THE BE E,

OR

LITERARY WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER,

FOR

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16. 1791.

A new and eafy Method of forcing early Potatoes. BEING defirous to have fome potatoes pretty early in the season, I caused a bed of new horse dung to be made up in the month of February, in the way that is usually practised for bringing forward cucumbers or early annuals. Upon the furface of this bed, was spread about the depth of an inch of common mould; and when it had attained a due degree of temperature, potatoes were planted upon the furface of the mould all over the bed, close befide one another, like eggs in a hen's neft and then covered with mould to the depth of about fix inches. In this ftate, without glaffes, or covering of any sort, except a little loose straw for about ten days at first, the bed was allowed to remain, till fome of the stems of the potatoes were observed coming through the mould at top, when it was judged proper to tranfplant them into the field where they were to remain and perfect their crop;-a mode of forcing potatoes very common in this country.

On beginning to take up thefe potatoes for the purpose of being transplanted, I had occafion to remark a phenomenon that was new to me. great number of young potatoes were found fticking VOL II.

F

A

in clusters round the parent bulbs, by a mode of generation feemingly very different from any thing I had ever known to take place with regard to that plant. You may probably have remarked, that when potatoes are reared in the ufual way, from bulbs planted for feed, the ftem firft fprouts out at the eyes. From the bottom of this stem roots spring forth, which increase in fize as the plant advances in growth, by which the plant abforbs its nourishment. A confiderable while after the plant has begun to vegetate, another fet of fibres begin to fpring out from the bottom of the ftem alfo. Thefe are at first of a whitish colour, and do not divaricate at the points like the real roots, and fpread to a lefs or greater distance according to the kind of potatoe employed. On this fet of fibres the potatoes are always produced, appearing at first like small knots, which gradually increase in fize, and affume their proper form, each potatoe adhering to these fibres by a particular kind of eye, which, in those potatoes that affume a long shape, is ufually placed at one end, which, for the most part, is thicker than the other. This fet of fibres, from the analogy they bear to the umbilical cord in animals, I would denominate umbilical fibres, and the eye by which the potatoe adheres to them, may alfo be distinguished by the name of the umbilical eye.

In the particular cafe, however, that I now describe, this economy of the plant feems to be altered and deranged. Instead of the stem and the roots being the earlieft productious, the young bulbs themselves first appear; and these, for the most part, adhere so close to the parent bulb, as to appear like warts or excrefcences upon itfelf; but upon a nearer investigation, it appears, that they always adhere to the potatoe by means of a imall fibre that springs out from it. I have seen fome of these fibres two or three inches in length, and by that means was enabled to obferve the mode of vegetation followed in this cafe, which was thus ;

The fibres producing these bulbs, spring out from the eye of the potatoe, and adhere to the parent bulb, exactly in the fame manner as the ftem usually does; in other words, that fibre is a ftem. From the bottomof that fibre or ftem, where it adheres to the po-, tatoe, a set of roots spring out exactly in the fame manner as in the ordinary progress of vegetation; but instead of spiring up as a fmall stem, it affumes a bulbous form, in every respect resembling a potatoe in its form, in its eyes, and other particulars. This young potatoe continues to increase in fize for fome time; but at length it begins to push out sprouts, which resemble the young stems of an ordinary potatoe, and which, if fuffered to remain, become ftems in every respect the fame, as if the potatoe had vegetated in the usual way; at the bottom of which stems fpring forth, roots properly fo called, and umbilical fibres, bearing their fruit precifely in the fame way as if none of the bulbs above defcribed had been produced.

I am inclined to believe, that the young bulb has always attained its full size before the stem begins to appear; but this I cannot pofitively fay. It is, however, very certain, that it does not increase in fize, after the ftem has pushed out above ground; but from that period remains unaltered, a mere feemingly useless excrefcence.

It deferves to be farther remarked, that though the ftem itself, when it springs out from this kind of bulb, exactly resembles that of a potatoe, yet the way in which it rifes from the bulb itfelf, appears to be a good deal different from that which fprings from an ordinary potatoe planted for feed. In the laft cafe, it has been already faid, the ftem always fprings from an eye, and roots very foon appear at the bottom of the ftem, both stem and roots being very easily feparable from the potatoe, without any violent fracture. In the other cafe, the ftem feems to push out from the fubftance of the potatoe itfelf, in the fame manner that the ftem of a turnip rifes from the bulb; and when broken off, makes a violent

fracture: nor do any roots spring out from that part of the ftem, which rises out of this new fort of bulb, the roots being all produced at the place where the original stem sprung out from the parent potatoe. In short, this bulb appears to be nothing else, in the advanced ftate of vegetation of the plant, but an excrefcence on the ftem.

These excrefcences, however, if separated from the plant in due time, have the appearance, the taste, and apparently every other quality of young potatoes; and as they fometimes attain to a confiderable fize, there is no doubt but young potatoes may be thus reared for the table, at a much more early period than can otherwife be had, and at a much smaller expence.-At the time I transplanted my potatoes, which was from the 5th till the 15th of May, I gathered a confiderable quantity of thefe young potatoes, (fome of which were of fuch a fize, as to weigh more than three ounces averdupois), which I fent to my friends, as presents of great curiofity. Thofe that were too fmall for use, I allowed to be planted with the parent bulb; the large ones were separated, and the old bulbs from which they had been taken, were planted with the others, and made as good feed as if they had not been touched.All of them produced a very good crop of early potatoes in the open ground, which were ready much fooner than those that were not forced.

The fmall price at which very early potatoes fell for in this place, made me not think it an object of importance to rear them for the market here; fo that I have not repeated the experiment, and of course have not had an opportunity of remarking the circumstances that tended to augment or diminish the produce of this kind of crop. In general, it appeared probable to me, that the phenomenon might be produced by the cold. above checking the vegetation occafioned by the heat below But whether this is the cafe, or what are the precife degrees of cold or heat that are useful or hurtful, Į

had no opportunity of afcertaining. No fevere frofts occurred while the potatoes were in the bed; or I should have thought it neceffary to have covered them up with ftraw.

One circumstance occurred in this experiment, that ought not to be overlooked. It chanced, that some of the potatoes that were planted on the hotbed were cut, though the greatest part of them were whole. Moll of the cut potatoes were entirely rotted by the heat of the bed, while very few of the whole ones were hurt in the smallest degree. The potatoes planted, were allo in general, of the size of a hen's egg, or upwards.

As the practice of forcing potatoes, fomewhat after the manner above described, has been long followed about London and other large cities, I am perfuaded the phenomena above described, must have occurred to many perfons before I obferved it; but I never heard the least hint of any thing of the fort.

I beg leave farther to remark, that the kind of potatoes I employed in the experiment above recorded, was a large round early potatoe, of a dirty whitish colour, known in this neighbourhood, by the name of manucl potatoe. I think it neceffary to specify this circumftance, because I am well aware that different kinds of potatoes poffefs qualities extremely different from each other; fo that it is very poffible, the fame phenomena might not occur with another kind of potatoe. I have heard of another kind of potatoe, which put out roots from every joint of the ftem when it was laid down and covered with earth, and thus yielded a great crop: But though I have several times tried the experiment with a variety of kinds, I have never met with one that poffeffed that quality. In matters of this fort, it is impoffible for an experimenter to fpeak with too much caution or precision.

The figures in the annexed plate will serve to give a clearer idea of this peculiarity in the economy of the potatoe, than can be conveyed by words alone.