ROOT CROPS. 73 



C. Kilburn, of Lunenburg, was sixty-four and one-third bushels 

 to one-fourth acre, as estimated from the square rod selected ; 

 the whole cost of cultivation, seventeen dollars. 



The product from Mr. E. Bird's field, of Leominster, was 

 seventy-four and two-thirds bushels ; whole cost of cultivation, 

 twenty-two dollars. And that of Mr. H. Harris, of North Ash- 

 burnham, one hundred seven and two-thirds bushels; cost of 

 cultivation, forty-five dollars. 



As it respects the cultivation of this very useful and profitable 

 root, many experiments have been made and various sugges- 

 tions offered. The experiment made by a member of the Com- 

 mittee is to seed with whole potatoes instead of cuttings, and 

 the result was a large per cent, above those that were cut — rows 

 standing side by side in the same field. Another member has 

 also tried the experiment — only, however, to a limited extent — 

 by cutting off the " seed end," or the part having the greater 

 number of eyes, and planting the other section — that is, the 

 smooth part — and found these potatoes superior both in quantity 

 and quality, the cultivation being the same. Doubless the best 

 flavored potatoes are grown upon " old pasture land," or lands 

 that have never been cultivated, using a light dressing of plaster. 

 The climate, also, has much to do with the potato crop. Prob- 

 ably the potatoes grown in the north of Ireland are superior in 

 quality to those in any other quarter of the world, while the 

 same crop, cultivated in France and Spain, is very insipid. The 

 northern counties of Scotland, it is said, produce this crop to 

 much greater perfection than in the south of England and 

 Wales. So, also, those grown in Maine, New Hampshire and 

 Vermont are preferred to those cultivated as far south as forty 

 degrees north latitude, or in Massachusetts, even ; all of which 

 may be attributed to the different degrees of climate. Hence 

 the location best adapted to this plant is between forty-five and 

 fifty-five degrees north latitude. 



In "Worcester County the soil that produces the greatest 

 return is on " meadow land reclaimed." We are informed that 

 very extensive fields have been grown in Worcester North the 

 past year on soils of this character, producing at the rate of four 

 hundred bushels per acre. It is pretty generally conceded that 

 this soil does not produce a crop equal in flavor to many others, 

 yet the quantity is much greater. 



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