Page:The family kitchen gardener - containing plain and accurate descriptions of all the different species and varieties of culinary vegetables (IA familykitchengar56buis).pdf/109

 as any rule of Euclid. When passing through Ireland, that hot-bed of Potatoes, we observed them transplanting the stems that had grown six or eight inches from one part of the field to another, in the same way that Cabbages are planted, and I was informed the crop from those were fully as good as from the sets planted early in the season. This operation can be performed in a country where there is a great deal of moisture, or during very cloudy, moist weather, but in dry arid temperatures it would be a doubtful practice.

—Various are the methods by which Potatoes are forced, such as in frames, pits, hot-beds, under glass, or under shutters and mats. Whichever of these conveniences may be at hand, let there be from twenty inches to two feet of good manure in the bottom, over which place eighteen inches of good soil. Plant thereon your sets of, and cover them with four inches of earth. It is necessary that when finished the materials should be within six or eight inches of the glass. Sow over all some Early Short-top Scarlet Radish, which will be off before the Potatoes can be affected by their growth. To prevent their becoming long and spindling, give air on every favorable occasion, when there is sunshine, from ten to three o’clock, protecting them carefully at night. A few Lettuce may also be planted between the rows. They can be cut off as soon as they are in the way. This is making the most of every inch of ground, and every industrious gardener knows the value of time and space.

.—We can never have Potatoes entirely suitable to our climate till we obtain such from seed—an operation rarely if ever attended to properly. For these experiments the field is very large, and certain to be crowned with successful results. A single apple, as they are called, collected in September or October, will produce two dozen 5*