ON REARING KITCHEN VEGETABLES. 



51 



tlie weather during the winter, the soil will become 

 pulverised, and much better adapted for growing potatoes. 

 With early planting, dibbling is also found to cause the 

 v/ater to lodge around and rot the sets in the holes thus 

 formed, unless the soil be particularly dry. 



When the plants are two or three inches above ground, 

 the space between the roots ought to be well dug to loosen 

 the soil, and encourage the spreading of the roots. When 

 half a foot high, the earth should be hoed up to the stem, 

 so as to cover the potatoes at the surface from the light, 

 which turns them green and acrid, and to permit the 

 air to penetrate to the farthest spread roots. Another 

 hoeing will be afterwards wanted to keep the stems from 

 falling down. 



In light soil, when potatoes have been dibbled in, edge 

 hoeing and flat hoeing without much earthing up answers 

 best. Care must be taken not to choke the plants by 

 drawing the earth too close ; and all weeds, which rob 

 the crop of food, and shade it from light, must be 

 grubbed up. 



All the blossom ought to be picked off by hand, for 

 both the blossom, and the berry that follows it, exhaust, 

 as it appears, the pulp prepared by the leaves, which 

 may thus be directed to increase the produce of the roots. 



The withering of the plant shows the proper time for 

 digging up the crop. If any are dug up before this, they 

 ought not to be exposed to the sun, which will deprive 

 them of oxygen, render them acrid, and injure their 

 flavour. The haum or straws should be rotted for 

 manure. 



Early potatoes, that is, those which come into use 

 before the end of June, or the beginning of July, are an 

 unprofitable luxury, containing very little starch and some 

 sugar, but scarcely any nourishment. One method of 

 inducing them to come early, is to save only half-ripe sets 

 for planting, keeping them in dry sand, or chaff, during 

 the winter, and taking care not to break the shoots when 

 they are planted. If spread out on a loft or floor, with 

 an inch or two of sand or chaff over them, and plenty of 

 air admitted when it does not freeze, the shoots will grow 

 thicker, and even come into leaf before planting out in 



