578
“ From repeated experiments, it has been found, that themost effectual means of preventing potatoes from degenera-ting, and rendering them more prolific, is to raise them, occa-sionally, from their true seed, in the apples or fruit. For thispurpose, choose a few large ripe apples, from a perfectlyhealthy plant, of an approved kind, or variety, and preservethem carefully through the winter, in some dry sand, so as tokeep all the apples apart from each other. In the beginningof April, pick out the seed from these apples, and sow it innarrow drills, or rows, in a prepared bed of rich garden ground.Or, which is much easier, mash the apples and sand together,and sow this in the drills without taking the trouble of se-paration.”
“ When the seedling plants are about on inch high, raisethem carefully, with as much earth as possible about theirroots, and plant them out in another prepared bed of richearth, in rows, or drills, about fourteen inches wide, havingintervals of ten inches between each plant. Take them upwhen ripe, and secure them over winter in a well guardedpic.”
“ Next season, plant these seedlings in a good ground,with abundance of room ; and this second crop will arrive atthe full size of potatoes planted in the ordinary manner. Be-sides which, potatoes raised according to this plan, from theseed, will continue, for several years, to give a considerablymore abundant produce, than those which have been longcultivated from sets in the ordinary way; and they will bemuch less liable to the disease usually called the curl.” Thislast position, however, is disputed *.
* It is proper to observe, that no reliance can be placed on obtaining thesame potatoc from the seed, as that from which the apple or berry was taken.The varieties from seed will be numerous, and most of them good for nothing.A valuable new variety is sometimes obtained from the seed, but never the iden-tical same variety from which the seed was produced. A son may resemble hisfather, but still he is a different individual. There is only one individual ofeach sort of potatoe, and the cuts or sets, and the produce of these ad injinituni tare merely continuations of that single individual. As to the produce of thonew sorts, being greater than the sorts long cultivated, this depends on tho