92 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



grape the size of a Delawai'e appear 

 the size of Rogers' 15. The Jessica is 

 very sweet, very early, very hardy, 

 and quite productive. I would not do 

 without a vine or so of Jessica for my 

 own use. This last season, when most 

 of the other varities were spoiled with 

 the early frost, we were very thankful 

 for the few Jessicas we had. There 

 have been wonderful improvements 

 made in grapes suitable for Canada, 

 and we have not got to the end yet. 

 Who would not grow gra])es now i 

 Yours respectfully, 



Allen Mover. 

 Jordan Station, Feb. 5, 1884. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH POTATOES. 



Mr. Editor,— A neighbor has been 

 making some experiments in the culti- 

 vation of potatoes which seems so likely 

 to be of interest to your readei-s that I 

 send you the following account. 



Last season he planted equal areas of 

 ground in close proximity, so that there 

 was no apparent difference in the quality 

 of the soil, with the Beauty of Hebron 

 potatoe, cut to sets of one to two eyes. 

 In one piece of ground he planted the 

 potatoes in hills, the rows three and a 

 half feet apart, and the hills the same 

 distance apart in the row, putting two 

 pieces in each hill ;in another he put three 

 pieces in each hill, and in another four; 

 observing in them all the same distance 

 between the rows and between the hills. 

 When the potatoes were ripe he had 

 them dug and carefully weighed, with 

 the following result, viz : 



The hills in the area planted with 



two sets produced 117 lbs. 



The hills in the area planted with 



three sets produced \'A2 11)S. 



The hills in the area planted with 



four sets produced 141 'i' lbs. 



As the hills planted with four sets pro- 

 duced considerably more small potatoes 

 than those planted with three, he con- 



siders that three sets is the preferable 

 number when planted in hills. 



Other like areas he planted in drills, 

 running the drills three and a half feet 

 apart, and placing the potato sets nine 

 to ten inches apart in the drill. One 

 of these areas he did not cultivate at 

 all, but as soon as planted covered it to 

 a depth of from four to six inches with 

 clippings from the lawn. Had straw 

 been at hand, he thinks mulching with 

 it would have answei'ed as well, if not 

 better. The other area he cidtivated 

 in the usual manner. When harvested 

 and weighed, he found that the portion 

 planted in drills and cultivated, pro- 

 duced 1 60 lbs. ; the portion in drills 

 uncultivated, but mulched, produced 

 156 lbs. 



This shows a much larger product 

 from drills than from hills ujion an 

 equal area of gi'ound, and but little less 

 from the di-ills that had been mulched 

 than from those that had been culti- 

 vated. The area that was mulched re- 

 quired no labor in cultivating, and less 

 laV)or in digging, for when the mulch 

 was forked off, most of the potatoes 

 were found on the surface of the soil. 

 My neighbor is of the opinion that for 

 those who have straw available for 

 mulching, this method will be found the 

 most advantageous, especially in a dry 

 season, while in such case the drills 

 might V)e placed two feet apart instead 

 of three and a half feet, there being no 

 cultivating to be done. 



This experiment seems to shew that 

 we get a much larger yield per acre by 

 gi'owing our potatoes in drills than by 

 planting them in hills, and that by 

 covering them after planting with a 

 mulch of straw to the depth of six 

 inches, the labor of cultivation will be 

 saved and that of digging largely 

 diminished, while the yield is no! suffi- 

 ciently less to counterbalance these ad- 

 vantages, where one has the material for 

 mulching conveniently at hand. B. 



