780 
INCREASE OF POTATOES. 
unsuceesaful atteriipls, out a broken piece about a foot 
It was perfectly straight and uniform, and resembled a woruvdrawn 
over a knitting needle. When dry, it appears like a coral 
Extraordinary Increase of Potatoes. 
The; following facts are recorded in a Memoir by John Howard, 
Esq. of Cardingtpn, in Bedfordshire, on a new kind of potato, re- 
markable for its prolitickness. ** In 1765, (says be,) being at Clifton 
near Bristol, I was informed that a person had brought from America a 
particular sort of potato ; and with some trouble I procured half a 
dozen roots of it, as the greatest part of those brought over were 
already planted, That autumn 1 planted three of them, and in the 
following spring the other three, in my garden at Cardingtpn, in 
Bedfordshire, setting them in hillocks about six feet asunder. The 
strength of the stems, and largeness of the blossoms and apples, gave 
the pleasing prospect of great increase ; and accordingly when I took 
them up in the autumn of 1766, 1 found they had increased far beyond 
any of the common sort, which for some years I had encouraged our 
cottagers to cultivate. The produce from each cutting was in weight 
from twenty-six to twenty-seven pounds and a half. I sent for two of 
the Bedford gardeners who serve the market, to see them taken up, 
and they were surprised at the great increase. I gave some of them 
to these gardeners, and others to almost all our own cotlagers. The 
increase continued to appear the same in the succeeding year (1767) 
as in the last ; only as many of the single potatoes had been found 
to weigh four or five pounds each, I had now planted most of them in 
drills three feet asunder, to procure a greater number and a less size. 
Their produce now was from twenty-two to thirty pounds from each 
cutting ; and the potatoes were most sizable for common use. The 
vegetation was not so luxuriant as in those 1 before planted in hillocks, 
but the increase of these was, allowing the cuttings to weigh an ounce, 
full four hundred fold. Having last year upwards of a waggon 
load of these potatoes, 1 with pleasure ordered it to be made publicly 
known, that every person who chose to cultivate them were welcome 
to have a quantity for planting. In consequence of this, numbers 
applied in our own and the adjacent counties. In my plantations, 
as well as those of other persons, the increase has been still greater 
this year; for the season having proved very favourable, I have 
had from some hillocks, forty one pounds and a half, allowing for 
dirt.’^ 
Propagation of Plants. 
The number of vegetables that may be propagated from an indi- 
vidual is very remarkable, especially in the most ininute parts. The 
annual product of one seed, even of the common mallow, has been 
found to be no less than two hundred thousand ; but it has been since 
proved, by a strict examination into the more minute parts of the 
vegetable world, that so despised a plant as the common wall-moss 
produces a much more numerous offspring. In one of the little 
