes through the 

 soil laid over it. The greatest care should 

 be taken that all tubers bruised or cut 

 during the operation of lifting should be 

 kept by themselves for immediate use ; 

 and were it not that potato-lifters would 

 think us far too fastidious, we would say 

 every one whose skin is broken should be 

 rejected also, with the same care and upon 

 the same principle that all apples bruised 

 at gathering are kept apart from those 

 sound ones carried to the fruit-room. 



Keeping potatoes has the effect of di- 

 minishing tiie quantity of starch in them ; 

 those in October, according to Mr John- 

 ston (in " Agricultural Chemistry and 

 Geology," p. 329), which yielded readily 

 17 per cent of starch, gave in the follow- 

 ing April only 14i per cent. The effect 

 of frost is also to lessen the quantity of 

 starch. It acts chiefly upon the vascular 

 and albuminous part, but it also converts 

 a portion of the starch into sugar — hence 

 the sweetish taste of frosted potatoes. 



The housing of potatoes, unless such 

 quantities as are required for immediate 

 use, is exceedingly wrong in principle, as 

 is also the manner in which many are 

 carelessly pitted out of doors. The points 

 to be kept in view are, a dry airy exposed 

 situation, having a northern exposure and 

 perfectly dry below, and piling the pota- 

 toes on a smooth level surface not lower 



