Page:Treatise on Cultivation of the Potato.djvu/59

 middle of May; they were both planted out after those of 1st January and 4th April. All had large and vigorous stems and foliage. Some 5 per cent of the plants produced short thick black stems, and no tubers at all; some others a small number of worthless small tubers; others a small number of full sized tubers; others an immense number of small tubers; others again, a- very large number of medium sized beautiful tubers of all shapes, sizes and colours; for instance, some of them salmon coloured, some of them shaped like the one half of a ring of three or four inches in diameter; the thickness of the ring being half an inch to an inch. One of the plants yielded 145 tubers, and from their weight, and the small space the foliage occupied, I believe, with Mr. Knight, that crops of 30, 40 or more tons per acre may be obtained. That is to say, T believe, as I stated before, that the productive powers of the temperate zones may be doubled. When the plants were a few inches high, I observed that one in a thousand or so, possessed a slender, dark red, almost black stem Leaves of a much darker green, of smaller size, more deeply corrugated, with a larger number of hairs, of a stronger growth. These I fixed upon at once, as something worth looking into. I separated them, and they all produced dwarf dark foliage, with the most beautiful white, shapely, smooth skinned tubers I have ever seen. The space of ground occupied by the foliage was so small, and the produce so large, that I will not venture to put a name upon what I believe they may be found to yield. But I want every one who grows the seed to watch for them, separate them, and see the result. Two plants of vigorous looking growth I allowed to ripen in the conservatory. Sown on the 4th April, one of them ripened about September, and being supported, it reached the height of 15 feet, with 15 or 20 branches. The other, springing from a single stem, divided into about 25 branches about 16 feet high. Off these plants I took "cuttings," small shoots thrown up at the axils of the leaves—incipient branches—these all produced a few almost full sized tubers. Off these cuttings I took other cuttings, in the hope that the plant could be propagated in this manner for the same length of time that it could be propagated by the set. I find it cannot: these second cuttings failed to grow. The yield of these two plants was pretty good, about 8 lbs. each; but nothing in proportion to the foliage.