432 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



power. Implements have been constructed for this purpose, but 

 have performed their work quite imperfectly, and have proved of 

 little if any advantage over the process of hand power digging. 



1 . Marketing. 



The subject of marketing the crop after it has been secured, is 

 one worthy of considerable thought. The questions how to mar- 

 ket, when to market, and where to market, must be carefully con- 

 sidered. Is it best to market in the fall, or keep till spring ? Shall 

 we sell here, or shall we consign them to the commission merchant? 

 How much advance should we receive on the fall price, if we keep 

 them over till spring ? Potatoes are selling to-day in this market 

 for sixty-two cents per bushel. How much should they bring next 

 spring and summer, in order that the holder meet with no loss in 

 the operation ? These are some of the questions which present 

 themselves for consideration under this head ; but I leave them 

 with only the mentioning, hoping others will take them up, and 

 discuss them in detail. 



8. Conclusion. 



The present practice of growing large quantities of potatoes for 

 export, which prevails to such an extent in some parts of our 

 State, is in a high degree objectionable, and is working deleteri- 

 ous results which only an improved system of agriculture, con- 

 ducted through a series of years, can efface. The practice fol- 

 lowed out year after year of throwing the principal energy— 

 nearly or quite all the manure-=-of the farm into the potato crop, 

 to be carried from the State, is exhausting many a productive 

 field, and reducing many a farm to a low state of cultivation. 

 The very fact that this product can be grown, nay, that it must be 

 grown, without high cultivation and heavy manuring, renders the 

 growing of it more objectionable than it would be if other con- 

 ditions were required. If the growing of the. potato required 

 liberal manuring and the best possible cultivation to secure fair 

 returns, the soil would be left in a better condition for succeeding 

 crops. Treated in any way, however, the potato is an exhausting 

 crop, and the laud is left in comparatively poor condition for suc- 

 ceeding crops, whatever they may be. Taking into consideration 

 the excessive draught which a succession of crops of so exhaust- 

 ing a nature makes upon the soil, and considering that the crop is 

 all removed and nothing from it returned to the soil, you must 

 see the force of the objections which I have enumerated. 



We know that non-producers must be supplied with potatoes, 



