494 Report on the Cultivation of Potatoes. 



Mr. Hobson remarks, under the latter head : — 



" My experience is various. Cutting off tops certainly has lessened the 

 amount of disease ; but sometimes, if done too early, it has seriously diminished 

 the yield and injured the quality of the produce. On the other hand, if the 

 crop is tolerably well grown, I think it decidedly advisable, promptly to cut 

 off the tops. I have no proof for or against second-growth." 



The following note, with regaxxl to early or late harvesting, by 

 Mr. J. W. Robinson, of Wyberton, Boston, may be fitly added 

 as an illustration of the difficulty of obtaining positive evidence 

 of value as to the effect of any kind of practice upon the origin 

 or spread of the potato-disease. Mr. Robinson states : — 



" In some instances I have found it better to harvest later, as those potatoes 

 that are attacked early then return to mother earth, and leave only the 

 sound ones to be picked up. In other seasons (say very wet ones) the oppo- 

 site effect might be produced; the diseased ones would rot the few sound 

 ones, even in the ground. There are no two circumstances exactly alike. 

 What is right in one case may be perfectly wrong in another." 



VIII. — YOKKSHIRE. 



Five reports have been received from this county, four of 

 them being from growers in the celebrated marshland district in 

 the neighbourhood of Goole, frequently alluded to as " Howden- 

 shire." The soil is warp, of either natural or artificial formation, 

 and much of it is remarkable for its good quality and suit- 

 ability for potato-growing. The course of cropping pursued in 

 this district does not appear to be very well defined, but potatoes 

 are taken every second or third year, and sometimes two years 

 in succession. Mr. William Smith, of the Grange, Goole, 

 adopts a definite course, as follows : (1) potatoes ; (2) wheat ; 

 (3) beans, clover, or flax, and occasionally turnips or mangolds, 

 returning again to potatoes ; and this appears to be a kind of 

 standard rotation, though liable to considerable modifications. 

 Mr. W. Burton, of Eastoft Hall, Goole, adopts the following 

 rotation, extending over seven years, and including two courses 

 of potatoes : (1) clover (mown, and eddish eaten, sometimes 

 entirely grazed) ; (2) potatoes ; (3) wheat ; (4) beans, flax, or 

 turnips ; (5) potatoes ; (6) wheat ; (7) flax, oats, or barley, sown 

 out with clover. 



Mr. W. Burton thus describes his preparation of the land for 

 potatoes, under the varying circumstances which this rotation 

 entails : — 



" Manure clover, bean, flax, or wheat stubbles in September as soon as 

 possible after wheat-harvest, plough it in 4 or 5 inches deep. After some 

 time, say in November and December, plough 9 inches deep crosswise with 

 3 horses ; ridged or rowed crosswise, to the last ploughing early in spring, 

 a good depth with 3 horses, and left for the frost and weather to prepare. If 



