76 THE POTATO. 



parts of Ireland, especially on damp soils. The soil is 

 marked off into beds 4 to 6ft. in width, and trenches 1 to 

 2ft. wide and 1 ft. deep are taken out on each side, the soil 

 being thrown on the top of the bed. The potatoes are then 

 planted on the surface, more soil being dug out to cover 

 them. When the shoots are six inches high, still further 

 soil is dug out of the trenches to earth them up. This 

 system is too laborious and expensive to adopt except in 

 wet districts. 



Distances for Planting: The distance apart at 

 which it is best to plant, of course, varies with circum- 

 stances. Very early light-cropping varieties to be dug 

 when very young may be planted in drills 20in. apart, with 

 the sets a foot apart. Medium early may be put 27in. 

 (the narrowest at which rnoulding-up can be done by the 

 plough), with sets 12-16in. apart. For heavy growing 

 maincrops 30in. ridges and sets 14-16in. is near enough; 

 and for very big-haul med potatoes 32in. is not too wide, 

 with sets 14 to 18in. apart. 



Ploug-hing-.in System. This consists of ploughing 

 the land and planting potatoes at the same time. It is, 

 however, not a commendable plan to adopt generally. The 

 furrows are formed in the ordinary way, and in every third 

 one the sets have to be planted by a number of hands. 

 When the fourth furrow is turned this covers the " sets." 

 The system is bad, because the tubers are laid up upon 

 the hard, smooth subsoil or " pan " formed by the pas- 

 sage of the plough, and the " set " has consequently 

 very poor encouragement in the way of friable soil 

 to put forth healthy roots and shoots. Where a dig- 

 ging plough is used in place of the ordinary plough there 

 is less objection. We regard this system as a rough and 

 ready one, only fit for adoption in the case of foul land 

 which it is desirous to clean by taking a haphazard crop of 

 potatoes from it. 



