CULTURE OF POTATO. 



273 



toes will make three or four sets. Fill np the furrow with 

 earth, and if this be mixed with tan-bark, the potatoes Avill 

 like it all the better. 



When the young yines appear, if there is danger of frost, 

 they can be protected by covering them with earth. This 

 should not be done unless needed, and the earth should be 

 carefully drawn back after the danger is over. It is better 

 to plant the main crop sufficiently late to avoid all danger 

 of frost. As soon as the shoots appear, give the young 

 plants frequent and deep hoeings, keeping the soil deep 

 and mellow, and drawing a little earth up to the stem in a 

 broad, flat hill. Cease working them when the blossom- 

 buds appear. When the tops decay, and the plants are 

 ripe, dig them, and spread in a cool, dry place. If they 

 sprout, the shoots should be rubbed off, as they injure the 

 flavor of the potato. A change of seed once in three or 

 four years is an advantage, but there is no use in buying 

 fresh seed every year. It is believed that potatoes culti- 

 vated and manured as directed above are much less sub- 

 ject to the potato-rot, the ravages of which have recently 

 almost depopulated Ireland. Schleiden attributes the rot 

 to the long continued use of nitrogenous manures. Still 

 the great hope of a permanent escape from this disease is 

 to go back for our seed once more to the healthy wild 

 stock. To keep them eatable, rub off the sprouts as fast 

 as they appear. If allowed to grow they become wasy. 



Use. — The tubers of the Irish potato, consisting chiefly 

 of starch, and having no peculiarity of taste, approach 

 nearer in their nature to the flour of grain than any other 

 root. Hence it is almost universally liked, and can be 

 continually used by the same individual, without becom- 

 ing unpalatable. Potatoes are boiled, baked, roasted, or 

 fried. When long kept, the best ones are selected, boiled^ 

 12* 



