496 
up. The principal use of this is to form a cover- 
ing for the tubers, so that with their increase 
in size they may not be exposed to light, which 
would soon render them unfit for human food, 
though good for sets. The soil should there- 
fore be drawn, not so as to form a triangular 
ridge, with straight sloping sides, through which 
the tubers would be apt to protrude, but, on 
the contrary, broad-shouldered ridges, as wide 
at top as they can well be made. Their height 
will partly depend on the distance between the 
rows and partly on the depth of the roots. If 
the former is limited, no great amount of earth 
can be obtained; and such is also the case if the 
roots are near the surface. 
Early Crops.—If Potatoes are wanted early, 
the tubers should be placed in a warm place, 
in January, till they push. They may then be 
planted where they can be protected with litter, 
fern, or other covering. Dwarf early sorts may 
be forwarded in pots in any warm place, and 
when above-ground they should be exposed to 
light and sun when there is no danger of frost. 
In March they may be planted out in front of 
a wall or paling, where they can be protected 
in case of severe weather. They may also be 
planted in some warm spot, in beds with dry 
turf sides, about 1 foot or 15 inches high, over 
which thatched hurdles can be placed at night, 
or as the state of the weather may render 
necessary. 
Winter Crops.—Select a middling early sort, 
such as Rivers’ Royal or Myatt’s Ashleaf, and 
let the tubers be kept in a cool, dry place, on 
a hard bottom, and frequently turned, so as 
to check the vegetation as much as possible till 
the end of July. If then planted, tubers will 
be formed before winter, which should be taken 
up and packed in dry soil, closely beaten. Kept 
in this way they will form in winter a pretty 
good substitute for forced Potatoes. 
The following is another method :—Tubers of | 
the preceding year’s growth are kept in a cool 
place till autumn; care is taken to prevent vege- 
tation as much as possible, and all sprouts are 
taken off as they appear. About three months 
before a supply is required, the old tubers are 
piled up in alternate layers with light garden 
soil, laid to the thickness of 5 or 6 inches, in a 
cellar or in boxes placed in any spot where 
there is a temperature of 50° or 60°. By this 
process, although no leaves are produced, small 
tubers are formed out of the substance of the 
larger ones; but, as might be expected, the 
THE GARDENER’S ASSISTANT. 
Lifting and Storing.—Karly crops, of course, 
are taken up as soon as they are fit for use. 
Before the disease attacked the Potato, the main 
crop for storing was allowed to remain till the 
stems and foliage withered from natural decay. 
After this had taken place, and before there 
was any danger from frost, was considered the 
best period for lifting. Such it still would be 
if there were no disease to arrest prematurely 
the vegetation of the plants, and render it neces- 
sary to remove earlier than usual the threatened 
crop of tubers. Waiting for the haulm to 
ripen or wither may mean the loss of a consider- 
able portion of the crop from disease, whereas _ 
if lifting takes place directly the tubers are fully 
grown, and therefore before the haulm has 
commenced to wither, the whole may be saved. 
This comparatively early lifting does not seri- 
ously affect the quality of the tubers nor their 
keeping properties. 
most favourable for the operation; but as for 
the necessity of drying Potatoes that are to be 
pitted in the soil, there is none; for we have 
seen Potatoes as wet as possible when pitted, 
that nevertheless came out dry enough. It is 
true the pits were not large, nor should they 
ever be; and their bases were higher than the 
level of any water which could collect around 
them, such being carried away by a track made 
for the purpose. 
Non-exposure to Light.—If the weather is cloudy 
so much the better, for the tubers should be 
exposed to light as little as possible, and more 
especially not to bright sunshine. It is well 
known that all the green parts of the Potato 
are more or less poisonous, and so the finest 
white floury Potatoes become, by exposure to 
light. Potatoes may be white, black, or purple, 
externally, and their flesh, notwithstanding, be 
white and good when cooked; but expose them 
to the light for a longer or shorter period, 
according to its intensity, and the flesh of all 
will become green and unwholesome. Some 
persons dig up their Potatoes and leave them 
exposed to the sun’s rays to dry previous to 
storing; but this is a bad practice, for three days 
of bright autumn sun will green newly-taken-up 
_ Potatoes to a very injurious extent; and this 
being the case, the tubers should not be exposed 
to the sunshine even fora single day. 
It should therefore always be borne in mind 
that from the time Potatoes are taken out of 
the ground till they are to be cooked, they 
should be exposed to light as little as possible. 
produce is vastly inferior in quality to forced | If, after having been dug up, they must lie on 
Potatoes. 
the ground in heaps for but one day, or even 
Dry weather is, of course,. 
ee eS 
