THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



503 



A SACK OF POTATOES. 



[translated from the "journal d'agriculture pratique."] 



I am indebted to the liberality of M. Decaisne for 

 some bulbs of the Chinese Yam, with instructions how 

 to cultivate it. I have observed that they prepare for 

 the purpose a bed of half-earth and half-dung, and that 

 it is by an enormous quantity of manure that such 

 extraordinary results are obtained in China, by which 

 an individual may subsist a whole year on the produce 

 of ten metres (about eleven yards English). 



I formed a bed of ten square metres, and dressed it 

 with stable-dung. Now, we know that the Chinese 

 have very few cattle ; but, in compensation, plenty of 

 night-soil, numerous canals which they scour out, and a 

 considerable quantity of aquatic plants. The composts 

 which they obtain from these do not possess the strength 

 of our manure. I therefore reduced my quantity of 

 dung to half a cubic metre for my ten metres of surface, 

 equivalent in value to 4,000 fr. worth of dung per hec- 

 tare instead of from 12,000 to 16,000 fr. which it would 

 have required had I literally followed the instructions 

 of M. Decaisne. 



Whilst making these arrangements, I reflected that 

 this feature in Chinese agriculture was not an isolated 

 case, but that it was the ordinary mode of cultivation, 

 and went to explain the existence of those exuberant 

 populations, condensed on many points of the vast 

 empire. Following up this idea, 1 prepared, with the 

 same dose of manure, ten square metres for beet root, 

 ten ditto for batatas, and ten ditto for potatoes ; and it 

 is of this comparative experiment that I am now about 

 to give you the results. For each of the plots of ground 

 I have expended about 4 fr. 50 c. 



The yams produced eight kilogrammes of roots, long 

 and slender, and requiring deep digging to raise them. 

 It is to be hoped that by planting roots more developed 

 by leaving the tubers to grow bigger in the earth a 

 second year, better products might be obtained ; for these 

 would be worthless, and evidently involve a loss, except 

 at an extravagant price, which we could not expect to 

 obtain. As to the deep tillage required to obtain the 

 root, I do not regard that as an unnecessary or useless 

 expense, having seen the great value our lands have 

 acquired by the cultivation of madder, their greater per- 

 viousness and their more uniform freshness, whilst the 

 trenching required for the yam culture would be still 

 more beneficial. We must not forget that in agriculture 

 we may reckon ourselves rich according to the depth, 

 as well as the surface, of the soil ; that to double the 

 product without increasing the extent is more than to 

 be twice rich ; and that the proper appreciation of a 

 field will be the cube of its vegetable bed, instead of the 

 measure of its superficies, adapting at the same time the 

 cultivation to the existing circumstances. So far as the 

 yam is concerned, it is an experiment requiring to be 

 repeated ; but the plant itself is an acquisition ; for if the 

 batata takes the place of the chestnut, the yam is a 



substitute for the sweet almond, and may from this 

 time be employed in the confection of the choicest dishes. 



The beet roots produced 150 kilogrammes of roots, 

 worth three francs, according to the price of hay, which 

 also left a loss on the cultivation. 



The batatas yielded 45 kilogrammes of tubers, which 

 were sold in the market for nine francs, which doubled 

 the outlay. But it is necessary to state that the price 

 of all esculents has doubled this year (1857), and that 

 the average value will be little more than five francs : 

 thus, in ordinary years, the batata may cover all the ex- 

 pense. I ought, however, to state in its favour, that 

 my soil is a gravelly one, so that the roots did not fully 

 develop themselves. A similar experiment made ia 

 Camargue, by M, de Daunaut, on one of those soils 

 which Arthur Young has denominated a rich loam, 

 yielded double the weight of roots that I obtained. 



I may here offer some reflections on this culture, 

 which twenty years of perseverance have extended around 

 me. This root at the commencement created only dis- 

 gust ; there is nothing surprising in this, for it is the 

 history of high-flavoured meats, oysters, truffles, even 

 wine, beer, and everything that is excellent. The first 

 instinct repels the novelty ; very young children are the 

 first to accustom themselves to it, and from the earliest 

 age learn to distinguish a batata from a potato, the 

 former of which they soon esteem as a dainty. Step 

 by step, as the generation advances, the taste for it is 

 extended. Now many peasants cultivate it ; and one of 

 them said to me — " Ah, sir ! what a service your batatas 

 have done me; my children will eat nothing but 

 them. They have saved me many sacks of wheat." 

 He had grown them on a rising ground (eminee) of only 

 about 600 metres. It is, above all, in the form of pea- 

 soup, with milk for seasoning, that the batata is best 

 appropriated as food. It thus advantageously and eco- 

 nomically supplants the chesnut-soup, which constitutes 

 the basis of nourishment in the Haute Covennes, 



Whilst the batata was extolled only by some 

 amateurs or gentlemen — who are always suspected, 

 whatever reason they may have on their side — there was 

 little probability that its cultivation would be extended. 

 Fashions come from the upper classes, and are transi- 

 tory ; customs originate with the masses, become gene- 

 ral, and are continued. Gros Jean with his pickaxe 

 has more authority than a whole academy. 



One great obstacle to the extension of this culture 

 was the difficulty of preserving the roots. It was thought 

 necessary to put them into millet or bran, or pulver- 

 ized charcoal ; but I found river sand, well dried, and a 

 spot well sheltered from frost and rain, were sufficient 

 for their preservation. Our peasants have also employed 

 glazed frames for raising the young plants, or by sink- 

 ing panniers or boxes of earth filled with roots in their 

 dung-heaps ; where they throw out shoots, which are 



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