348 
Cultivation of the Potato. 
roots are emitted some distance from the potato. Several experi- 
ments seem to confirm me in my opinion. In, I think, 1834, I 
planted some ash-leaf kidney potatoes the last week in January, 
in a border, covered with litter at the foot of a south brick-wall : 
now two out of seven of those planted at this time produced 
Bobbing Joans ; that is, they produced small tubers under 
ground, but never produced stems or branches above ground. 
The last week in March I planted in the adjoining portion of the 
border some more potatoes from the selfsame heap, and without 
any more attention, and among nearly 500 sets not more than two 
produced Bobbing Joans. The fact is, the ground was in better 
order for receiving the tubers in March, because it was drier and 
warmer, better capable of being properly pulverised, and not 
liable to be beaten hard with the rains before the growth took 
place. I have frequently noticed of late years that there is n sort 
of fungus which attaches itself to the potato, particularly on light 
land with a clay subsoil ; this makes its appearance when the 
potato is quite ripe, in the shape of an almost imperceptible 
pinkish network, which completely envelopes the tuber. These 
should be carefully looked after and used at once, for if suffered 
to get into a heap of seed-potatoes, the chance is ten to one if it 
do not make half of them blind. 
All potatoes intended for seed should be sound ; that is, should 
not have that hollow coie in the middle which is frequently 
found in large-sized tubers, and should be free from mildew or 
fungi of any kind ; the eye should be as shallow as possible, and 
all that seem to be running wild or degenerating from their true 
sort or character, should be rejected ; a change of soil, too, and 
situation, is particularly necessary. 
We now come to planting. VVe very often see persons planting 
potatoes with a dibbling-pin, just as we set beans. This must 
be decidedly wrong, because the tuber cannot swell in so confined 
a space, and the pin often renders the ground so hard around 
the side of the hole, that it is impossible for the tuber to strike 
out of it. The peculiar construction of the potato-plant seems to 
prove that the breast or hand-plough is the best instrument for 
planting potatoes; the root seems to delight in rather a firm soil, 
while the tuber is best and will thrive best in a very light and 
hollow soil. Now by the use of the hand-plough, the plant is 
so far accommodated, as the man using the plough, and likewise 
the boy who lays down the sets, tread in the bottom of the furrow, 
and thereby render it somewhat firmer than the top, which is not 
trodden upon at all ; there is likewise a sort of parting in the soil, 
which the tuber striking out horizontally from the bottom of the. 
stem delights to run in : these desirable objects cannot be attained 
either by the horse-plough or the furrowing hoe or plough. 
