t 70 ] 



April 20th, 1777, thefe fmall potatoes were planted frJ 

 a bed of good garden mould, in rows one foot afunder, and 

 at four inches on an average apart in the rows. On this 

 occafion I began to plant at one end of the bed, the rows 

 going acrofs it, and proceeded regularly towards the other 

 end, always felecting the largeft bulbs I could obferve. 

 By this means it naturally happened, that the biggeft plants 

 were all placed at one end, and gradually diminifhed to- 

 wards the other end of the bed, where the very fmalleft 

 were planted - t and as the laft of thefe came to be very 

 fmall indeed, I gave them lefs room in the rows, decrea- 

 fing, as the plants diminilhed in fizc, from fix to two inches. 

 All thefe plants were equally cared for during the fummer; 

 but it was obfervable that the ftems which grew from the 

 largeft plants were from the beginning exceedingly large, 

 luxuriant, and healthy, in comparifon of the fmaller ones. 

 The leaves of thefe were broad and healthy, and the whole 

 plant above ground appeared at lead ten times greater than 

 the puny plants that fprang from the fmall feeds. They 

 were all taken up in the month of October, when it was 

 found that the largeft feeds yielded a good crop of potatoes, 

 many of which were as big as a hen's egg ; but thofe pro- 

 duced from the fmaller feeds did not in general exceed the 

 fize of a horfe-bean, and many of them no bigger than 

 fmall peafe. None of the plants fhewed blofTom this fea- 

 fon. The bulbs were carefully preferved for planting in 

 the fpring. 



[Thefe potatoes were accordingly planted in the month 

 of April 1778, in rows about a foot from each other, and 

 the largeft were planted at the diftan-ce of one foot in the 

 rows, the fmaller being placed clofer as their fize diminifhed, 

 fo as that the leaft flood about four inches apart in the 

 row. The largeft feeds again produced by far the moft 



luxuriant 



