Cultivation of the Potatoe. 13 



the halves will be found sufficient, provided, however, that 

 they are set rather closely in the rows. 



6. It is not advisable to cut a potatoe into more than two 

 pieces. 



7. It is better to set the tubers, one by one, and close to- 

 gether, than to put a number of them into tl^e ground togeth- 

 er, particularly when all the labor is performed with the- 

 plough, and no cultivation is given with the hand-hoe. 



8. It is not advisable to plant mere buds ; they often fail.* 

 I give these principles as being in accordance with my 



own experiments made on the large scale, with the exception, 

 however, of the first. It does appear, from actual experi- 

 ment, that the quantity of produce is in proportion to that of 

 the potatoes put into the ground. The author deduces a 

 result by dividing his plantation into two parts. In one of 

 these he places the trial in which the quantity set amounted 

 to more than 1,254; and in the other, those in which this 

 quantity was less. In the former the net produce of each 

 row was 16.81 ; in the latter, only 15.41. These two results 

 are in the proportion of 1000 to 917. The loss in the latter 

 is, therefore, 8J per cent., but the difference in the relative 

 quantity of the sets is much greater. Then, again, among 

 the trials included in the latter division, there are several 

 which ought not to be included in the comparison : where, 

 for example, the set consisted of mere eyes, or handfuls of 

 very small scattered shoots, all of which gave but a very 

 insignificant product. If we take into account those trials 

 only in which good potatoes, or cuttings of them, were set at 

 intervals of 1, 2, 3 and 4 decimetres,f it will be found that 

 the difference is very small, not exceeding two and a half 

 per cent. 



* German Agricultural Gazette, 

 t A French measure of about three and a half inches. 

 2 



