130 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



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was gypsum and ashes, about a handful in a hill. The sea- 

 son being dry, the result was not as satisfactory as I might 

 have hoped for ; but at the same time the conclusion at which 

 I arrived was, that the middle of the potato produced the 

 most, the seed end produced the least, but the butt end (which 

 I think was similar to the experience of some of the gentle- 

 men who referred to that matter yesterday) produced the 

 largest and best-sized potatoes, as a general thing ; that is, 

 they were more even in their size. There were not so many 

 small ones ; and of the three parts, the seed end produced 

 the most small potatoes. But, as I said, this was only one 

 experiment, and was not satisfactory. I propose to try it 

 again. 



Then, some three or four years ago, I tried an experiment 

 with regard to the different modes of fertilizing the potato. 

 I think I tried four different modes ; plaster, plaster and 

 ashes, barnyard manure, and barnyard manure with plaster 

 and ashes. I found that where the mixture of the plaster 

 and ashes was applied, the success was more marked ; that is, 

 the crop of potatoes was considerably increased. And where 

 the manure alone was used (it was rather coarse manure) 

 there was an increased number of potatoes, but they were not 

 sound. I do not recollect that there was a single decayed 

 potato that came from the hills manured with plaster, plaster 

 and ashes, or where the manure was used in connection with 

 plaster and ashes, whereas, in the hills where manure alone 

 was used there were a good many potatoes that were partially 

 decayed. I accepted that as an evidence that it is not the best 

 policy to plant potatoes upon manure ; and that, I think, agrees 

 with the suggestion of some of the gentlemen yesterday. 



Mr. Robinson, of Hampton. From the experience I have 

 had in raising potatoes, I find that from some peculi- 

 arity in the season, early potatoes do much better some years 

 than late, while some years late ones do the best. For in- 

 stance : a year ago this last summer, and two years ago, 

 early potatoes, with me, and, I think, as a general thing 

 through this county, did much better than late ones. I 

 have planted, for the last two or three years, about three 



