Book I. 



POTATOE. 



627 



low wcttish grouiul, whether it be arable or grass land, or a cultivated garden, potatoes are planted in 

 raised beds four feet wide, with alleys lialf that width between. The beds are thus raised : — Without dig- 

 ging the surface, lay some long loose litter upon the intended beds. Upon this litter place the sets about a 

 foot apart; and upon the sets apply more litter, equally distributed over the whole : then digging the alleys, 

 turn the earth thereof upon the beds five or six inches deep ; or, if grass, turn the sward downward, level, 

 ling in the top-spit to the same depth. The plants will produce very good crops. 



3680. Subsequent culture. *' From the March or April planting, the stems generally rise fully in May. 

 After the plants have appeared, give an effectual hoeing on dry days, cutting up all the weeds, and stir the 

 ground about the rising stalks of the plants. When advanced from six to twelve inches high, hoe up some 

 earth to the bottom of the stems, to strengthen their growth, and promote the increase below : continue 

 occasional hoeing to eradicate weeds, till the plants cover the ground, when but little further care will be 

 required. Permit the stalks to run in full growth, and by no means cut down, as is sometimes practised ; 

 the leaves being the organs for transmitting the beneficial influence of the sun and air to the roots, which is 

 most necessary to the free and perfect growth of the tubers." {Abercrombie.) 



3681. Pinching off the blossoms. It is now generally admitted, that a certain advantage, in point of pro- 

 duce, is obtained bypinching ofTthe blossoms as they appear on the plants. The fact has been repeatedly 

 proved, and satisfactorily accounted for by Knight, who imagines, that it may add an ounce in weight to the 

 tubers of each plant, or considerably above a ton per acre. {Hort. Trans, vol. i. 190.) - 



3682 Taking the crop. *' Clusters of roots in the early planted crop will sometimes by June or July be ad- 

 vanced to a sufficient size for present eating, though still small. Only a small portion should be taken up at 

 a time, as wanted for immediate use, as they will not keep good above a day or two. In August and Septem- 

 ber, however, they will be grown to a tolerably good size, and may betaken up in larger supplies, though 

 not in quantities for keeping a length of time. Permit the main winter crops to continue in growth till 

 towards the end of October or beginning of November, when the stalks will begin to decay — an indication 

 that the potatoes are fully grown : then wholly dig them up, and house for winter and spring. Let them 

 then be taken up, before any severe frost sets in ; having, for large crops, a proper potatoe-fork of three or 

 four short flat tines, fixed on a si)ade-handle. Cut down the haulm close, and clear ofF forward : then fork 

 up the potatoes, turning them clean out of the ground, large and small; and collect every forking into 

 baskets." 



3683. Housing and preserving tlie crop, Abercrombie recommends "housing potatoes in a close, dry, 

 subterranean apartment, laid thickly together, and covered well with straw so as to exokide damps and 

 frost." There they are to be looked over occasionally, and any that decay picked out. In spring, when 

 they begin to shoot, turn them over, and break off the sprouts or shoots from each tuber, perfectly close, 

 in order to retard their future shooting as much as possible. Potatoes so stored, will continue good all the 

 winter and spring, till May and June. 



3084. Pying (as it is called in some places) is a good method of preserving potatoes in winter. They are 

 piled on the surface of the ground, in a ridged form, of a width and length at pleasure, according to the 

 quantity; but commonly about five or six feet wide. This is done by digging a spit of earth, and laying it 

 round the edge, a foot wide (if tui-f the better), filling the space up with straw, and then laying on a course 

 of potatoes, dig earth from the outside, and lay upon the first earth. Put straw a few inches along the inside 

 edge, then put in more potatoes, and so on, keeping a good coat of straw all the way up between the potatoes 

 and the mould, which should be about six inches thick all over ; beat it close together, and the form it lies 

 in, with the trench all round, will preserve the potatoes dry ; and the sharpest frost will hardly affect them ; 

 in a severe time of which, the whole may be covered thickly with straw. In the spring, look over the 

 stock, and break off the shoots of those designed for the table, and repeat this business to preserve the pota- 

 toes the longer good. 



3685. Curl disease. The disease called curl, has in many places proved extremely 

 troublesome and injurious. It has given rise to much discussion, and to detail all the 

 various opinions would be a useless task. It may, however, be remarked, that the expe- 

 riments of Dickson {^Caled. Hort. Mem. i. 55.) show, that one cause is the vegetable 

 powers in the tuber planted, having been exhausted by over-ripening. That excellent 

 horticulturist observed, in 1808 and 1809, that cuts taken from the waxy, wet, or least 

 ripened end of a long flat potatoe, that is, the end nearest the roots, produced healthy 

 plants ; while those from the dry and best ripened end, farthest from the roots, either did 

 not vegetate at all, or produced curled plants. This view is supported by the observations 

 of a very good practical gardener, Daniel Crichton, at Minto, who, from many years' ex- 

 perience, found (/rf. p. 440.) that tubers preserved as much as possible in the wet and 

 immature state, and not exposed to the air, were not subject to curl. And Knight 

 {Hort. Trans. 1814), has clearly shown the beneficial results of using, as seed-stock, po- 

 tatoes whicii have grown late, or been imperfectly ripened in the preceding year. Dickson 

 lays down some rules, attention to which, he thinks, would prevent the many disappoint- 

 - raents occasioned by the curl. He recommends, 1 . The procuring of a sound healthy 

 seed-stock of tubers for planting from a high part of the country, where the tubers are 

 never over-ripened : 2. The planting of such potatoes as are intended to supply seed- 

 stock for the ensuing season, at least a fortnight later than those planted for a crop, and 

 to take them up whenever the stems become of a yellow-green color, at which time the 

 cuticle of the tubers may be easily rubbed off between the finger and thumb : 3. The 

 preventing those plants that are destined to yield seed-stock for the ensuing year, from 

 producing flowers or berries, by cutting off the flower-buds ; an operation easily per- 

 formed by children, at a trifling expense. Shirreff {Ceded. Hort. Mem. vol. i. p. 60., 

 and in the Farmer s Magazine) controverts Dickson's opinion, and accounts for the curl 

 disease as the effects of old age, on the hypotliesis that plants like animals will not live 

 beyond certain periods, &c. The essay is ingenious, but totally speculative. Young, 

 who has paid much attention to the subject, has brought forward a variety of facts to show 

 that the " curl on the young stem rising weakly arises chiefly from the two causes men- 

 tioned by Dickson and Crichton, over-ripe tubers, or the employment of seed-stock that 

 has been improperly kept during winter, that is, kept exposed to the light and air instead 

 of being covered with earth or sand, or straw, so as to preserve their juices." (Caled. Hort. 

 Mem. iii. 278.) The same view, it may be remarked, had occurred to Dr. Hunter. A 



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