Page:The family kitchen gardener - containing plain and accurate descriptions of all the different species and varieties of culinary vegetables (IA familykitchengar56buis).pdf/110

 new kinds; and if even half a peck of apples were collected, separate and wash the seeds from the pulp, dry them, and wrap them up in strong paper till Spring about the middle of April, prepare a bed of fine earth, draw shallow drills thereon six inches apart and a quarter of an inch deep; sow the seeds thinly, and cover lightly with very fine earth. They will come up in two or three weeks. When they are two inches high, thin out a portion, lifting them very carefully with a trowel, and transplant them into a piece of well prepared ground, four inches apart and eight inches from row to row. Choose a moist, cloudy day for the purpose, hoe them freely, and earth them up a few times during the season. Treat the bed in like manner. In October, the roots will furnish a supply of small Potatoes, which must be taken up and a portion of the best preserved in sand during Winter, to be planted next Spring in the usual way. After they have had the ensuing Summer’s growth, in October their tubers will have attained a sufficient size to determine their properties. It will be necessary to consider, not only the flavor of each variety, but the size, shape, color and fertility; also the earliness or lateness, rejecting all that have not every quality combined, for only such are worthy of permanent culture. It will thus be seen that with very little care and a little labor, new varieties may be produced and proven in the short space of two or three years.

Potatoes intended for keeping should be fully ripened before being taken up. When going through the process of lifting, drying, and storing, they should be handled with care, not filled up and emptied down as if they were as many stones. After having gone through this stone-casting process, nearly every Potato shows its effects when brought to the table, being covered with bruised marks in proportion to their rough treatment; whereas, if they are managed properly, every tuber would be as sound as on the day of its removal. Dry cellars, free from frost, are the most appropriate places of storage, and