6 On the Culture of Pctatces and the Caufe of Curl [Feb. 



You fome where juftly obferve, that agriculture is the moft 

 extendve of all manu failures, and the molt important of all fci- 

 ences. It is from this fource alone that the King to the meanell 

 beggar are iupported in exiftence. When it Hourilhes and prof- 

 pers, the moft heartfelt joy is difFufed through all ranks ; and 

 our late experience has convinced every one what gloom and 

 confufion ariftfs whenever it fails. 



But this noble, this princely fcience is only yet in its infancy. 

 Much, no doubt, hath been done within thefe thirty years, but 

 much yet remains to be done before the happy plains of Britain 

 attain to that verdure and cultivation of which they are capable. 

 If you a£l from the generous principle contained in the motto 

 prefixed to this paper, which I am convinced you do, you will 

 thmk even a trifle not below your notice, if it contributes any 

 thing to the general good. I fend you (literally) a trifle. It 

 you think it is of any confequencc, you are at liberty to pubhfu 

 it ; if not, you may conflgn it to the flames, or do with it what 

 you pleafe. 

 _I find that, almofl in every Number of your Magazine, the 

 fubjecSt of potatoes occupies the attention of many of your cor- 

 rcfpondents. And there is not certainly any one part of agri- 

 culture more entitled to attention than this. People, like me, 

 who are advanced in life, and who can remember the time when 

 even the principal farmers did not plant more than a few pecksj^ 

 muil have obferved, that the great plenty now enjoyed, efpecial- 

 ]y by the lower orders of fociety, is more to be afcribed to the 

 extcnfive and fuccefstul cultivation of this efculent than to any 

 other caufe. In a national point of view, therefore, it is of the 

 higheft importance ; and fo far as it extends, I am perfuaded 

 that few crops will more compleatly recompence the labours of 

 the hufbandman. The quantity of food that may be produced 

 for the iubliftcnce of mankind, and the money that m.ay come 

 into the farmer's pocket from an acre of well-cultivated potatoes 

 will, I believe, be allowed to equal, if not very much to exceed, 

 that of any other crop. I have frequently had forty bolls of 

 good potatoes, at eight Winchefler bulhels to the boll, frona an 

 acre. The mode of culture is now pretty generally known. 

 Drilling and horfe- hoeing, when the ground is fufiiciently dry 

 to admit of it, is, I prelume, generally pra<Sl:ifed. But the ap- 

 plication of this uleful vegetable, to all tlie purpofes to which it 

 is adapted, is not yet fo univerfally attended to as it deferves. 



it is comparatively but of late years that potatoes have been 

 ufedj in a raw ftate, for the feeding and rearing of horfes and 

 cattle, and they are not yet carried to the extent that they might 

 be, oiherwiie we Ihould not have heard any complaints of the want 

 of cocfumpt of lait year's abundant crop. If ought to be known, 



tbac 



