COUNTIES OF EDINBUEGH AND LINLITHGOW. 29 



is the rule. But the crop hardly pays so well as formerly, 

 owing to the demand for Scotch potatoes not being so keen 

 in the London markets. Sales are, therefore, scarcely so easy 

 to make, while prices are less than they were twenty years 

 ago. Potatoes form the second crop in the rotation, occupying 

 a portion of the oat stubble, which is almost always manured 

 in the autumn. A few farmers, however, adhere to the drill- 

 manuring system, inasmuch as they maintain that the crop is 

 larger. Though we are ready to admit this, yet it cannot be 

 denied that autumn manurinf^ mves sounder tubers and better 

 quality, while the labour in spring is reduced to a minimum. 

 Where fall manuring is practised, as soon after harvest as is con- 

 venient, the land apportioned to this crop is divided by furrows 

 drawn at a distance of 18 feet apart, in order that the manure 

 may be regularly and evenly laid on. The quantity per acre 

 varies, but it is well known that it is poor economy to give less 

 than experience has proved necessary to the production of a full 

 crop. From 20 to 25 tons is reckoned a good dressing, but even 

 this quantity is, in some cases, much exceeded. For example, in 

 the present season (1876), we saw a fine thirty-acre field of 

 potatoes upon the farm of Mr Anderson, Norton Mains, which 

 had been dressed with 1250 tons of well-made farm-yard manure, 

 or between 42 and 43 tons per acre, allowance being made for 

 hedges and headlands. Besides this, the crop was dressed with 

 4 cwt. of guano, at a cost of 10s. per cwt., one-half being ajDplied 

 at the tmie of planting, the remainder as a top-dressing. The pota - 

 toes were taken after grass, but the practice is not general. After 

 the land has been manured in autumn, it is ploughed with a deep 

 furrow, and where free from weeds little more is needed in the 

 spring than a few stripes with the grubber and going over two or 

 three times with the harrow. Sometimes potatoes are grown 

 solely with portable manures, chiefly guano and dissolved bones ; 

 in such cases, 16 to 18 cwts. are given, at a cost of L.8 or L.9 per 

 acre. After the land has got into a nice surface tilth, it is throvrn 

 into drills about 27 inclies wide. The artificial manures are then 

 applied and the potatoes planted. Ten inches is a common 

 width between the setts, but a few growers prefer twelve ; others, 

 fourteen for the late descriptions. Dalmaho3\s and lied-bogs are 

 the chief croppers in the early varieties, Kegents and Kocks in 

 the late ones. Recently, Jiiiitoul Dons and Victorias have been 

 tried to some extent, while the old Orkney red, once so common, 

 has almost entirely been su})i)lanted, A wide opinion exists as 

 to the l)est kind of setts to use. Some advocate those cut from 

 large tubers ; others prefer medium-sized potatoes planted entire, 

 a small slice having previously been cut from the rose-end. Too 

 many eyes in the seed are guarded against as much as possible, 

 as they cause the haulms or shaws to be weak and the produce 



