70 SWEET POTATO CULTURE. 



part that is wet from getting hard. If the work is done 

 late in the afternoon, nearly every plant will live, even 

 in the dryest weather. 



€i About Seed. — There has lately arisen some differ- 

 ence of practice. Instead of cutting vines and sticking 

 them out into ridges, in August, to make small seed po- 

 tatoes } many now select the small roots from the large 

 potatoes at digging time and use these for seed. It is 

 noticed, however, by some, that the number of beds that 

 fail to give an early supply of plants is increasing. Hot- 

 beds are made with all due care, slips or small potatoes 

 are bedded now as formerly, and all is done that can be 

 thought of to insure a full show of early plants. But 

 very often it is high June before a single drawing is se- 

 cured. What is the cause ? It must be the seed. Little 

 potatoes for the general crop are not the best. They are 

 dwarfs and late. Young slips, fresh and vigorous, are 

 the best. These come from good-sized potatoes. Such 

 sprout sooner in the bed and send up more of them. If 

 you want early and fine potatoes, free from disease and 

 true to kind, raise from potatoes of the vine you wish to 

 grow. Potatoes will ' mix in the hill ' if you plant more 

 than one kind in a patch. 



" It would seem but a trifling thing, but our experi- 

 ence is, that rows running north and south yield better 

 than rows running east and west. It may be because the 

 ridges or hills receive an equal amount of heat on both 

 sides. We do not know. A free exposure to sun and 

 air is also essential. The potato will not grow in the 

 shade, 



"Early Varieties. — As to earliness, we have found 

 the ' White Yam' the earliest, but not the best. It is, 

 however, a fine potato, and \ery prolific. Some call it 

 the * Harman,' but others claim that they are distinct 

 varieties. The ( Bed Yam ' is, jpar excellence, the potato 



