THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



system, in which the circulation regularly proceeds, and if 

 suffered to ripen, will then tend to decay ; but if separated be- 

 fore ripe from the stem or stalk, which furnishes it with blood 

 or fruit-sap descending from the leaves, the circulation of the 

 blood-sap is suddenly arrested." 



*' The ripe potato having performed all its operations, becomes 

 more inert, but the circulation of the sap in the unripe tuber 

 having been stopped, it starts more readily, and with greater 

 vigour when planted ; the one seems to die, worn out with age, 

 the other seems accidentally to have fallen asleep, and when 

 awakened, possesses an unspent vigour and energy. This is 

 the case not only with the potato, but also with the apple, 

 pear, and other fruits, whose life, if I may so express it, it is 

 desirable to prolong or extend beyond the time naturally 

 allotted to it ; they are then taken off the tree long before they 

 are ripe, and experience has taught us, that they will keep 

 much longer, and eat much fresher, than those suffered to grow 

 ripe upon the tree: the same is the case with the potatoes 

 taken up before ripe. Placing the potatoes upon the gravel, 

 or in the sun, on any dry but not a grass walk, has the effect of 

 stopping the circulation in the tuber, in which nature has pro- 

 vided resources to carry it on to an extraordinary degree, un- 

 less so stopped.** 



" If you will examine the potato-stem or plant, when the 

 tubers are beginning to be formed, you will find that the pota- 

 toes are placed upon the runners pushed or issuing out from 

 the plant or stem above the set. The functions of the set are 

 to push out roots, to gather food from the soil, to supply the 

 plant and leaves with that food, and from the leaves, the blood 

 or fruit-sap flows down to form the runners, and new potatoes; 

 and the more you earth up the plant or stem, the more run- 

 ners are formed higher up on the stem, and the more pota- 

 toes are produced." He concludes by stating, " that earth- 

 ing up the potatoes causes them to be later; and that by 

 earthing them up after taking away a few of the earliest, also 

 causes them to throw out more runners and produce more pota- 

 toes ; the top or eye-cuts producing potatoes a fortnight earlier 

 than the bottoms of the same tubers." 



This is somewhat similar to the doctrine laid down by Mr, 



