482 Report on the Cultivation of Potatoes. 



notice statements that refer to different agricultural practices, or 

 that throw additional light on those already noticed. 



For instance, Mr. William Moreton, of Acton Hill, Weaver- 

 ham, Northwick, Cheshire, takes potatoes as a first crop after 

 ley. These are got up for the early market, and are succeeded 

 the same year by late turnips sown, or by earlier turnips or man- 

 golds transplanted. The second year the same course of cropping 

 is repeated, and the third year the land is sown with wheat, next 

 oats or barley sown out with seeds, which are boned and left 

 down for pasture from five to seven years. This system requires 

 a special preparation of the land when the ley is broken up for 

 potatoes, which is thus described by Mr. Moreton : — 



" In December or January we plough, butts four feet wide, a very light 

 fnrrow, about an inch and a half deep, six or eight furrows to the butt. We 

 spread the manure on the top of the furrows, and soil it under in February 

 or March." For tlie second-year potatoes (after turnips or mangolds) the land 

 is ploughed " in November or December six or eight inches deep ; then when in 

 suitable condition, in February or March, it is cultivated to a fine mould, ready 

 for either drills or butts, whichever way we think best to plant. In drills we 

 plough half the drill just to meet on the manure, make holes with a setting- 

 stick, and put in the setts ; then use the scarifier with a small Norwegian 

 harrow running behind ; then close up with the plough. In this way the 

 potatoes lie dry, and, as it were, are drained by the drills." 



The same divergence of practice as in Lancashire, with refer- 

 ence to quantities of farmyard and other manures applied to the 

 land, is noticeable in the reports from Cheshire. One grower 

 states that he uses from " 6 to 7 cwt. of salt per acre," which 

 substance Dr. Voelcker has proved by experiment to act prejudi- 

 cially on the potato-crop.* 



The quantity of seed planted per acre also varies very much ; 

 but the variation in this respect is doubtless due in some 

 measure to the fact that early potatoes for the Manchester and 

 Liverpool markets are largely grown in Cheshire. Under this 

 head, Mr. William Moreton, in conjunction with his neighbour 

 Mr. Hough, has sent the following account of the systematic 

 manner in which the sprouting of the setts for early planting is 

 carried on : — 



" Nearly all the potatoes planted here are sprouted from one to three inches 

 long before they are set. We have boxes, which we purchase at from (3d. to 8c?. 

 each, 2 feet 7 inches long by 1 foot 9 inches wide, and 3i inches deep, with a 

 small space cut in each end to allow the hand in, to carry them by. Each 

 corner is nailed to a piece of wood about Ij inch square, which projects 3 

 inches above the sides and 2 above the ends of the box. The ends are 

 stronger and deeper to allow for the hand-hole above the potatoes. Each box 

 will iiold half a bushel or more. 



" These boxes, when filled with seed to sprout, are put one upon the other 

 in tiers, upon our shippon lofts, or upon framework suspended irom the roof 

 or timbers of the building above the cattle. The breath and natural heat of 



* ' Joiu-nal Roy. Agric. See.,' 2nd series, Vol. vi., No. sii., pp. 392-415, passim. 



