Apr.] 



THE CULINARY GARDEN. 



131 



with this idea, and when practised, will certainly tend to in- 

 crease the bulk of tubers, by diverting those juices into them, 

 which otherwise would be expended in perfecting flowers and 

 seeds. 



In planting potatoes, much importance is attributed by some 

 horticulturists to the size of the sets, or portions of the tuber, 

 which are to be planted, some recommending them to be 

 large, and others small, and many attach a degree of import- 

 ance to that part of the tuber fi'om which the best sets should 

 be taken. According to the doctrine of Knight, small sets 

 may be used for late crops, as the plants attain a considerable 

 size before they begin to form tubers ; whereas, for early crops, 

 the largest tubers should be chosen ; these, he affirms, not only 

 produce stronger plants, but they will also more readily recover 

 the injuries sustained by frosts, on the principle, that as they 

 are fed by a copious supply of food from the larger tubers, 

 they are the more capable of sending up vigorous shoots, to 

 replace those, which may have been injured or destroyed by 

 frost, or other causes. In cutting the tubers into sections or 

 sets, the extreme or watery end should be rejected, as having 

 a tendency to run too much to halm, and having the eyes 

 clustered and small. The root, or dry end, should also be 

 rejected, as being more tardy in growth, and being supposed to 

 produce the curl from being over ripened. The middle part, 

 therefore, of the tuber is to be preferred and divided in pieces, 

 having each one perfect and well-formed eye or bud. 



An intelligent contributor to the Gardeners' Magazine, who 

 styles himself a Denbighshire Gardener, gives the following 

 valuable remarks upon choosing seed-potatoes: " Preferring 

 unripe potatoes for seed is not new in practice, it has prevailed 

 for ages. Where do the farmers of the rich soils and warm 

 countries send for their seed-wheat and seed-potatoes ? to the 

 cold hilly countries, where they do not one season out of three 

 thoroughly and perfectly ripen their seed. In Denbighshire, 

 we call the hilly, or unripe potato, the wet potatoes ; and those 

 from the rich soils and warm situations, where they ripen per- 

 fectly, we call the dry potatoes, although exactly the same 

 varieties : the wet or unripe are reckoned the best for seed, 

 and the dry for food. The potato tuber is a perfect organized 



