POTATO. 



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of a reddish purple colour, which is the sign of their genuine quality. 

 As to the planting and cultivation of potatoes, they are, in the 

 fields, laid along a little trench made by the plough, then covered 

 with manure of some sort, and then covered over with a furrow of 

 eaith. Some people lay the potato upon the manure, in place of 

 under it. In a garden the ground ought to be rich enough to bear 

 potatoes w ithout any manure at all ; for the manure, though it adds 

 to the number of potatoes, makes the size of them very various, and, 

 as in all other cases, gives a strong taste to the vegetable. Drills 

 made with a hoe three feet apart and four inches deep, the sets laid 

 along the drill, at eight inches apart, then covered over with the 

 earth that came out of the drill and trod down with the foot, are 

 sufficient for the planting. But care must be taken to prepare 

 the sets properly. The potato must be cut in pieces, and there 

 must be but one eye, or two at most, left to each piece. A very 

 small part of the pulp is necessary to be left. It is the eye only 

 which grows, and if a potato were peeled pretty deeply, the peel- 

 ing itself would do ; and it is a common practice, amongst the 

 poorer people, to eat the potato and plant bits of the peelings ; but 

 it has been found, by the Lancashire potato-growers, that it is of 

 importance to reject those eyes which are seated nearest the root- 

 end of the potato ; that is, nearest the end which is joined on to 

 the root of the plant ; for they have observed that these produce 

 their fruit full a fortnight later than sets cut from the middle and 

 point of the potato. I have never tried this experiment myself, 

 and therefore am not prepared to vouch for the correctness of the 

 statement upon my own observation ; but I can vouch for this 

 fact, that potatoes are grown to perfection by the Lancanshire 

 people, and therefore I would pay attention to any of their sug- 

 gestions, in this matter. As to the cultivation, as soon as the plants 

 are up, and are three inches high, the whole of the ground should 

 be flat-hoed, and should be carefully moved close to the stems of 

 the plants ; but do no more than this for the early crop, for, 

 though earthing-up is required to give a full crop, it certainly 

 retards it ; and, as your object now is to have some potatoes 

 without regard to quantity, it is best to make a little sacrifice 

 here. For your later crops, when the plants get to be seven 

 or eight inches high, they should have earth drawn up to their 

 stems with a hoe, going along the interval and drawing the 

 earth from the middle to form little ridges about four inches 



