I 
404 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, September 29, 1857. 
Take up the Potatoes as soon as the stems become 
yellow in autumn, and keep the produce of each seed¬ 
ling separately; for the produce of each will somewhat 
differ from that of all the others. 
Time of Propagating. —In light, well-drained soil we 
prefer planting about the middle of November for the 
main crop; not because the crop is thereby obtained 
earlier, but because, on the contrary, the stems appear 
above ground later than they do from sets that have been 
stored in cellars or in other places, the warmth of which 
has induced the Potatoes to sprout. The late appearance 
of the stems above ground preserves them from the 
spring frosts. Potatoes in the soil during the winter 
are always more plump and vigorous than those kept 
unnaturally dry and warm in store places, whether these 
are cellars or heaps covered with straw and earth. This 
is proved by the generally admitted fact that autumn- 
planted Potatoes have been more free from the murrain 
than the spring-planted. 
If not planted in November the earlier the planting 
takes place in the spring the better. February and March 
we prefer to April. For the earliest crops of the Walnut¬ 
leaved and Ash-leaved varieties the planting should not be 
in November, but at the end of March, and the sets should 
have sprouts about an inch long. These sprouts should 
not be removed nor injured, and should be pointing up¬ 
wards when the set is planted. The stems will soon be 
above ground, and must be sheltered from the frosts 
and any inclement weather. 
In heavy or wet soils the planting should be always 
in the spring; but be it remembered that such soils are 
quite unsuited for growing this root. 
Sotl and Situation. —A light, well-drained soil on a 
moderate elevation facing the south or south-west 
is that which produces the best crop of Potatoes. By 
best we mean not only the most abundant, but the most 
mealy and most free from disease. 
In a heavy or wet soil the same variety is more 
“ waxy ” than when it is grown in a light, dry soil. A 
“ waxy ” Potato contains an unusually large quantity of 
gummy and watery components. A “ mealy ” Potato, 
on the contrary, contains a larger proportion of starch. 
The Potato, like all other cultivated plants, is healthy 
and productive in a fresh soil, that is, a soil unexhausted 
by previous cropping, rather than in a soil enriched 
with manure at the time of planting. 
If either a heavy or wet soil has to be planted with 
Potatoes it should be divided into beds about six feet 
wide, divided from each other by trenches or alleys two 
feet wide and two feet deep. These keep the soil as 
free from excess of wet as can be effected. 
Manures. —Recent experience has shown that stable 
manure applied to the soil either just before or at the 
time of planting promotes the attack of the murrain. 
If the soil has not been lately cropped, or if it was 
manured for the previous crop, no manure should be 
applied for the Potato. Its produce may not be so 
abundant, but it will be more healthy. If the soil is 
poor no better manure can be applied to it at the time 
of digging at planting time than a compost of soot 
thirty bushels, common salt six bushels, and Epsom 
salt three bushels. These quantities are for an acre. 
If stable manure is obliged to be used, owing to the 
soil being poor and no other manure at command, let 
it be dug into the soil as long before planting time 
as is convenient. The worst of all modes of applying 
it is to put it along the bottom of a trench, and to place 
1 the sets upon it. 
If the soil is poor, and no manure, or not enough, was 
applied at planting time, then a top dressing of either 
| guano or of fowls’ or of pigeons’ dung may be applied 
] when the stems of the Potato are well above ground at 
j the end of April or early in May. Three hundred 
i weight of guano, or five hundred weight of fowls’dung, 
or four hundred weight of pigeons’ dung, are the quan¬ 
tities proper for an acre. They should be well mixed 
with equal weights of coal ashes, be sprinkled between 
the rows, and the surface immediately hoed over to cover 
the manure. 
Mode of Planting. —No mode is so good as digging 
a space sufficient for one row, and then inserting the 
sets by the dibble. This avoids the necessity of tram¬ 
pling upon the soil after it has been dug, and insures the 
sets being planted at the right depth, and being well 
covered up with the earth. 
If planted in November the sets should be buried 
eight inches beneath the surface; but in spring planting 
a depth of five inches is sufficient. 
In the rows the sets of the Walnut and Asli-leaved 
should be nine inches apart, and of the other varieties 
twelve inches. The rows of the two above named should 
be eighteen inches apart, and of the others two feet. 
When planted even no more than two or three inches 
nearer or further apart the weight of produce per acre 
will be diminished. 
Culture. —To protect from frost the leaves of the 
earliest crops it is a good plan to draw the earth into a 
ridge three or four inches high on each side of every row, 
and to put sprigs of the Fir, or of Fern, or of Heath 
upon these ridges. 
The hoe cannot be too frequently employed between 
the rows of Potatoes, care being taken not to go much 
deeper than an inch, so that the surface roots of the 
plants may not be disturbed. 
In very dry seasons and soils we have known weak 
sewage water applied abundantly between the rows 
with great advantage. It is not required, but rather 
does harm by increasing the growth of stem if the soil 
is rich. 
It increases the weight of produce if the blossoms are 
picked off so soon as some of the berries appear. 
If the stems are more than three from any one set the 
weakest of those above that number may be removed 
advantageously. The produce is increased and ripens 
earlier by such a thinning. 
The tops of the stems should never be cut off. The 
produce is reduced in quantity by such treatment, for 
the plant is exhausted by its throwing out side branches. 
No more earth should be drawn up about the stems 
than is sufficient to keep the Potatoes nearest to the 
surface from being exposed to the light, for such ex¬ 
posure causes them to have a green colour. “ Earthing 
up,” as it is usually termed, retards the ripening of the 
crop full a fortnight. The practice, therefore, checks the 
obtaining of early Potatoes, and by retarding the later 
crop renders it more liable to “ the murrain.” 
Taking up the Crop. —Never take up the crop for 
storing, whether for table use or for seed, before the 
stems are so yellow that it is evident all further growth 
is at an end; but do not wait until the tubers are fully 
ripened. A Potato is not fully ripe until its outer skin 
will not come off when gently rubbed. 
The best implement for taking up Potatoes is a three 
or four-pronged fork, and a dry period should be selected 
for taking up, not only because this facilitates the work, 
but because the Potatoes are then less liable to decay. 
It saves labour, and consequently expense, to sort the 
Potatoes into their different sizes at the time of taking up. 
Amount of Produce. —The largest weight per acre 
we know of was thirty-four tons and a half per acre. 
An average crop varies from 250 to 400 bushels, of 
90 lbs. to the bushel. 
Storing. —Potatoes taken up and stored in a cool, 
dry shed, with a layer of coal ashes between every two 
layers of Potatoes, are preserved as plump as those left 
where grown. This we consider the best of all the 
known modes of storing. Turf ashes, sand, or even 
dry earth answers as well as coal ashes. 
