Cultivation of Arable Land. Potatoes. Sets proper for. &amp;lt;)&amp;lt;? 



tors, it is probably liable to moft of the inconveniences that attend the fetting 

 of (hoots. 



Good crops are, however, alTerted to have been obtained in this way by dif 

 ferent cultivators, in particular defcriptions of foil ; but others of equal credit 

 allure us, that it is but in very few infhmces, as where the foil is peculiarly 

 adapted to potatoe crops, that fets of this kind fucceed in any tolerable manner. 

 It was found by an intelligent agricultor, in making an experiment withfcooped 

 fets, and fuch as were prepared by cutting with a knife, in the ordinary way, from 

 potatoes of the fame kind, that on nine of the beft- looking fets of each, kind be 

 ing planted on the fame land, in alternate drills, the cuttings came up and pro 

 ceeded in their growth without fuftaining tha lead injury; while the fcooped 

 fets, though they grew, continued in a perfectly dwarfifh ftate when compared 

 \viththem. And on being taken up and preferved in feparate bafkets for about 

 a month, and then weighed, the produce of the former afforded by much the 

 greateft weight; the cut fets giving one ftone and half a tron, while the fcooped 

 ones yielded only three quarters of a ftone, the fmall fractions not being noticed. 

 And in another trial, where one peck was cut with the knife, and the fame quan 

 tity prepared by the fcoop, and fet in the fame field, there was no perceptible 

 difference in the growth of the crops while upon the ground ; but, on taking them 

 up, the difference of the produce in meafure was a peck and a half in favour of the 

 cut fets.* 



It was, however, found on planting cut and differently fcooped fets alter 

 nate^ on a light earthy foil, in the drill manner, at the diftance of twenty- 

 four inches between the rows, the fcooped fets being prepared to three-fourths 

 and feven-eighths of an inch, and the after-culture performed in the fame way in 

 each ; that on taking up the different drills, and meafuring them feparately, the 

 quantity of produce was nearly equal in every cafe. Hence it is concluded, 

 that &quot; fcooped feed, and even the fmalleft of the fcooped feed, produce equal to 

 large ones, or thofe cut in the ordinary way.&quot;f Similar fuccefs feems likewife 

 to have attended the planting of fcooped feed under the direction of Mr. Ford, 

 in Suffolk. | However, though fuch forts of fets may occafionally, under favour- 

 able circumftances of foil and fituation, afford full crops, it is probably a me 

 thod of pradice that mould feldom be had recourfe to but in cafes where there 

 is a difficulty of procuring a proper fupply of other kinds of feed. 



On the whole, though there is reafon to fuppofe, from the various experi 

 ments that have been made on the nature of the feed, or fets of potatoes, that: 



* Farmer s Magazine, vol. III. p. 103. + Ibi I 



J Commercial and Agricultural Magazine, vol. III. 



O 2 



