222 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



tive. It attacks the haulm just under the sur- 

 face of the soil, and perforates right through it, 

 and not unfrequently cuts it asunder. It also 

 attacks the tubers, and may often be detected 

 in them at taking-up time. The wire-worm or 

 click-beetles, of which no fewer than sixty species 

 occur in Britain, in their larva state, often attack 

 the tubers ; of the larvae of Cataphagus lineatus, 

 fig. 19, we have found as many as forty-seven 

 attached to one moderate-sized potato. Their 

 presence in soils cropped with autumn-planted 

 potatoes we dread much more than frost, or any 

 other evil that could befall the sets. C. obscurus 

 is most abundant in Scotland, and although we 

 are not deficient in any of the Elateridse tribe, 

 still it seems to be the most destructive. The 

 caterpillar of that beautiful and rare insect, the 

 death's-head hawk-moth (fig. 93), is sometimes 

 found on the stems of potatoes, but not to such 

 an extent as to inflict very great injury. 



The caterpillar of Hepialus lupulinus (the 

 garden swift) is often destructive to the potato. 



" The moth, 

 Fig. 94. usually, is 



chalky brown, 

 head and tho- 

 rax woolly, and 

 its upper wings 

 dark - bright 

 brown, with a 

 broad line of 

 white ; but 

 sometimes this 

 is absent, and 

 at other times 

 the upper wings 

 are chalky 

 white. These moths appear about the end of 

 May, and are very abundant in the evening in 

 meadows and other grassy places. They deposit 

 their eggs apparently indiscriminately, which 

 soon hatch, and the caterpillars produced are 

 cylindrical and yellowish white, with black dots 

 and hairs on the upper part and sides of their 

 segments. The caterpillar changes to an ochre- 

 ous shining cylindrical pupa." — Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. In the latter state it is often very 

 destructive to potato roots. 



The curl, which committed no small devasta- 

 tion on the potato crops some years ago, is now 

 little heard of. Opinions as to its cause, and 

 the remedies proposed, were both about as con- 

 flicting as those of the present more fatal epi- 

 demic. The cause of the scab or ulcers on the 

 skin of the potatoes has been as little under- 

 stood as either— some attributing it to the ma- 

 nures applied, and others to certain ingredients 

 in the soil. It is now less heard of ; superior 

 cultivation has probably effected, so far, a cure 

 in this case. The rook is gravely charged with 

 making free with our seed- potatoes as soon as 

 they are planted, and also helping himself to a 

 few full-grown ones in autumn. We believe, if 

 the matter were investigated by even a less en- 

 thusiastic ornithologist than Mr Charles Water- 

 ton, that it would be found the seed-potatoes 

 purloined, in most cases, are infested with wire- 

 worms, which are attracted to the sets as soon 

 as they are placed in the ground. We have 



GARDEN SWIFT AND CATER PILLAR. 



Natural size. 



long ago satisfied ourselves upon this point, and 

 will never kill one of these birds ; but those that 

 are sceptical may do so, and on dissecting the 

 maw they will find abundant evidence as to this 

 point in the numbers of wire-worms contained in 

 it. It is possible that, during the short period of 

 incubation, hunger may drive them to steal a 

 few sets, but it is searching for the wire-worm 

 more than the potato that leads them to the 

 newly-planted fields. The important services 

 the rook performs to man in the destruction of 

 his more-to-be-dreaded enemies are so great, 

 that they should be admitted as evidence to 

 character when he is arraigned at the bar of vul- 

 gar prejudice. 



Nothing like a correct opinion, we believe, 

 can be offered regarding the cause of the disease 

 which has for some years more or less been dis- 

 astrous to the potato crop. All, therefore, 

 that can be done, in our present state of know- 

 ledge on the subject, is to apply the best reme- 

 dies we can. Our own opinion has all along 

 been in favour of autumnal planting, not as an in- 

 fallible remedy by any means, but as one of very 

 considerable mitigation. Nor are we alone in 

 holding this opinion. Out of sixty-four returns 

 furnished by various individuals throughout 

 England and Wales of the state of the general 

 crop of 1849, fifty-three were in favour of au- 

 tumnal planting, while only eleven were against 

 it. In England, those planted in autumn were 

 by the same report stated to be better, in the 

 proportion of thirteen to eleven, than those 

 planted in January and February; and had 

 these reports extended to May— for even to 

 that late period do some people delay the fin- 

 ishing of their potato planting — the difference 

 in favour of autumnal planting would have even 

 been much greater. 



General remarks. — The potato appears to 

 change its character by change of climate or 

 circumstances. Most of the Scotch and Irish 

 varieties degenerate when removed to England, 

 and often when removed from one district of 

 the same country to another. They soon de- 

 generate when taken to the West Indies; and 

 although cultivated by our countrymen in many 

 parts of the East Indies, where they yield good 

 crops, yet are they deficient in that flavour pe- 

 culiar to them in Britain. The most extraor- 

 dinary change of character we recollect of is 

 that recorded by Phillips, on the authority of 

 Samuel Bate, Esq., who went with the first 

 settlers to Van Diemen's Land. He took out 

 about half a bushel of potatoes for seed, which 

 were all of one kind ; but to his great surprise, 

 when they were dug up, he had five distinct 

 varieties — viz., the white champion, the round 

 red, the kidney, a small round potato, and the 

 variety commonly called the miller's thumb. A 

 sample of each of these was afterwards sent into 

 a warmer climate, where, on being planted, they 

 all degenerated into one, the original variety ! 



" The best rules to obtain and preserve sound 

 potatoes and a good crop are — 1. Grow none 

 but those which ripen by August ; 2. Plant 

 whole middle-sized potatoes; 3. Plant on mo- 

 derately-light soil, manured some months pre- 

 viously; 4. Apply no manure at the time of 



