AND VEGETABLE-GARDEN MANUAL. 131 
at greater distances, in order to give room for the plants to get 
light and air. The eyes or buds nearest the root fibre sprout a 
week or more later than those furthest from it. In planting out 
sets, therefore, the two sorts of eyes should be planted in separate 
rows. Potatoes for planting are always found to answer best 
when procured from a different soil, as they seem to like a change 
of food. The ground should be hoed as soon as the plants come 
up, and as they progress in growth, the space between the routs 
ought to be well dug, to loosen the soil and encourage the spread- 
ing of the roots. When six inches high, the soil should be 
drawn up to the stem, so as to cover the Potatoes at the surface 
from the light, which turns them green and acrid, and to permit 
the air to penetrate to the roots the farthest spread. Another 
hoeing will be afterwards necessary, to keep the vines from falling 
down. The withering of the plants point out the proper time for 
digging up the crop. If any be dug pefore those symptoms ap- 
pear, they ought not to be exposed to the sun, which will render 
them acrid and injure their flavor. Potatoes intended to be 
eaten, cannot, probably, be too ripe. Such, however, as are in- 
tended for seed, should not be allowed to become too ripe, as, in 
that case, they are more subject to the disease called the curl, and 
which is often very detrimental to the crop. 
s 
POTATO, SWEET 
Yellow. Red. 
‘Sweet Potatoes should be planted whole, the middle of spring, 
in a hot-bed, three or four inches deep, and about the same dis- 
tance apart. In about a month they will throw up sprouts. 
When these are three inches above ground, separate them from 
the Potato, which, if suffered to remain, will produce more sprouts 
for a successive planting. Transplant them into rich light soil, 
in rows four feet distant, and the plants about a foot apart in the 
- rows, or in hills four feet apart. Keep them clear of weeds until 
the vines begin to cover the ground, after which they will grow 
