Cultivation of Early Potatoes. 101 



contended that all the strength of the plant should be thrown 

 into perfecting the tuber, and not be spent in the opposite 

 extreme. However this may be, it is certain that a plant when 

 it has once shown a tendency to flower is not so early in per- 

 fecting its tubers, and that the seed set from such a plant will 

 shortly produce tubers irregular in shape and deform.ed by little 

 knobs and excrescences. The more forward, the earlier, the 

 sooner it is ready to be taken up for use, the higher price it will 

 command ; and the more perfect and equal in shape, the more 

 valuable, because there is less waste in preparing it for table. 

 And here we must beg to correct a misstatement. It has been 

 frequently remarked that potatoes are not good to eat until winter 

 ones come in ; and generally speaking there is a good deal of 

 truth in the remark. In many counties we could name, what is 

 thei'e called a new potato is one of the worst and most unwhole- 

 some of vegetables. " How can you like new potatoes ? " we have 

 been asked, with a look of surprise expressive of commiseration ; 

 " they are such heavy, waxy, indigestible things ;" and so they 

 are. 



It may seem a vain boast, and we may be laying ourselves 

 open to the charge of prejudice, but this we can truly say, that we 

 never ate a new potato equal to or to be compared in excellence 

 to those cultivated in this district and its vicinity. There is 

 almost as great a difference between other new potatoes and the 

 Morecombe ones as between chalk and cheese. Light and 

 digestible, they form a dish fit for an epicure ; not heavy, livery 

 balls, which you see continually sent up to table in the summer 

 season, but light and flowery, the delicate skin cracked and 

 bursting. Such has been the demand for this favourite esculent 

 that the markets of Leeds, Bradford, and many other large towns 

 in Yorkshire, have been supplied from this district. Before the 

 opening of the North-Western Railway and its connexion with 

 the Midland, new potatoes were sent to Covent Garden market 

 from hence, where they met in competition produce sent from 

 Cornwall. But latterly markets have been opened nearer home, 

 and large quantities are daily forwarded during the season to 

 Derby, Sheffield, Birmingham, Leicester, and Cheltenham. 

 Hundreds of tons are thus weekly despatched, and the demand 

 continues to increase. 



The rent of land is, as may be supposed, proportionably high. 

 Some is let at the rate of IG/. per statute acre. We have in our 

 mind's eye a field, broken up last winter, now let at 3^. hd. per 

 rod of 49 yards. 



A good crop will yield 10 score lbs. per rod, which, at 1^. 6f?. 

 per score, would amount to 15^. per rod, or about 70/. per acre 

 in round numbers. 



