Page:Treatise on Cultivation of the Potato.djvu/43

 in 1845, sowed early potato seed on the 11th of April, and planted them out on the 26th of May; and here we may remark, that vegetation is 14 days later in Boitzenburg than in Berlin. The plants produced from 1 to $1 1⁄2$ gallons (metre) of tubers. One plant even produced 280 tubers. There were of course a great many small tubers among them, yet the produce of large ones was, on the whole, equal to the produce from sets. As Zander has followed this plan for five years, he is now able to give seed to several gentlemen's gardeners and labourers. The potatoes used by them all proved healthy, while the disease was everywhere, and even in the neighbourhood. The space of half a square rood of land (7 feet) is sufficient to raise enough to plant one acre." (Preussische Zeitung, Oct. 1845.)

Another mode is the following:

"When the 'potato apple or plum' is ripe, preserve it from frost till it is shrivelled, when the pulp, &c. may be mixed with peat-mould, and preserved in that way till sowing time. About this season a slight hot-bed may be made, and when filled to about one foot from the glass a layer of turf should be placed above the fermenting material, with the grassy side down, and over this about four inches in depth of peat-mould and rotten dung, or fine rich mould, should be spread; then sow the seed in rows, four inches apart, adding a little soil between them as the plants advance. As the plants grow they should be freely exposed in fine weather, and gently watered; and when they have advanced to about six inches in height, in the beginning of May, or when all danger of frost is over, they may be planted out into rows of a suitable distance apart, placing the plants pretty thickly in the rows. Nothing more is now needed but to attend to them in the usual way. In a small bed, of three or four feet across, some thousands of plants may be raised." (Gard. Chron. 1845, 260.)

The following is Mr. Macartney's method of obtaining new kinds of potatoes from seed:—"Sow the seed in a hot-bed, about the mindlemiddle [sic] of February, in lines six inches apart, a quarter of an inch deep, and very thin. When water is necessary, sprinkle it between the lines, but avoid wetting the plants, as that would injure them. A little air must be given before they are watered.

"As the plants rise, rich earth, carefully put between the lines, will add fresh vigour to them; but the tops of the plants must not