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II. — The Potato : its Culture, Production, and Disease. 

 By Jeffery Lang, M.D. 



Prize Essay. 



The culture of potatoes is so easily understood, and be the 

 manner what it may, so very productive, that it is rare indeed 

 to find any resident in the country who is not the proprietor 

 of a potato-patch. Farmers also have encouraged the habit, sup- 

 posing that the manure carried on the ground by the sub-tenant 

 was of greater value than the rent and labour which they gra- 

 tuitously provided. The ordinary method in this district was 

 for the farmer in the autumn to plough down the field, generally 

 an old ley ; in the spring he had it cut back, dragged once or 

 twice, and then left to the cultivator, who carried thereon 20 

 hogsheads of lime per acre, and all the other manure that he 

 could get together. He also engaged to keep the ground clean 

 and free from weeds, and to dig up and remove tlie crop before 

 the 1st of November then next ensuing. 



As each individual cultivator was thus left entirely free to 

 follow out his own ideas, it became a not infrequent thing to see 

 in one field very diverse methods of cultivation, yet all attended 

 with successful results. The first, because oldest method, was 

 that commonly called " Laz]/ hedsT The ground was marked 

 out in beds 3 feet wide, with an alley 2 feet wide between 

 them. The bed was dug and made light, the manure spread 

 on it. Then the potato- set was planted rather at random on the 

 bed, the manure drawn around tlie set, and then covered about 

 o inches in depth with the earth from the alleys. When the 

 plants were 2 or 3 inches high, the greater weeds were pulled 

 out and thrown on the bed, which was a second time covered 

 with earth from the alleys ; and often this process was again 

 repeated. Slovenly as this method undoubtedly is, it may still 

 be frequently seen, and is certainly very productive. 



The next method is the drill or single row. Herein, the 

 ground being got into good tilth, the manure is spread on the 

 surface of the soil ; and either with the spade or the plough the 

 potato-sets are planted singly in rows, at distances determined 

 by the caprice of the cultivator, but generally about 12 inches 

 from set to set in the row, with the rows irom lb to 30 inches 

 from each other. Soon a/ter the plants make their appearance 

 they are " dug between ;" when about 3 inches high they are 

 " hoed up," and soon after are " earthed up." This is a clean, 

 good system, and is very generally followed, but is the least 

 productive of any. Aow, we shall see by-and-by how the 

 potato is produced ; and it will be at once evident tliat it is the 



VOL. XIX. F 



