Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1825-07-21
no. SO

= u 4
tatoe, which at one time was the IA
vourite, and almost the only one in. the
Boston market, has entirely disappear
ed; and Mr.. Preston, Of Pennsylvania,
in Communication to the Editor Of
the New-EnSland Farmer, the present
year, observes, "My neighborhood, gem
orally, and perhaps without exception,
have lost their potatoes as to size for
sauce. They have become very wa
terry, Of sweet sickish taste, and black
in the middle, and the cause unknown
as the like has not been known before"
In reply to which, the Editor observes,
alt is, we believe, a general rule in the
economy ofvegetation, that plants OF
all kinds, propagated by roots, slips,
or cutting, will degenerate, and in time
become totally extinct. The finest
fruits will not always last, and some OF
those formerly most celebrated in A
merica and Great Britain are now
known only by name, and their places
are supplied by new varieties, perhaps
of equal excellence. The same princi-
pie applies to potatoes, and probably
all other roots, which should occasion
ally he renewed from seed, or their e.
ventuaI destruction is inevitable.
The English farmers, we are infor-
med, hold it to be absolutely necessary
to renew their potatoes from the top
seed once in fourteen or fifteen years.
The process for doing this,>is as FOL
lows: "Gather the apples or balls after :
the seeds are fully ripe, mash them IN
water till they are cleared OF the puiP
then dry the seeds; and next spring SOW
them in beds. When the plants are
four or FIVE inches high, transplant
them into ground well prepared. One
or two plants in a hill.
These will produce small potatoes
the first year, which will be OF several
sorts or varieties. These should be
preserved separate, and each variety
planted by itselfthe succeeding spring,
from which potatoes will be produced
of full size-The qualities of each va
riety can now be distinctly ascertalned,
and that one selected to propagate from
in future which pleases best.
The last hoeing of potatoes should be
finished before the plants are in bios
som and before the branches begin to
trail on the ground. Potatoeswill not
grow we'll more than about FIVE inches
under the surface, and if the last hoe
ing be neglected till after they are in
blossom, and especially il they be much
earthsd up, new set of roots will be
formed, too late to get their full growth
and which will rob the former sets OF
their nourishment, But if killing weeds
be necessary after they are in blossom,
it may be done with the hoe, observing
not to earth up the plants at all.
Potatoes are considered good pre-
parative of the soil where they grow
for aim ost any succeeding crop. They
however, extract very considerable
from it, more perhaps, than is general
ly imagined.-In fields planted one
part with Indian corn and another part
with potatoes, all other circumstances
being equal, the part planted with po-
tatoes, has been noticed in some In
stances, to be evident for years, by the
diminished growth Of the grass, when
compared with the part planted with
Indian corn. This, however, cannot be
admitted as general fact without fur
Their and very particular observation
Header.