98 STATISTICAL SURVEY 



Another mode of culture, -which I may call the 

 '.mixed mode, is an improvement upon the former ; the 

 ground is prepared as for drilled potatoes, by previous 

 ploughings and harrowings j but the dung is fpread, 

 and the potatoes covered, as in the lazy-bed way, with 

 fpade and fhovel j the produce is little if at all inferior 

 to the drill culture ; a neighbour of mine at my requefl 

 kept a regular account of the produce of one and a 

 half acre of ground, cultivated in this and the drill- 

 way , very little difference was found, but that diffe- 

 rence was favourable to the beds or ridges. 



I /hall now give in Mr. Chrifty's own words the 

 moft approved method of cultivating potatoes in the 

 horfe-hoeing way : << The land defigned for this crop 

 is ploughed before winter, and remains in that ftate 

 until the fpring corn and flax are fown ; it is then har- 

 rowed well, crofs ploughed and harrowed again ; and 

 the root weeds, if any there are, carefully gathered off 

 with a clofe weeding harrow each time. When the 

 land is thus made fine, it is laid out in fhallow drills at 

 three feet diftance, by the double mold-board plough, 

 which effects it at one furrow. I call the drills lhal-* 

 low, becaufe I make them much more fo than any 

 other perfon I know of, from a perfuafion that the 

 potatoe thrives better by being -planted on the good 

 foil, where it lies dry, and receives the benefit of the 

 fun and atmofphere, than it does in a lower and confe- 

 quently colder fituation, When the drilling plough 



has 



