in botany. See Solanum.

Potatoes, it is generally thought, came originally from North America, where they were not reckoned good for food. They were first (we are told) introduced into Ireland in the year 1565, and from thence into England by a vessel wrecked on the western coast, called North Moots, in Lancashire, a place and foil even now famous for producing this vegetable in great perfection. It was 40 years after their introduction, however, before they were much cultivated about London; and then they were considered as rarities, without any conception of the utility that might arise from bringing them into common use. At this time they were distinguished from the Spanish by the name of Virginia potatoes, or battatas, which is the Indian name of the Spanish * fort. At a meeting of the Royal Society, March 18th, 1662-3, a letter was read from Mr Buckland, a Somerset gentleman, recommending the planting of potatoes in all parts of the kingdom to prevent famine. This was referred to a committee; and, in consequence of their report, Mr Buckland had the thanks of the Society, such members as had lands were instructed to plant them, and Mr Evelyn was desired to mention the proposals at the close of his Sylva.

In Sweden, notwithstanding the indefatigable industry of Linnæus, the culture of potatoes was only introduced in 1764, when a royal edict was published to encourage their general cultivation. They were known there, however, at an earlier period; for in the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Sweden, 1747, M. Charles Skytte proposed to distill brandy from them, in order to save corn, which in that country is very dear. He found by experience, that an acre of land set with potatoes will yield a much greater quantity of brandy than when sown with barley.

The utility of potatoes to the common people is well known, and this utility has brought them into general utility, and has extended them over every part of this kingdom. To promote this utility, and to make their cultivation more easy, a variety of experiments and inquiries have been made. Some of these we shall now lay before our readers, without repeating, however, what has been said on the same subject in the article Agriculture, no. 158—167. By many people the Irish purple potato is thought to be the sweetest and best; and of these the bright and middle-sized are directed to be set out whole, in February, March, and April, in a fine deep soil, in any soil. During the frost, the first setting should be covered with litter or fern. They should be set six inches deep, and a yard distant from each other every way, in a kind of hillocks like a mole-cast; and they must be moulded every month or fortnight, as high as possible. By July or August, under each hillock there will be nearly a bushel of potatoes. The white kidney potato runs all into stringy roots in loose ground, while the pink-coloured will do extremely well in the way we have now directed; and the smallest of them, though often given to hogs, unless they be otherwise improper or unhealthy, will be very good feed.

The following experiments concerning the culture of potatoes are related in the Geographical Essays.

"By all the experiments that have been made, the Howard or large Bedfordshire potato is found to produce the largest crop. On that account they are chiefly used in feeding of cattle. In two beds, four feet wide, and 200 feet long, I planted in a common field a sufficient number of sets of this kind of potato, and managed them by a horse-hoe. The produce was 64 bushels, each bushel up-heaped, weighing about 70 lb. My cattle eat them boiled with as much eagerness as the best forage, and came on as well with them. I have built a boiling-house, &c., on Mr Young's plan, and during this whole winter have boiled potatoes for my cattle. For the fattening once, I mix ground oats with them; and for the milk-cows, malt-dust; and dare venture to affirm, that they are much more profitable than either turnips or cabbages. Once, when my potatoes grew low, I desisted giving them to the milking-cows. Immediately, though fed with the best hay, they fell off amazingly in their milk. I therefore began again; and in a week's time they gave better than one-third more butter. I own this accidental discovery gave me much satisfaction, as it confirmed my opinion, that potatoes boiled are an excellent winter food for cattle. Their culture is not so difficult, at least not so precarious, as either turnips or cabbages. Their value is superior, and there is no risk of their giving a disagreeable taste either to butter or milk." milk. Add to this the vast increase of the Howard potato, and its equality with the best sorts when used for cattle.

"My gardener cut a large potato into nine pieces, which he planted with dung, in a drill, in the garden. By earthing up and laying the shoots, he produced 575 (a) sizeable potatoes, which weighed eight stone eight pound. Another of my servants produced, in the field, seven stone of good potatoes from the same number of sets. Though this experiment cannot always be executed in its full force in an extensive scale, it ought, notwithstanding, to be imitated as nearly as circumstances will allow. It shows, in the most distinguishing manner, the use of clean and careful husbandry.

"On the 14th of April, I cut a large white potato into 17 sets, which were planted in as many hillocks, at the distance of four feet. In the course of growing, the plants were earthed up, and on the 14th of October the crop was taken up: The produce, 10 pecks of sizeable potatoes. At the time that this experiment was made, I had several hillocks, in which I put three and four sets of the same kind of potato. But, upon the most careful examination, I could not observe that these hillocks produced a greater crop than the others planted with a single set. Hence it is obvious, that the potato spreads its roots most kindly when least crowded."

Whilst speaking of the increase of potatoes, we cannot help taking notice of a memoir by John Howard, Esq., of Cardington, in Bedfordshire, on a new kind of potato remarkable for its prolificacy. "In the year 1765 (says he) being at Clifton, near Bristol, I was informed a person had brought from America a new sort of potato, and with some trouble I procured half a dozen roots of it, as the greatest part of those brought over were already planted. That autumn I planted three of them, and in the following spring the other three, in my garden at Cardington in Bedfordshire; setting them in hillocks about six feet asunder. The strength of the stems, and largeness of the blossom and apples, gave the pleasing prospect of great increase: and accordingly, when I took them up in the autumn 1766, I found they had increased far beyond any of the common sort, which for some years I had encouraged the cottagers to cultivate. The produce from each cutting was in weight from 26 to 27 pounds and a half. I sent for two of the Bedford gardeners, who serve the market, to see them taken up, and they were surprised at the great increase. I gave some of them to the gardeners, and others to almost all our own cottagers. The increase continued to appear the same in the succeeding year, viz. 1767, as in the last: only, as many of the single potatoes had been then found to weigh four or five pounds each, I had now planted most of them in drills three feet asunder, in order to procure a greater number, and a less size. Their produce was now from 22 to 30 pounds from each cutting; and the potatoes were more sizeable for common use. The vegetation was not so luxuriant as in those I before planted in hillocks; but the increase of these was, allowing the cuttings to weigh one ounce, full 400-fold. Having last year upwards of a waggon-load of these potatoes, I with pleasure ordered it to be made publicly known, that every person who chose to cultivate them were welcome to have a quantity for planting. In consequence of this, numbers applied in our own and the adjacent counties. In my plantations, as well as those of other persons, the increase has been still greater this year; for the season having proved very favourable, I have had from some hillocks 41 pounds and a half, allowing for dirt."

We now continue our extracts from the Geographical Essays.

"Take a bunch of the apples of any sort of potato. On raising Hang it up in a warm room during the winter, and in feeding February separate the seeds from the pulp, by washing potatoes, the apples in water, and pressing them with the fingers. Then dry the seeds upon paper. In the month of April, sow these seeds, in drills, in a bed of earth well dug, and manured with rotten dung. When the plants are about an inch high, draw a little earth up to them with a hoe, in order to lengthen their main roots. When they are about three inches high, dig them up with a spade, and separate them carefully from each other, in order for planting out in the following manner. Prepare a piece of fresh ground by trenching it well. Dig up the seedling plants as before directed; and plant them out in the ground, thus prepared, in such a manner that there shall be 16 inches between each plant. As they advance in growth, let them receive one or two earthings up, in order to lengthen the main root, and encourage the shoots under ground. By this management, the potatoes will, in the course of one season, arrive at the size of hen's eggs, and the haulm will be as vigorous as if sets had been planted. But what proves the luxuriancy in the most convincing manner, is, that flowers and apples are produced.

"In Lancashire, where the gardeners raise potatoes from seed, they are always two, and sometimes three, years in bringing them to full size. By the above method of transplanting, with wide distances, many of the potatoes nearly attain their full size in one season. It is observable, that these seedlings produce potatoes of all the different kinds; and sometimes new sorts are procured. We do not find any difference whether the apple comes from one kind or another. It is not so when we use the set, which invariably produces the same kind. Potatoes, when propagated from sets, after a number of years, are found to decrease in bearing; for which reason they should be brought back every 14 years to their original. From a want of attention to this circumstance, I have known potatoes so run out, that they hardly returned treble seed. The farmer complains that his land is tired of them; but the true cause

(a) Instances of the amazing increase of potatoes are very numerous, and are almost every year detailed in the public papers. In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1757, p. 480, we are told, that from one slice of a potato, set in the spring of the same year by Mr Simon M'Hoy, a farmer at Park near Tuam in Ireland, there proceeded no less than 84 stalks, which produced 965 potatoes. The increase of potatoes raised from seed is astonishing. They continue in vigour for about 14 years; after which the produce gradually declines.

"As the culture of potatoes, and particularly of the early sorts for the table, has of late become an object of very general attention, I hope the following account of a new method of obtaining these (without the help of hot-beds) will be acceptable to the public.

"On the 2d of January 1772, I made a hot-bed for the forward sort of potatoes, and on the 7th put in the sets, placing a glass and frame over them, and taking every precaution to defend them from the frost. Of these small potatoes, or sets, there remained about 40 in a basket, which was accidentally hung up in a warm kitchen, and there remained unnoticed till about the 25th of April. I then accidentally observed the basket, and perceiving something green on the edge of it, took it down, and, to my great surprize, found that the potatoes had sprouted half a yard in length, and that there were a great number of very small potatoes formed on the fibrous roots which had grown out. I took them into my garden, and planted them in a rich sandy soil, without any manure. The roots I put into the ground three inches deep, and laid down the stems that had sprouted, horizontally, and covered them with two inches of soil, but left the tops uncovered. Without farther attention they grew surprisingly.

"On the 26th of May, I took up the roots planted in the hot-bed on the 7th of January. They by no means answered my expectations, or paid for the trouble of their culture; but, at the same time, I was astonished to find the others, which were put into the ground so late, to have produced larger potatoes than the roots in the hot-bed. I took up all the roots, and picked off the large potatoes from them, which amounted to from 4 to 12 on each root, and then set the roots again in the same ground. This, indeed, I have successfully practised for many years, sometimes even twice, and have had a third good crop at Michaelmas. When this method is tried, the roots must be watered on the evenings of hot days.

"In January 1773, in order to make a second trial of this experiment with a large quantity, I placed a great many potatoes of the early sorts on a thick layer of gravelly soil, close to each other, over an oven, flated over, but open to the south-west, and covered them two inches deep with the same earth. At the end of April I took them up, and found the stems about a foot long or more. For fear of injuring the fine and delicate fibres of the roots, I took great care in taking them up, and planting them in the soil. This I now manured, but in all other respects treated them in the manner above described, many of the fibrous roots having then potatoes formed upon them nearly as large as walnuts. For a week, the plants came on surprisingly; when, by one sharp night's uncommon frost, they were nearly destroyed. However, notwithstanding this, fresh stems grew up in a few days, and I actually gathered from them, on the 3d of June following, finer potatoes than were sold at that time, at Manchester, from 1s. to 1s. 6d. per pound, being the produce of hot-beds. After taking off the larger potatoes, I again planted the roots for a second crop, and in September obtained a very large produce. I weighed the increase of many separate roots, which amounted from four pound eight ounces to 14 pound 12 ounces, the potatoes being the largest of the forward kinds I ever saw.

"Make a compost of earth, sand, and coal-ashes. With this mixture fill a tub about 16 inches deep. Plant this artificial soil with some sets of the early round potato, and place the tub in a stable opposite to a window, taking care to water the earth now and then. In all seasons the sets will sprout, and give a tolerable increase of potatoes. Last November I planted some sets in the above manner; and in February following I took up a considerable number of young potatoes, clean skinned and well flavoured.

"On the 18th of May 1772, finding some beds I had sown very early with onions, to be a milling crop, planting I was induced to make the following experiment. The potato tops, year before, I had set some potatoes in another part of my garden in the common way; and as it is impossible but some will remain in the ground all winter, so I found a number of sprouts about three inches high, which I nipped off close to the ground, and transplanted them into the onion-beds, without any further preparation, about a foot and a half a-funder, in the same manner that cabbages and cauliflowers are planted. As the season became immediately very dry, I was obliged to give my plants a little water for four or five successive nights; after which they began to flourish, and had the appearance of a promising crop during all the summer. At the usual time, in October, I ordered them to be taken up; and for size, quantity, and quality, they exceeded all I ever had in the common way. Had the ground been fresh, properly manured and prepared, and the plants put down at a proper distance from each other, I am of opinion that the successe would have been still greater.

"From an accurate experiment made last year, I dare venture to recommend baked potatoes as an excellent food for hogs. The pork produced by this food was equal to that from barley and beans; but at present I cannot exactly ascertain the comparative experiment with regard to expense; however, I am of opinion, that roasted potatoes, considering the improvement of the hogs, is as cheap a food, if not cheaper, than can be given them. I roasted my potatoes upon a kiln, similar to what is used by oatmeal shellers for drying their oats. The difference in expense between boiling and roasting the potatoes is prodigious, both with regard to the labour and fuel. A kiln that will cost £1. will roast potatoes sufficient for the maintenance of more than 20 hogs; and one man will perform all the necessary attendance upon them, and do other work besides. The action of the fire, by dissipating the crude juices that are contained in raw potatoes, reduces them into a state highly wholesome and nutritious. Boiling does this in part, but not so effectually. A potato roasted in the manner above described, partakes much of the nature of a chestnut, and perhaps is not greatly inferior to it."

Potatoes are found to be useful food for most other animals. See Agriculture, no. 45.

"To these experiments we shall add some important observations of Dr Anderson of Cotfield near Leith, who who has paid a very particular attention to this as well as other branches of agriculture. Our readers will find the Doctor's remarks and experiments at large in the Bath Papers, volume fourth. He first considers the nature of the seeds most proper to be planted; and from his experiments he thinks it appears that the produce is not materially affected by planting for seed, either whole potatoes or cuttings, or large or small potatoes as such; for it is only incidentally that these things can affect the crop. In the fifth volume of the Bath Papers, Mr Wimpey relates an experiment, by which it would appear that there is an advantage in planting cut potatoes. His conclusion is as follows: "The measure of all the ground planted, says he, was 325 poles; the whole produce 378 bushels. The measure of the ground planted with cut potatoes was 265 poles; the produce 312 bushels. The ground planted with whole or uncut sets was 60 poles, and the produce of the same 66 bushels. Now, if 48 bushels, the whole quantity of sets used, produced 378 bushels, then 34 bushels, the quantity cut, should produce 267 bushels; but they produced 312, which is 45 bushels more than the proportion. Again, if 48 bushels produced 378 bushels, then 14 bushels should have produced 110 bushels; but 14 bushels of uncut produced only 66 bushels, which is 44 bushels less than the proportion. A preference of 40 per cent. in favour of cut potatoes, in comparison with whole sets." Mr Wimpey corroborates the fact in the sixth volume of the same work, and informs us, moreover, that he used to supply many of his neighbours with potatoes for planting; some of whom desired to have them all final, as they had found them equally productive with the larger, and saved much trouble in cutting. "Others (continues he) preferred the largest, who carried their economy much further; they, it seems, used to pare them, eat the fleshy part, and plant the rinds only. Upon inquiry, I found it was not an unusual practice among the cottagers; and I have been credibly informed they get as large crops and as good potatoes in that method of planting as in any other whatever. If this be a fact, it seems to appear that the fleshy part of the bulb is of no use in supplying nourishment to the young fruit after the fibrous roots have put forth and laid hold of the ground. Perhaps an experiment of this sort may be thought worth making." The weight of the crop, however, Dr Anderson affirms (and Mr Wimpey agrees with him, see Bath Papers, vol. v. p. 24.), is always in some measure influenced by the weight of the seeds planted; but the weight of produce is not augmented in the same proportion with the weight of the seed planted; the smallest seed yielding the greatest returns in proportion to the seed, but the smallest in proportion to the extent of ground. It is in no case profitable, however, the Doctor thinks to plant small potatoes (a), or small cuttings, unless where it is meant to increase as fast as possible a favourite kind; in which case it may be sometimes eligible to plant pieces very small, as in that way the kind will be most quickly multiplied. We may also remark here, that such as with for a large increase should never plant the worst of the crop; it is, we know, extremely common, and may indeed be an immediate saving; but it is unquestionably a loss upon the whole; and perhaps it is one cause of the evil disease, which is the sure indication of a poor dwindling crop, and of which we shall speak more at large immediately.

Our author further remarks, that there seems to be no reason to suspect that eyes taken from any particular part of the bulb are possessed of a degree of prolificacy greater than those taken from any other part of it, independent of the size of the fleshy part that adheres to the eye. It is however highly probable that a difference in the crop, either with respect to the number and size, or general weight of the whole, would result from planting large cuttings of equal weight, taken from the big end of large potatoes, or from the point, as many eyes would be in the last in comparison of the first. This is therefore one of the many preparatory experiments that require to be made. It is possible too that even the apples may be an object of value, and may indicate a thriving crop or otherwise; but of this there is no certainty, as no specific experiments have yet been made on this subject.

With respect to the effects of cutting the stems of potatoes while growing, the Doctor seems to be doubtful. The stems of potatoes, if cut while growing, and while used green, are found to be a wholesome food for cattle growing and horses. But though some farmers maintain that the produce in potatoes is not lessened by having the stems cut off while they are in a state of vigorous vegetation; others as positively insist that the crop is essentially injured by that operation. It is proper that this point should be ascertained. Probably the crop is hurt if the stems are cut over before they have attained a certain point of maturity, though it is possible they may be afterwards cut without doing any essential injury to it.

We have already mentioned that an experiment was made a good while ago in Sweden, to extract ardent spirits from potatoes. Other experiments have been made in this country of a later date, but with little effect. This, however, appears to have proceeded either from ignorance or a want of proper attention to the fermentation and after distillation; as appears from Dr Anderson's experiment, which succeeded extremely well by attending to these processes. What he made he affirms to have been the finest and most agreeable vinous spirit he ever saw, resembling in taste very fine brandy, but more mild, and having a certain coolness on the stomach peculiar to itself.

Much may be done in bringing potatoes to perfection.

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(a) In opposition to this, it is the opinion of even practical men, that the small potatoes are to be preferred; "I have been informed (says Mr Hollins) by a native of America, that what we call the long red American potato, grows in that rich and newly-cleared soil to a very large size; but that the potatoes proceeding from the roots were never used as feed; for there sprung from the stalk, very near the surface of the ground, small potatoes as they called them; but, he said, they were about the size of those raised in England, and those were always planted. I hope the Society will forgive my mentioning this, as it confirms what I have already said, 'that small potatoes are best for feed.'" London Society of Arts, vol. xi. p. 82. tion by attending to their several varieties. For this purpose some particular potato must be fixed upon as a standard; and when this is done, the inquiry must be carried on by attending, first, to their appearances below ground, as, 1. the general form and size of the bulbs; 2. their colour; 3. the smoothness or roughness of the skin; 4. the consistence, that is, the meanness or viscofity and taste of the bulb; 5. the colour, length, thickness, &c. of the umbilical cord; 6. their tendency to go deep, or to rise near the surface; to ramble wide, or to adhere close to the stem; 7. the time when the bulbs knot and set; marking, not by the calendar only, but also compared with the advance of the plant above ground; 8. the time when they attain perfect maturity with respect to size, and also that period of their growth at which they lose their herbaceous, and attain the farinaceous, taste; 9. their general prolificacy; 10. how long they may be kept, at what season they are in greatest perfection for eating; &c. We must next attend to the particulars observable above-ground; as, 1. the general height, colour, and form of the stem; 2. their tendency to push out many or few stems from a root; 3. whether they carry blossom or not; 4. the form, dimensions, and colour of the leaves; 5. the form, colour, and general habitude of the blossom where there is any; 6. the time at which the blossom appears; 7. the tendency they have to produce few or many apples; 8. the tendency they have to produce those excrescences on the stalks that resemble potatoes below ground, which may be called air potatoes; 9. the comparative hardness or tenderness of the leaves, in respect of frost or other variations of weather that affect them. And, lastly, we must attend to the particulars that concern the whole plant; as, 1. the soil which seems best to suit each kind; 2. the mode of culture that best agrees with them; 3. the accidents which are most liable to affect them; and in general every particular that could indicate any difference between one kind and another.

Our author next considers the circumstances of raising seedling potatoes. His mode of raising them was similar to that recommended in the *Georgical Effort* quoted above; but he differs with respect to the utility or success of that mode. It has been alleged, he says, that potatoes, which have been long propagated by means of bulbs, lose in time their generative quality, so as to become much less prolific than at first; and it is asserted that those bulbs which have been lately obtained from seeds are much more prolific, and consequently much more profitable for being employed as plants than others: but this opinion appears to have been adopted without sufficient examination: for there appears not the smallest indication of superior prolificacy in those raised from seeds, but rather the reverse. That potatoes do not degenerate in point of prolificacy in consequence of being long propagated in the usual way, seems to be confirmed by the general experience of all Europe. It is now about a hundred years since the potato was pretty generally cultivated in Ireland, and it has been very universally cultivated in Britain for 50 years past; and all that have been reared in it since their first introduction two hundred years ago, a very few of late only excepted, have been propagated from bulbs only; so that if they had declined in point of prolificacy, the degeneracy should in this time have been very apparent. Nothing of that kind however was ever remarked, nor any insinuation of that sort thrown out, till the discovery of rearing potatoes from seed was made, when it was for the first time heard of. There are many persons now living who have been in the constant practice of rearing potatoes for 30 or 40 years; and notwithstanding the general tendency that mankind have to dispraise the present, when compared to past times, yet none of them have given the smallest hint of degeneracy in this respect. And perhaps it will be found that this is merely a groundless notion, that has originated from the partial fondness of those who first propagated this plant from seed, in favour of their new discovery. It has been further said, that by raising potatoes from seed, many new and valuable kinds may be obtained; and it is also asserted in the *Georgical Effort*. Indeed an opinion of obtaining new varieties of plants by propagating them from seed universally prevails among naturalists. But Dr Anderson, in his first paper, doubts whether this be fact, and whether, when any of these occur, they have not been the effect of accidental position or other causes. We may certainly (says he) assert on the whole, that if the practice of raising potatoes from seeds shall ever be productive of any advantages to society, they have not yet been discovered. Since he wrote that treatise which appears in the Bath Papers, vol. iv. (and of which we are now giving a short account), however, he has had occasion to alter his opinion, which he does with great candour in vol. v. The experiment which induced him to alter his opinion, and which appears to be decisive, was made with the seed of a potato procured from Ireland of a very peculiar kind. Its colour was a dirty dark purple, its shape a round irregular bulb, and its stem tall and upright. The seeds procured from this potato were sown by themselves, and the seedlings when of a proper size were transplanted. From the appearance of the stems he soon discovered that they were not all of one sort, and on taking them up the variety was almost infinite; and such as could not be accounted for on the principles of a mongrel adulteration. The diversities respected colour, shape, &c. some of which he enumerates. See *Bath Paper*, vol. v. p. 127.; see also p. 35., where Mr Wimpey controverts the Doctor's former opinion.

Respecting the cause and prevention of the curled leaf disease in potatoes there has been a great variety of opinions, which we have detailed at some length under the article *Agriculture*, p. 267 to 270. Dr Anderson confesses that he can say but little positive as to the cause of this disorder, but he thinks a good deal may be said on the negative side of the question. It was little known till lately (c), and in the northern parts of this island it was absolutely unknown but a very few years ago; and even now in the more remote corners it is still less frequent than in the more southern and

(c) In the eighth volume of the Transactions of the London Society for Encouragement of Arts, &c., p. 43., we are told that the curl first appeared in 1764, in the very district in Lancashire where they were first cultivated. and more commercial districts of the island. It has been supposed that nature, fated as it were by having long produced this plant in a climate not deemed congenial to it, had become so far exhausted as to occasion this disease. But in this case, the more northern parts, where the climate is most unfavourable, should have been most affected. It has been also thought that potatoes, whose bulbs are frost-bitten before they are houed, occasion this disease in the plants they produce. But the fact is, that they are least liable to the disease in those districts where they are most exposed to frost. A potato can never indeed be benefited by frost; but it is not at all probable that the being touched by it occasions the curl. The taking up potatoes before they arrive at maturity has been thought to occasion the disease; but in places where they must be taken up so, the disease is scarcely known. It has also been thought that potatoes obtained from seed are entirely free from it. But Dr Anderson gives a proof of the contrary; for one half of the plants of a large field planted from potatoes the third year from the seed were curled; while another field adjoining raised from potatoes that never were, that he knows, produced from seed in this country, had scarcely one curled plant in the whole. The disease has been supposed by others to arise from the soil or season. But that this is not the case, appears from the circumstance of a single field which Dr Anderson planted with potatoes of the very same sort, but obtained from different persons. The ridges were intermixed, and the one was very much curled, and the other perfectly free. The disease, therefore, appears to arise from infected seed: it is however possible that it may be communicated by juxtaposition; and if so, the disease might be in a great measure if not entirely avoided, by pulling out those that showed the least symptom of it, on their first appearing above ground.

In the Transactions of the London Society for encouragement of arts, &c. we find a good deal about the curl disease. Many of the writers agree in opinion with Dr Anderson in many particulars; and particularly, that though the disease may be prevented, we do not yet know enough of its nature to be able to cure it. See their vol. viii. p. 18, &c. ix. p. 52, &c. and x. p. 75. In this last volume we are told that the principal causes of the curl are three: 1. From their being forced by cultivation to overgrow their power for vegetation; 2. From their vegetative power being dried up in ebb foil by the scorching heat of the sun; and, 3. From their being exposed too long after they are cut in sets before they are planted.

It is generally and very naturally believed that a dry foil or a dry season necessarily produces the driest potatoes. But there is good reason to doubt the truth of the opinion. The year 1775 was the driest and warmest season that has been known in Scotland within the memory of man, yet the potatoes of that year's crop were watery almost to a proverb: on the other hand, the potatoes of crop 1777, although it was a remarkably rainy season, were as dry and mealy at least as is common, and much more so than in the year 1775. It deserves also to be remarked, that the crop of 1775 was almost double in quantity to that of 1777. Hence a dry season would seem to augment the produce, though it does not for certain in all cases improve the quality, of this crop: nor does a dry soil necessarily insure mealy potatoes; for our author says he has often seen potatoes of the same kind, and of the same year's produce, reared in two different places; the one of them in a naturally damp soil, which turned out to be much freer and more mealy than the others which were reared on a drier and sharper soil. He confesses, that he has also often seen it turn out in fact, that potatoes raised in those districts where the soil is hot and sandy, are usually more free and tender than those raised in countries where the soil is cold and damp. Our author tries to account for these contradictory phenomena by conjecturing the probable cause of the wateryness or dryness of a crop. He asks, Whether in this respect the crop is anywise affected by the degree of ripeness that the plants employed for seed may have attained in the preceding season? That this is the case he thinks highly probable. Potatoes which, on account of the richness or other peculiarity of the soil, continue in a state of vegetation highly luxuriant till they are nipped by frost, or checked in their growth by other inclemencies of the season, have much less chance of being dry and mealy than others of the same sort which have attained their full growth before the coldness or inclemency of the weather checked them. But our author's question does not relate to this, but to the effect these unripe potatoes, used as seed, would have on the succeeding crop; a circumstance which experience alone can determine. "But even if it should be found (continues our author) that the maturity of the seeds affected the quality of the potatoes, it would not follow invariably that the seeds produced on early dry soils would be better than those from later soils; because it might sometimes happen from local position, and other accidental circumstances, that the growth of the potatoes in the dry early soil might be checked by frosts many weeks before those on the other soil were affected, in consequence of which the plants in the cold soil might attain to more perfect maturity than those on the drier one. I mention this peculiarity merely to show how cautious the farmer ought to be in adopting general conclusions without carefully attending to all the collateral circumstances that may affect his experiment. I shall only farther add on this head, that I had occasion to know well a dry warm spot of ground on which the stems of the potatoes of crop 1776 were frost-bitten at least six weeks before those on another spot at some miles distance from it, where the soil was naturally more cold and damp, were in the smallest degree affected by it. It likewise happened, that the potatoes raised on the first-mentioned spot in the year 1777 (their own frost-bitten (p) feed was employed) had such a peculiar acrid and bitterish taste as to be hardly at all eatable, while those in the colder place of that crop had nothing of that unusual

(n) Observe, the term frost-bitten is here applied to the stems only, and not to the bulbs. The stems were so much hurt by the frost as to turn black and decay, but the bulbs were taken up before the frost had been sufficiently intense to hurt them. Potato. Whether this diversity was occasioned by the circumstance here alluded to, I do not take it on me to say. In matters of such nice disquisition as the present, many facts obtained by very accurate observation are necessary before any conclusion can be relied on.

Potatoes, when planted in water, shoot out a great number of fine white roots like threads into the water; but on none of them is there to be found the leaf appearance of a bulb; while on the other hand the potatoes in that case always grow on the top. Potatoes are found to be extremely useful in bringing exhausted land into heart again. See Agriculture, p. 35 and 186, p. 309, col. 1. The bishop of Killaloe in Ireland directs the use of them for this purpose in a letter in the Bath Papers, vol. 4, p. 252, and confirms its utility in this respect by experiments of his own. In the 10th vol. of the Transactions of the London Society for Encouragement of Arts, &c. p. 34, there is also a most decisive proof of this utility.

We have been induced, from the extensive utility of this root, to extend our observations on the subject to a greater length than we should otherwise have done. Such of our readers as wish for further information, will of course consult the books from which we have made up the present article, as well as other books on Agriculture; in which they will find the observations and experiments which we have mentioned at much greater length than we could possibly give them. In the fifth volume of the Bath Society Papers there is an excellent paper on the culture of potatoes and feeding hogs with them during seven years by John Billingfley Esq.; of which our limits do not permit us to take particular notice. There are also a variety of other papers in the several volumes of that work, as well as in the Transactions of the London Society, which we have already several times mentioned; which will deserve the particular attention of such as wish well to the poor, or have a desire still farther to extend the utility of this most valuable root. We have already mentioned a cheap preparation by means of potatoes for the poor, see Agriculture, p. 161; and we shall finish the present article with a receipt to make a potato herrico, which may be equally useful to those whose circumstances are not such as to make them regardless of economy. We take it from the Gentleman's Magazine, and give it in the words of a person who had tried the experiment.

Scrape the skin clean off four pounds of good raw potatoes, then wash them clean in fair water; take two pounds of beef, one of mutton, and one of pork; or as you like best; four pounds of any of these meats; cut them into pieces of three or four ounces each, season them very well with pepper and salt and a good onion chopped very small; have ready a strong wide-mouthed stone-jar, such as hares are usually jugged in; slice thin a layer of the potatoes into the jar, then a layer of the seasoned meat over them, and so alternately layers of potatoes and meat; let your uppermost layer be potatoes, so that your jar be about three quarters full, but put no water into your jar; then close or stop the mouth of it with a large well-fitted piece of cork, covering the same with a strong piece of canvas, and tying it down with pack-thread, so as only a little of the steam may escape in the stewing; for a little should constantly evaporate from the side of the cork to save the jar from bursting. Then place your jar upright in a kettle of cold water on the fire, so as the mouth of the jar may be always two inches above the water in the kettle when boiling. The herrico in the jar will begin to boil some minutes sooner than the water in the kettle, and that for obvious reasons. In about an hour after the water in the kettle begins to boil, your herrico will be fully stewed. Then take out and open the jar, pour out the herrico into a deep dish, and serve it up.

This excellent, wholesome, and economical dish supplies an agreeable dinner twice a week to a family consisting of three grown people, and three children under fourteen years of age, where neither health nor good stomachs are wanting, thanks to God; and, in point of economy we must observe, that here is the whole article of butter saved, as also the whole article of bread, or nearly for; nor does there require so large or so continued a fire, nor so much time or trouble as is necessary for the dressing of many other dishes that by no means deserve the preference to this excellent herrico.

We have also (by way of change) made it with powdered beef, sometimes with powdered pork, sometimes with half fresh beef or mutton and half pickled pork, and found it good in all these ways, particularly with three pounds of fresh beef and one of pickled pork. We have left off sending pies and stews to the bakers. We sometimes (in a larger kettle) boil a small piece of powdered beef along-side of the jar, by continuing the boiling an hour and an half longer, and this serves us to eat cold the next day, with hot garden-stuff or a pudding.

Potato-Bread. See Bread of Potatoes.

Spanish Potato. See Convolvulus, n° 5.