448 Improved Method of ratting Early Potatoes. 



afforded only by sets of considerable size. I have, in con- 

 sequence, for some years past, selected in the autumn the 

 largest tubers, and those nearly of an equal size, for planting 

 in the spring ; and I have found that these not only uni- 

 formly afford very strong plants, but also such as readily 

 recover when injured by frost : for being fed by a copious 

 reservoir beneath the soil, a reproduction of vigorous stems 

 and foliage soon takes place, when those first produced are 

 destroyed by frost, or other cause. 



When the planter is anxious to obtain a crop within the 

 least possible time, he will find the position in which the 

 tubers are placed to vegetate by no means a point of in- 

 difference ; for these being shoots, or branches, which have 

 grown thick instead of elongating, retain the disposition of 

 branches to propel their sap to their leading buds, or points 

 most distant from the stems of the plants, of which they once 

 formed parts. If the tubers be placed with their leading 

 buds upwards, a few very strong and very early shoots will 

 spring from them ; but if their position be reversed, many 

 weaker and later shoots will be produced ; and not only the 

 earliness, but the quality of the produce, in size, will be 

 much affected. 



In the spring, when the young plants are just beginning 

 to appear in the rows, I have often found it very advan- 

 tageous to raise the mould over them in ridges by an 

 operation perfectly similar to that of moulding the plants. 

 Protection has been thus given against frost, and I have not 

 found the period of maturity of the crop to have been in 

 any degree retarded. 



It has been contended that there is much waste in the 



