Report on the Cultivation of Potatoes. 491 



" This year I sliould not be surprised to see very little disease, owing to the 

 land being in such an excellently pulverized and mellowed condition and the 

 subsoil not supersaturated ; and should we now get a heavy fall of rain, it will 

 be better able to get away from the potatoes, and if heat succeeds will not be 

 so liable to produce such extremes. 



" Lastly, drainage is a very great question to be considered, not only with 

 heavy, but also with light soils, whei'e there is any probability of water con- 

 centrating in any particular part of a field and becoming stagnant under the 

 surface. It also assists in the time of drought as well as in the time of wet, 

 for owing to evaporation the moisture in the soil acts by capillary attraction, 

 and if the soil is well di'ained the attraction woidd go on in a more uniform 

 and regular manner. , 



" About the keeping of setts I have said nothing, not because it is of little 

 consequence, but because I believe every one is of the opinion that they 

 cannot be kept in too dry and protected a condition, so as to prevent any 

 weakening of the ti;ber by sprouting." 



VI. — Metkopolitan Counties. 



Under this heading I have placed three reports from Middlesex 

 and three from Kent, Surrey not being represented by even a 

 single correspondent. The rotations pursued on farms in the 

 neighbourhood of London and other large towns are frequently 

 variable ; and there is nothing in the replies from Metropolitan 

 growers under this head, or with regard to the general cultivation 

 of the potato-crop, that need be described at length in this report. 

 I shall therefore transcribe only some remarks that refer more 

 particularly to the potato-disease. 



Mr. Robert Cobb, of Higham, Rochester, who plants annually 

 fi'om 100 to 150 acres, observes : — 



" I have had the advantage of the opinion of Mr. Scott, of Wouldham, 

 Rochester, one of the most successful and enterprising potato-growers in Kent. 

 His opinion agrees with mine, that no land or sort of potato can claim im- 

 munity from the blight. The only way of lessening its ravages is to plant 

 on land having a natural drainage, to change the seed, to plant good setts, to 

 manure with well-matured dung, to cultivate deeply and as long as possible 

 before earthing, and to earth as deeply as practicable." 



He also states, that he has applied lime to the haulm after the 

 appearance of the disease, but without success. 



Mr. R. Lake, of Oakley, Higham, Rochester, observes : — 



" There is no doubt that on this description of land the disease is greatly 

 aggravated hy the application of strong nitrogenous manures. I endeavour to 

 grow large crojis, but suffer, I think, the more in consequence, especially in 

 , the sort of seasons described under the 16th head [viz. wet seasons, and those 

 in which thunderstorms have been most prevalent in Jiily and August]. In 

 the other cases I have seen no difference. Where lime or burnt ashes have 

 been applied in the rows at the time of planting, the disease has usually been 

 somewhat lessened." 



Contrary to the usual opinion with regard to the effect of 

 change of seed by purchase from Scotland, or elsewhere, and 



