170 PROCEEDINGS OE THE 



of Ancud in Chiloe as 52 inches. The varieties grown there thrive 

 with rain, and suffer from the want of it. Seed taken from Chiloe" 

 ought to suit Ireland and the West of Scotland and England. 



"The following is the mode of cultivation in the 'chacra, 5 or large 

 kitchen garden: — The plot of ground selected for potatoes is sown 

 with barley in March or April as soon as the previous crop has been 

 harvested. The barley grows till August, when it is in the ear. 

 The ears are then cut off and sold for feeding horses, cows, or pigs. 

 The long green stubble is ploughed or dug into the ground, where 

 it soon rots, and serves as manure. In October the ground is 

 prepared for planting. The seed is planted at a depth of from 

 8 to 10 inches below the surface in rows one 'vara' apart (33 

 inches). However, the seeds are not put in singly, but in groups 

 of four, and the distance between the groups is also one 'vara.' 

 Some people put four small potatoes in each group, but the newer 

 improved method is to put in four sets of one eye each, cut 

 from the one or two principal eyes of large potatoes. If there are 

 any small eyes in the sets they are destroyed to prevent them from 

 growing. After the plants are well through the ground they are 

 dug all round and the ground thoroughly loosened. Some time after 

 the earth is hoed up about them into round piles like big mole-hills, 

 and when further grown they get another hoeing up. I am assured 

 that immense crops are procured by this method — as much as 18 

 tons per English acre — mostly of large potatoes. The rotation in 

 chacras includes maize, French beans, pumpkins, &c. I do not 

 know the order, but have been told several times that you always 

 get a good crop of potatoes after French beans (frijoles). 



"As regards the varieties cultivated in the country, some are 

 adapted for early consumption, others for keeping through the 

 winter. I have heard a good deal about 'Papas Reynas.' The 

 potato-men cry them in the streets of Valparaiso. They are fine 

 dry, mealy potatoes, and really the best in Chile, but do not keep 

 well during the winter. They become soft and black. The 

 'Borrajilla,' a dun potato, keeps well. I see by the Blue-Book on the 

 potato crop that Peruvian guano has been blamed for producing the 

 disease, or for carrying it to Europe, and it is well to remember that 

 though guano exists in Chile little or none is used. The soil is composed 

 of disintegrated granite, the torrents descend from the mountains 

 loaded with earthy matter, and where irrigation is practised the 

 water deposits part of this in the fields, so that,. the. soil is being 



