COU^ITIES OF ELGIN AKD NAIKN. 99 



conditions. Except to farmers in close proximity to a railway 

 station, potato farming has not been very profitable for a 

 number of years. In 1740 the potato was introduced into this 

 part of the country, and was then regarded only as a luxury. 

 The esculent was cultivated with care in the most favoured 

 situations of the garden, and served along with fruit at the 

 table of the opulent as a vegetable of the greatest delicacy. 

 Now, potatoes form a large portion of the food of the poorest 

 classes. In the upper divisions, and, in fact, on a number of 

 farms in the lower sections of these counties, potatoes are grown 

 only in such quantities as are required for home consumption. 

 The best yield is not always obtained from the best land, but, 

 on the contrary, it sometimes happens that the heaviest crop is 

 grown in light soil. This is regulated to a large extent by the 

 season. On farms where a great quantity of potatoes is 

 grown, the planting and lifting operations entail great labour. 

 They are usually planted from the middle of March till about 

 the third week of April, from 10 to 13 cwt. of seed being 

 allowed to each acre. Potatoes receive similar treatment to 

 swedes, being liberally stimulated by both farm-yard and 

 artificial manures. Not a few farmers spread the farm-yard 

 manure over the stubble-ground, and plough it down in the 

 autumn, but in the majority of cases the dung is driven straight 

 from the court and spread along the drills in spring. Potatoes 

 are grown after oats and lea. When they are grown after lea, 

 less dung is applied than when planted after oats. In some 

 cases dung alone is given, and in exceptional instances the crop 

 is laid down solely with artificial manure. Disease sometimes 

 plays great havoc with this crop, and on the large farms, in 

 potato-growing districts, a considerable loss is sometimes 

 sustained. When prices are good and the demand fair, the 

 potato crop is one of the most speculative of all the farm crops 

 grown in these counties. The average yield over both counties 

 runs from '3 to 6 tons per acre, and the lowest profitable selling 

 rate is about £3 per ton. The price, however, has been much 

 under this for a few years. At present, for instance, a ton of 

 good potatoes could be purchased at from £1 to £1, 10s. For 

 some time past there has been great stagnation in the potato 

 trade, and consequently there is no profitable outlet for the 

 abundant crop of 1881. The varieties most extensively culti- 

 vated are Kegents, Victorias, Cliampious, and Blues. The crop 

 of 1882 is universally good in these counties, both in respect of 

 quantity and quality, but disease has broken out, unfortunately, 

 in some parts. When potatoes are unusually cheap, as they 

 have been for the past year, many farmers use them as food for 

 cattle and horses. As potato-growing counties, Morayshire 

 ranks sixteenth, and Nairnshire thirty-first, in Scotland. 



