POTATOES 43 



Potatoes 



The importance of the potato in the vegetable king- 

 dom cannot be overlooked. It is in daily use in most 

 households all the year round, and is valuable in many 

 other forms for commercial purposes. As a food it 

 is more common than other vegetables, as it may be 

 had good the whole year through with a little care in 

 culture. A note on its value as a common vegetable would 

 not be complete without referring to its seasons, culture, 

 and other details. When forced, the new tubers are a 

 delicacy, and, though my note does not go into details 

 about forcing, I would add that much may be done to get 

 an early supply by timely shelter. The potato does not 

 always get fairplay ; in certain soils it is not nearly as good 

 as in others, and in some the crop is not nearly as large 

 as in others, though frequently the failure is attri- 

 buted to the seed or the variety, and not to the cultiva- 

 tion. Though a rough-and-ready method will grow 

 potatoes, the plant well repays - the best culture. Only 

 recently I saw two lots of potatoes in the same kind of 

 soil, and of the same variety, one lot planted early in the 

 season, the other late. What was the result ? The earlier 

 planting, owing to the heat and drought, was quite 

 double the weight of crop of the later planting, both 

 being on a light soil. This shows how seasons affect 

 crops. This year (190 1) I have heard many complain of 

 poor crops in light land or on gravelly soil, and on ask- 

 ing when the planting was done have been told ; " Oh, 

 late in April or early in May : the plants were crippled at the 

 start." I have this year noticed a lot of old seed tubers 

 in the soil not decayed in the least. This shows the state 

 of the soil early in the season. Of late years great 

 strides have been made with the potato, and we have 

 no lack of shapely tubers. The raiser of new varieties 

 needs much patience, though in the end he may be 



