308 THE PHILADELPHIA FLORIST. [No. 10 



U^ they are quite dark, the skin then gets so tough that no insect can r*) 

 touch it ; but the tubers must be planted whole when the eyes begin ^ 

 to grow. They then grow slowly, forming a woody stem, as they do \ 

 in their native country. This f^rst woody formation never leaves the 

 stem, even to its very top 5 the vessels are contracted and small ; they 

 contain much less water, as is the case in their native country ; and 

 it is a well known feet, that the Potatoes on the coast of Peru have 3. 

 dry resting season, there being no rain whatever for several weeks — 

 This may be cajled their winter, but here, when planted, unprepared 

 for the w ^ntei's rain and cold damp earth, it is quite a different thing 

 altogether. And then, again, what manures do they get in their na- 

 tive state 1 None but salt-water spray and virgin mould; clearly 

 showing that if we want to preserve the Potato we must take its na- 

 tive situation as our guide, foregoing all rich and stimulating manures, 

 and be contented with a much smaller crop, but with a much finer 

 flavour, and richer in starch. The Potato is like all other plants or 

 animals, overgorging or overfeeding tends always to disease, and should 

 unfavourable circumstances occur diseases must break out. We 

 blame everything but ourselves as having been the cause of it; one 

 thing is certain, the poorer the lapd, the more woody the stem of the 

 Potato, the less luxuriant in foliage, and the smaller the crop. But 

 one Polato rich in starch is worth three watery ones for food ; in fact, 

 a Potato without starch is worthless even for pigs. 



1 have practised my system now for 22 years; I first discovered it, 

 as it were, by accident, whe;ci at Viscount Canterbury's, in Essex. — 

 The foreman came one wet day and said that the Potatoes in the loft 

 were sprouting, that they wanted picking over. A thought struck me, 

 when I saw them, that if they were put into 3-inch pots they would 

 come earlier than by picking the sprouts then off; it was an early 

 round sort. Some one or two thousand were potted, and kept in an 

 empty vinery ; Ihey were planted under the south wall, and they 

 came in very early, beating those in the frames. This was the com, 

 mencement of my plan of greening and wintering, which I have 

 followed ever since ; neither have I cut a whole Potato since. I have 

 many hundreds of letters by me thanking me for my pamphlets, some 

 of them from persons who cultivate many acres of Potatoes. I have 

 just had one from a person in Northamptonshire, saving that he grew 

 8 acres, all sound, and that he was clearing 22/. per acre, after all 

 rail a ay expenses were paid, besides saving enough seed to plant 12 

 acres next year, while all those around him were diseased, and the 

 same sort too (Regents,) all carefully wintered as laid down in my 

 ^ pamphlet. One thing we ought never to forget— -if a thing can be 

 CL well done on a small scale, it can also be done on a large one ; if not, 

 uD do not do it at all. James Cuthill, CamberwelL £» 



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