HOW TO RAISE POTATOES. 127 



life, of any consequence. Now, year before last, at Bradford 

 Academy, which is on a hill (it is moist land, very different 

 from my land), they had, on the back of the hill, a poor crop 

 of potatoes, and of miserable quality. This year, using the 

 same manure, which was spread on from the pig-yard, they 

 had a large crop of potatoes of most excellent quality. 

 Neither the scab nor anything else affected them. The men 

 there told me, within a few days, that they had never had 

 better potatoes upon their table than grew upon that land. 

 The laud itself is not of a character to produce a good crop 

 of potatoes ; it is very moist land ; it has been under cultiva- 

 tion certainly seven or eight years, and was dressed simply 

 with this pig manure, with some coarse soil mixed with it. 



I think, therefore, that there is something else besides 

 manures ; there is something else besides angle-worms ; and 

 somethino; else besides cut-worms, that enters into the con- 

 ditions which affect potatoes. I ought to say here that the 

 seed used in my own ground was the Early Rose. The seed 

 of last year, which gave an excellent crop, the seed of the 

 year before when I got a poor crop, and the seed of this year 

 from which I got the scabby potatoes, was the same, with the 

 exception of three bushels which came from the State of 

 Maine, — fine Early Rose potatoes, planted side by side, and 

 I could see no difference. 



Now, r am satisfied of one thing, which has not been 

 alluded to here ; and that is, that a sufficiency of rain coming 

 at the right time to produce the proper setting of the potatoes 

 and the proper growth, until they get to a certain stage, is 

 more important than anything else that has been named here 

 this afternoon. I have watched it for a great many years, 

 and I have got so that I think I can predict the quality of the 

 crop by the amount of moisture at the time that the potatoes 

 are not only setting, but growing. I think that has a vast 

 deal to do with it. 



Mr. Bartlett, of Kingston, N. H. I have watched very 

 closely, and very few have mentioned how they apply their 

 manure, — whether barn-yard mainire or other fertilizers. 

 What little experience I have had in farming has brought me 

 so far as this : that in order to get potatoes, the soil should be 

 about right, and that, I claim, should be good corn soil, which 



