ESCULENT-ROOTED PLANTS.— THE POTATO. 



221 



t( Seek-no-farther. — Stem compact and bushy, 

 about feet high; tuber round; colour white, 

 rough, and slightly netted; mealy, good flavour, 

 and healthy. 



" Smith's yellow Peruvian. — Tubers rather un- 

 der the medium size ; roundish, or slightly elon- 

 gated, with numerous deeply-sunk eyes, and of 

 a yellowish-white colour. This is a healthy- 

 growing and superior late sort, having a peculiar 

 yellow-coloured flesh ; received from its native 

 country, Peru. 



" Tall American early. — Stem strong and 

 pretty upright, about 2 feet high; tuber flat- 

 tened; colour very white, and rough; mealy, 

 good flavour, and very healthy. 



" Taylor's forty-fold. — Stem slender and spread- 

 ing, about 14 feet high; tuber oval, and much 

 flattened; colour rough and dull reddish; mealy, 

 superior flavour, and very healthy. 



" White Sutherland kidney. — Stem very up- 

 right and compact, about If feet high; tuber 

 curved, flat, and small towards the stalk ; colour 

 whitish, rough, and netted; mealy, good flavour, 

 and healthy." 



The number of potatoes described in Messrs 

 Lawsons' work is 175; and as the whole have 

 been grown in their extensive experimental 

 grounds, and their conditions carefully recorded 

 by competent persons, we consider their list as 

 the best data in existence by which their respec- 

 tive merits may be calculated. The garden va- 

 rieties extend to fifty-eight in number, and from 

 these our selection has been made. 



The nomenclature adopted above is that by 

 which the varieties of potato are best 

 known in Scotland; but an examina- 

 tion of the models of them, now in the 

 Botanical Museum in the Royal Gar- 

 dens at Kew, will enable those inter- 

 ested to recognise the sorts, although 

 presented to them under new names. 



Second earlies. — Early Shaw, or 

 Shaw's early, a variety grown exten- 

 sively by the London market-garden- 

 ers for forcing, to come to market in 

 May. It is, for an early sOrt, a large, 

 beautiful, oblong, white- skinned po- 

 tato, whose only fault is its hollow 

 eyes. It is very productive. 



American early. — One of the most 

 valuable potatoes ever grown. How 

 long it has been in cultivation we 

 have no knowledge, further than it 

 was well known to us fifty years ago. 

 It has always maintained a good po- 

 sition in the estimation of cultiva- 

 tors, being very productive, of me- 

 dium and uniform size, and of excel- 

 lent quality from August till the 

 following spring. It has resisted the 

 epidemic better than any other sort. 

 Round, yellowish white, very flow- 

 ery at an early stage. 



Fifty-fold. — A most extraordinary 

 cropper; tubers not very large, of uni- 

 form size, and keep well. 



Early champion. — Tubers large, 

 round, white ; very prolific, and in 

 high estimation in the London market. 

 VOL. II. 



Lapstone kidney. — Decidedly the best kidney- 

 potato grown ; an excellent cropper ; tubers 

 sometimes 7 inches in length and 3 in breadth. 

 We have remarked of this sort, that it is longer 

 in coming through the ground in spring than 

 most others ; and the stems at first appear 

 weakly, but they soon lose this appearance, and 

 grow most vigorously. It is a first-rate potato 

 for the table in August and September, and will 

 keep in excellent condition till May following, 

 without losing either its mealiness or flavour. 

 It is of Yorkshire origin, said to have been raised 

 by a cobbler, and hence the name. Many of the 

 late varieties, which were for a time popular, 

 have disappeared, and others are yearly coming 

 into notice — a circumstance easily accounted for, 

 seeing how freely the potato is reared from seed. 

 A catalogue of sorts was published in 1842 by 

 Mr Chatwin, enumerating and describing above 

 150 varieties. On the Continent the sorts are 

 innumerable, but chiefly small, as the potato is 

 there regarded more as an article of food for man 

 than for the inferior animals. 



The last five sorts are chiefly of English origin, 

 or cultivated more largely there than in Scot- 

 land. They are not included in Messrs Lawsons' 

 descriptive lists. 



Insects and diseases. — The Aphis vastator is 

 frequently found on the leaves of the plants ; but 

 so far from its being the cause of the disease, as 

 asserted by Mr Smee, it is seldom found upon 

 them in sufficient numbers to produce much 

 effect. The larva of Noctua exclamationis (the 

 heart-and-dart moth, fig. 71) is far more destruc- 



Fig. 93. 



-HKAD MOTH AND CATERPILLAR. 



Half natural size. 



