CULTURE OF VEGETABLES. 
293 
Potatoe .—By planting any early sort, such as the Early Cham¬ 
pion, or the Ash-Leaved Noble, on the 1st of January or February, 
and the late kind in June, two crops in the year may be easily ob¬ 
tained from the same ground. They will be better if planted whole, 
for the toughness of their skins, and their substance, will secure them 
from rotting by over damp, and from being withered by over dry 
ground, which frequently happens to sets. The useless eye opposite 
the crown must be cut out, to expedite vegetation. If, however, sets 
should be preferred, they ought each to have but one eye, with a 
great portion of the potatoe attached. The seed potatoes or sets 
should always be placed so far apart, that the plants, when growing, 
may not press upon each other, but have all their leaves fully expo- 
, sed to the sun and air. Dry manure, such as sifted coal-ashes, lime, 
sea-weed, or any other description ought to be applied to the early 
and moist manure for the late planting. The earthing up of early 
potatoes, peas, cabbages, &c. should frequently take place, to protect 
the tender stems from frost; and, when the ground is dry, to prevent 
the stems from rotting. The earthing up of late plants in August 
or September ought to take place after rain, to retain the dampness 
in the soil, for all stems throw out fibres in pursuit of nutriment.— 
Clean straw should be retained as long as possible without injury, 
over early seed beds and early plants, but it ought to be laid aside in 
mild weather. After a frosty night, the icicles should be removed 
from the plants before the rays of the sun can dissolve them. This 
may be done by washing with the rose of a large watering-pot, or a 
garden-syringe, or by brushing them off with a box, heath, sedge, or 
other very light broom, or with a soft thumb rope, made of hay 
loosely twisted, which two men may draw along the drills or ridges. 
Early potatoe plants, in exposed situations, have escaped injury, 
when a stormy morning has succeeded a severe frosty night, the 
wind having dispersed the icicles before the sun could dissolve them. 
The water in which potatoes are boiled should never be given to a 
pig, or to any other animal, on account of its noxious quality, but it 
may be poured over seed beds, and all places frequented by slugs 
and other insects, for it will as effectually destroy them as either 
lime-water or soap suds. 
Cooking Potatoes .—They ought to be all of one size, and the 
floury sort should be steamed or baked gradually, that the insides or 
cores may be reduced to powder as well as the outsides; but the soft 
or waxy kind ought to be cooked over a strong fire, that their noxi¬ 
ous moisture may be quickly extracted. When vegetables and all 
other articles of food are prepared, all further process of cooking 
should instantly cease, or they will deteriorate. 
