14 Cultivation of the Potatoe. 



I am willing to admit the existence of this difference, and 

 even of one of five per cent., if the potatoes are -set in one 

 part of the rows, at eight inches, and in another at twenty- 

 four inches distance ; so that the quantity of sets used for the 

 former shall be three times as great as that used for the lat- 

 ter. The quantity obtained from the half in which the pota- 

 toes are at the greatest distance apart, will not amount to 

 more than ninety-five bushels beyond that of the sets, while 

 the produce of the other half will amount to one hundred 

 bushels. 



On the other hand the practice of setting at greater distan- 

 ces is attended with the following advantages, in field culti- 

 vation. 



1. Potatoes, especially those fit for setting, bring a much 

 higher price in spring than in autumn, which is the time for 

 gathering ; the keeping of them occasions both trouble and 

 risk, and there is always a portion spoiled. 



2. Setting at greater distances occasions saving of manual 

 labor. 



3. When the plantations are laid out in rows in all direc- 

 tions, and the distances between the rows are wide enough to 

 allow the plough to pass crosswise, almost all the manual 

 labor which would otherwise be required to weed the spaces 

 will be saved. 



4. These ploughings are much more efficacious in cleans- 

 ing, pulverizing and aerating the land, than they would be if 

 performed in one direction only, so that the object of follow- 

 ing one of the principal ends of the culture of weeded crops, 

 is completely attained. We say nothing about the effect pro- 

 duced on the potatoes themselves, by cultivation on all sides, 

 since we have admitted, for argument's sake, that those which 

 are cultivated on one side only, yield the greatest increase. 



5. The gathering of potatoes is performed with far greater 

 facility and despatch when they are grown on separate hil- 



