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II. An Account of an economical Method of obtaining very Early 

 Crops of New Potatoes. By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. 

 F. R. S. 8pc. President. 



Read May 4, 1830. 



I communicate the following account of a method of raising very 

 early crops of Potatoes, which I have practised during the last two 

 years, and which will, I believe, be found to point out the means 

 of obtaining that vegetable at much less expence than by any other 

 now practised, and in a state of great perfection. 



It is well known to every Gardener, that Potatoes, which have 

 been buried sufficiently deep in the soil to render them secure from 

 injury by frost, usually vegetate very strongly in the succeeding 

 spring ; and I was thence led to hope that by planting in September 

 large tubers, which had ripened early in the preceding summer, 

 and had by a period of rest become excitable, I should be able to 

 cause roots and stems to be emitted, to some extent, in the autumn ; 

 and that these, by being well defended from frost, through winter, 

 might operate so as to afford me a very early produce. The ex- 

 periment was not successful. The tubers vegetated almost imme- 

 diately, and the stems just reached the surface of the ground, when 

 they were destroyed by frost ; and although the ground was imme- 

 diately so well covered as securely to exclude frost from it, not a 

 single plant appeared in the following spring. I therefore con- 

 cluded that the experiment had totally failed, and that the tubers 

 planted, after once vegetating, had perished. 



Late in the following summer, however, I observed that a very 

 large number of rather strong Potatoe plants rose through the soil, 



