[51] 



On the culture of Potatoes. By Isaac C. Jones, 



Rockland Place, 6tk Mo. f June J 19, 1820. 



Gentlemen, 



Any discovery made, substituting a substance m 

 the place of barn yard or stable manure, that will operate 

 equally well in promoting the growth of a valuable escu- 

 lent for the table, at a much cheaper rate than said ma- 

 nure, I am of the opinion ought to be generally known, 

 and, therefore, I have been induced to state the result of 

 an experiment I made last year in the culture of potatoes: 

 substituting rye straw, in the dry state, on a part of them 

 in the place of stable manure. 



The seed potatoes were first dropped or placed in the 

 furrows, the usual distance apart, say ten to eleven inches; 

 a moderate quantity of straw then spread immediately on 

 them ; after which, the potatoes and straw were covered 

 with the soil, by means of the plough, in a similar man- 

 ner to those planted with the stable manure, and their 

 treatment the same during the season. The strawed and 

 manured potatoes were both planted on the 19th of the 

 Fifth month, (May) and on the 21st of the Tenth month, 

 (October) following, I had the produce taken from the 

 ground ; and as the season throughout had been remark- 

 ably dry, as is well known, I was surprised to find (pre- 

 suming that a wet season would have best suited the dry 

 straw) that my straw potatoes were quite equal in quan- 

 tity, quality and size, to those on which I had been liberal 

 in the application of stable manure. The nature of the 

 soil on which these potatoes grew, is about the medium 



