POTATOES DO NOT MIX IN HILLS.

"SUBSCRIBER," Piper City, Ill., wishes to
know if potatoes mix when planted side by
side, or even in the same hill, or whether
they remain distinct varieties.

They will not mix when so planted. The
potato planted is not a seed, but is a thickened underground stem. The eyes are small
sunken buds. These eyes send up shoots
and thus continue the variety. Roses, black-
berries, lilacs, peppermint and great numbers of other plants multiply themselves by
underground stems, in a manner similar to
the potato. So willows, grapes, currants and
gooseberries are multiplied by cuttings from
stems above ground. The sprouts from apple or cherry trees will be of the same variety as the main trees, unless the sprout came

from a root into which the main trunk was
once engrafted. Now, varieties of potatoes
are obtained by planting the seeds from the
little balls which grow on the tops of the
vines. So we get new varieties of peaches,
apples, cherries, &o, by planting their seeds.
W.J. B.