POTATOES FOR 1849. 279 



tion avoided. This potato appears more susceptible of abuse 

 than any other ; and so well is this understood in districts where 

 the cottagers make considerable profits from tliem, that they will 

 by no means put their seed in pits, but lay them on dry floors or 

 put them under their beds : some put them in old tubs or boxes. 

 This potato can by no means endure fermentation, which it is 

 almost sure to encounter in pits. Does not this then ofter a hint 

 that fermentation may have been one fruitful cause of the pre- 

 sent disease ? Tliis kidney, on account of its precocious cha- 

 racter, must not be kept in a very damp situation for seed pur- 

 poses, it being liable to sprout with the least excitement, and if 

 the first sprouting is destroyed, it is no longer worth planting: 

 it is almost sure to breed abortion at the root, without pro- 

 ducing sound stems. This, then, is one kind of potato of which 

 I would advise a much increased breadth in the ensuing spring ; 

 and to that end seed should be secured immediately, and pre- 

 served on the above principles. Their keeping properties are 

 very considerable : they will be fit for use until March, if pro- 

 perly managed. 



The early Kents, so much cultivated in most parts of Lanca- 

 shire, would also be very eligible under existing circumstances ; 

 and there are many second earlies, some possessing the recom- 

 mendation of a pink eye, indicating keeping properties, which 

 should be entered largely into. A kind known extensively in 

 Cheshire as the blue farmers (probably a cross between some of 

 the old Oxnoble or cattle potatoes and the old blacks) has with- 

 stood the disease perhaps better than any kind : this might be 

 also much cultivated. "Wliatever kinds are used, three points 

 are absolutely necessary : viz. early planting, not later tlian the 

 middle of March ; early taking up — that is to say the moment 

 the disease blotch appears on the leaf, for immaturity is better 

 than disease; and, lastly, an avoidance of fermentation. And 

 this brings me to the point I would suggest as to pitting. 



In the first place, I would build all the pits or stores above 

 the ground-level, rather on an elevation : no water may be per- 

 mitted to stand by them. In the second place, I would both 

 strew the ordinary soil all through them, and also form a core 

 entirely of soil down the centre of the pit. This will entirely 

 prevent fermentation, and is precisely the plan I adopted last 

 year with my outdoor mushroom-beds, and for the same reasons. 

 These beds very often fail through the high fermentation of the 

 manure; but the mixing one part of soil to two of manure, and 

 introducing the core down the middle, entirely prevents great 

 heat. Indeed, our beds were never above 90° (which should, if 

 possible, be the maximum), and the success was so complete that 

 we were not a day without mushrooms from the end of October 



