Report on the Cultivation of Potatoes. 489 



<iown the ridge, destroys the small weeds, allows the potato to come through 

 ■a comparatively clean space of land ; run the horse-hoe through them as soon 

 as you can see the row, and they will require very little more cleaning than 

 horse-hoeing three or four times over during the summer. As soon as the tops are 

 sufficiently high, mould up with a Howard or Hornsby moulder, and again 

 subsoil with a 4-inch shave after moulding. Late-planted potatoes are most 

 decidedly more subject to blight than early-planted ones. jNIy idea is, get 

 your seed in as forward a state in the grave as the chit will allow to be 

 handled, plant them in dry well-inilverized soil, encourage their growth by 

 frequent hoeings (and not check their growth by moulding them up again 

 as soon as they appear, merely to kill the weeds, which some parties do). Com- 

 mence planting on the ivest side of the field : they will be up a week earlier 

 than if planted on the east side ; the setts lying on the warm sunny side of 

 the ridge. I have always found, the nearer maturity the crop has arrived 

 before the blight appears, the less the quantity of diseased ones when we take 

 them up. One little hint may be useful to some one. This season, having no 

 wheat straw thrashed, I covered a few graves over with oat straw, ventilating 

 in the usual way ; but they heated and were for the most part spoiled, whilst 

 those covered with wheat straw kept dry and sound. I omitted to state 

 another great advantage in early planting is, you get the first string chit after 

 planting, instead of the potato being weakened by growth and heat in the 

 grave." 



The alternative practice is thus described by Mr. R. Spencer, 

 of Brooklands, Birchanger, Bishop's Stortford : — 



" The potato crop generally follows either wheat, barley, or oats. And as 

 soon after harvest as convenient the land is ploughed np on the flat with one 

 of Howard's iron ploughs and four horses to the depth of 9 or 10 inches (the 

 deeper the better) ; it is then left until the spring, when it is put on ridges at 

 about 2 feet 9 inches apart by two horses, and the farmyard manure spread 

 in the furrows and artificial manure sown. It is now ready for planting. 



"After the potatoes are ploughed in, which is done by two horses, the 

 ridges are left for a fortnight or three weeks so as to let the small weeds grow: 

 they are then harrowed down as flat as possible without injuring the setts ; 

 are then horse-hoed between the rows, and either hand-lioed or weeded by 

 women, afterwards moulded up with two horses." 



With regard to preventive measures, Mr. Henry Green, of 

 High Causeway, March, Cambridgeshire, observes : — 



"I have found land deeply ploughed in the "autumn preceding the crop, 

 and after the winter frosts harrowed and rolled, and drawn up in ridges 

 with a plough and manured with farmyard manure, to bring better crops than 

 when ploughed just previous to planting. But I quite think, from twenty 

 years' experience on most of our land, the best time to plant potatoes to 

 avoid disease and wireworm and for yield is October, or if dry and open No- 

 vember will do." 



Mr. John King, of Broom, Biggleswade, also states : — 



" No better plan than manuring in the autumn, as the potatoes will grow 

 more steadily, will not grow so fast and will yield better, and not so liable to 

 take the disease, as they will grow more even. I have tried all the artificial 

 manures, and it tends more to increase the disease than to stop it, as it makes 

 the potato grow too fast ; if the disease comes on, it is sure to prove fatal loss." 



The evidence with regard to the pulling up or cutting off the 



