264 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



It will be seen from this analysis that potash is tlie leading 

 constituent of tlie ash, forming more than one half of the 

 whole. Hence wood ashes make one of the best of manures for 

 the potato crop. Sulphuric acid is the next largest constitu- 

 ent, and this is most cheaply and conveniently applied in the 

 form of sulphate of lime (common plaster). Phosplioric acid 

 also abounds, which we find abundantly in bones, or in the 

 manufactured phosphate of lime. Chloride of sodium (com- 

 mon salt) is also a large inorganic constituent, and this 

 should always enter into the compost heap which fertilizes the 

 potato patch. The refuse brine of the family and the* groce- 

 ry will generally furnish all the common salt required for 

 raising a large crop of potatoes. We have been in the habit 

 for years of sending round to the stores for refuse fish, pork 

 and beef brine, which the merchants formerly emptied at their 

 back doors, and from this addition to our compost heap have 

 derived great advantage. 



The soil for potatoes is a dry, sandy, or gravelly loam, con- 

 taining an abundance of both organic and inorganic matter. 

 Heavy clay loams are too compact for the potato, but such 

 soils may be made light and porous by thorough drainage, 

 and the incorporation of an abundance of muck, chip ma- 

 nure, or leaf mould from the forest. We have seen most ex- 

 cellent potatoes raised in a drained muck swamp by covering 

 the muck with an inch or two of sand. The tubers turn out 

 most plentifully and of the best quality from a soil abounding 

 in vegetable matter. New land, just redeemed from the for- 

 est, gives large crops, and the tubers grown on such land are 

 uniformly healthy, mealy, and of fine flavor. Even when the 

 potato disease was at its height new land produced large, 

 healthy tubers. Old land may be rejuvenated by a thick 

 coating of muck, or when this is not convenient by plowing 

 in a crop of clover or buckwheat. By a free use of muck 

 we have raised large crops of potatoes on the same ground for 

 a succession of years, but we do not recommend this practice. 

 A rotation of crops is a law as distinctly w^ritten in nature as 

 in the books. Other things being equal, a sod soil is much 

 preferable to old plowed land for raising potatoes. The in- 



