AGRICULTURAL TEXT-BOOK. 215 



30 Ibs. wood ashes, 20 Ibs. common salt, 



15 Ibs. burnt bones, in fine powder, 30 Ibs. air-slacked lime, 



10 Ibs. plaster, (sn^pkale of lime,) 7 Ibs. nitrate of soda, (taltpetrc ) 



The whole to be intimately mixed. When planting, put into 

 every hole an ounce of the above, cover it with some earth, and 

 plant the tuber, or cutting above it. Habitually damp, undrain- 

 ed, adhesive clays SAOiild be avoided for this crop, while sands, 

 gravels, and loams, lying on a porous subsoil, may often be suc 

 cessfully tried, oven now. 



408. In Great Britain, the potato was considered as & fallow- 

 crop, and improved the land still more in consequence of being 

 liberally supplied with fresh animal manures; and the surface, 

 between the plants, being frequently plowed and hoed. Great 

 pains were taken in preparing the field, and it was left in fine 

 condition for wheat or other grains, which will not bear the di 

 rect application of dung. In our rotations, corn may take this 

 tubers place, especially if planted at distant intervals. In that 

 country it was and is usually grown in rows, the earth being 

 heaped up around the potato plant as it grew. In the United 

 States much less pains have generally been taken, and the hill 

 system is commonly followed ; 4 potatoes, or sets, being plant 

 ed close together in each hill. These hills are from three to 

 four feet apart,, and the interval is worked and kept clean with 

 the plow and hoe. Undoubtedly the largest crops per acre can 

 be raised on the English plan. When healthy, the time for 

 digging, is when the stalks and leaves have partially withered ; 

 or when the skin of a tuber, recently unearthed, cannot be rea 

 dily rubbed off with the hand. In Michigan, there is usually a 

 period in October of the two or three weeks, when the weather 

 is steadily fine, dry, and warm ; but is succeeded by rains and 

 frosts. This time, then, should be seized for the harvesting of 

 this crop. The Irish dig with a spade or shovel; the New En- 

 glanders with a fork ; or potato-hoe. The first, our experience 

 teaches us to bo the most rapid, and cleanest ; but the shovel, 



