204 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



sooner, but are better able to resist spring 

 frosts than those which are so much 

 weaker. Planting, therefore, may be gone 

 on with from November to April, when 

 the ground is dry and free from frost. 



" Planting in the open ground is best 

 done in October and November, and may 

 thence be continued until the end of 

 March. This last month is the latest in 

 which any considerable plantation should 

 be made. They will succeed if planted 

 in May or even in June, yet it ought 

 always to be kept in mind that the ear- 

 liest planted, especially in dry soils, pro- 

 duce the finest, healthiest, and most 

 abundant crops." — Cottage Gardeners' Dic- 

 tionary, p. 738. 



Dr Lindley, in an excellent article on 

 the culture of the potato, " Gardeners' 

 Chronicle," 1842, p. 155, remarks, "The 

 period of planting should be as soon after 

 the 1st of March as circumstances will 

 permit." " I have uniformly found," Mr 

 Knight says, " that, to obtain crops of 

 potatoes of great weight and excellence, 

 the period of planting should never be 

 later than the beginning of March." This 

 is in order to give the potato as long a 

 summer as possible. From experiments 

 made some years ago in the garden of 

 the Horticultural Society, it appeared 

 that a crop planted in the first week in 

 March exceeded that planted in the first 

 week of April by about 1^ tons per 

 acre. It must be obvious, however, that 

 the propriety of planting thus early will 

 depend upon the nature of the soil, and 

 that it is too early for wet heavy land, 

 although it is the best season for light 

 soils. In reality, land cannot be advan- 

 tageously planted with potatoes until all 

 the superfluous moisture has drained 

 away or evaporated. 



In some parts of England, sets for the 

 earliest out-of-door crop are planted in 

 October, choosing a dry sheltered situa- 

 tion and light soil. The sets are placed 

 8 or 9 inches deep, and the surface 

 covered over with straw, fern, or dry 

 litter, so as to exclude frost, retain the 

 heat absorbed by the soil during summer, 

 and effectually throw off rain ; in fact, to 

 retain the heat in the soil, and prevent its 

 escape by radiation. The ground is gene- 

 rally set off into beds with deepish alleys 

 between them, which receive the water 

 thrown off by the covering. The plants 



appear above ground in March, and are 

 protected from frost by hooping them 

 over and covering with tarpauling. Early 

 potatoes are in this way procured in May, 

 or by the beginning of June, even in 

 Lancashire. 



Preparation of the ground for planting. — 

 Amongst the many instances of mis- 

 management to which this plant has in 

 many cases been subjected, is a disre- 

 gard to the thorough working of the soil 

 in which it is planted ; for although the 

 tubers are produced at no great depth 

 under the surface, still the food-collecting 

 roots penetrate to a considerably greater 

 extent. Trenching the ground, or, in 

 absence of this, deep-digging, is an im- 

 perative condition to their most success- 

 ful cultivation, and, in carrying out either 

 of these operations, the manure, if such is 

 to be applied, should be completely incor- 

 porated through the soil. The practice 

 is absurd, although sanctioned by most 

 writers on the subject, as well as followed 

 by cultivators for ages, of placing it in 

 immediate contact with the set or tuber 

 in the trench or drill prepared for their 

 reception. No doubt the slight fermenta- 

 tion which must of course take place 

 when very rank stable-yard manure is 

 employed, gives a certain degree of ex- 

 citement to the tuber, and may, to some 

 extent, cause an earlier development of 

 roots ; but no sooner are they produced 

 than they begin to extend in length, and 

 travel with a rapidity in proportion to 

 their growth as far as they possibly can 

 from the mass of manure placed by the 

 planter for their special use. If the doc- 

 trine is to be considered valid which has 

 been propounded by vegetable physiolo- 

 gists, that plants derive their chief root- 

 support from the food collected from the 

 soil by the spongiolets which are placed 

 only at the extremities of the minute 

 fibres, it appears pretty clear to us that 

 the plant derives little if any advantage 

 from the manure so placed, beyond the 

 slight stimulus given during the short 

 time fermentation is in operation, imme- 

 diately after the tuber is placed either 

 over it or under it (for they are placed in 

 both ways) ; and that manure incapable 

 of fermentation is not only absolutely 

 useless but positively injurious, tending, 

 as has been asserted by many of our 

 most intelligent cultivators, to encourage 



