263 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Cli. XXII. 



Distinct sorts are also not unfrequently known to different persons under 

 the same denomination *. Even experienced practical men generally 

 satisfy themselves with ascertaining the properties of the root, without 

 inquiry regarding the haulm, the blossom, the time and depth of planting, 

 the soil in which it has been reared, and other "peculiarities which merit 

 accurate discrimination as tending to establish the species best calculated 

 for particular soils, and the neglect of which has, in many instances, been 

 attended with serious loss. 



The potato will grow upon almost any kind of soil, provided it be not 

 too wet and clayey ; but light, dry, and friable loams, or sands of tolerable 

 consistence, are the most appropriate. Reclaimed bogs and peat land, 

 when well drained, produce large crops ; and some of the finest qualities 

 are grown on alluvial soils, and in the warped land in the neighbourhood 

 of the Humbert. Grubbed wood-land is also favourable to its growth, 

 and the planting of potatoes will probably be found the most profitable 

 mode of bringing it into immediate cultivation ; indeed, as much as 560 

 bushels per acre have been thus obtained, but the land was manured with 

 twenty waggon-loads of dung i. A sward, or first ley, is, however, the 

 most desirable ; and it is for this purpose the common mode of breaking 

 up grass-land in Ireland, where it is frequently let to the ])easantry at 

 extravagant rents, in what are there termed " Con-acres §," and yields 

 crops of superior quality. The climate, indeed, is there more genial to the 

 growth of esculents than that of England, and the soil is generally so 

 much richer, that in no other country has the culture of the potato been 

 carried to such perfection. 



The produce of four eyes cut from the cluster species, and planted in four 

 different kinds of soil, was — 



On a strong rich loam . . 34 lbs. 



light rich loam . . . 29 , , 



a good gravel . . ^9 ; j 



sandy soil . . . 15 ,,1] 



But, although some idea may be thus formed of the probable produce, yet 

 no definitive conclusion can be drawn from this experiment regardinjx the 

 crops to be obtained from the land, for other sorts might have been better 

 adapted to the soils ; they must be all heavily manured, and good sands are 

 especially favourable to the growth of the larger roots. 



Various opinions are entertained regarding the effects of the crop upon 

 the land, some farmers asserting that it is a great impoverisher of the soil, 

 hurtful to the future crops of corn, and ruinous to grass, and in many 

 leases the cultivation has been restricted. Others, however, contend that 

 it is friendly to corn, and not injurious to grass % ; observations have also 

 been made on the continent tending to prove that it is not exhausting, and 

 others of a nature totally opposite**. On this, Jiowever, we must observe, 



* See Scot's Farmer, vol. i. p. 329, orig. 4to, Rep. of W. Lothian, p. 26 ; E. Lothian, 

 p. 81 ; Perth, p. 40. Dickson's Surv. of Lancashire, p. 371 ; E. R. of YorUsh. p. 150; 

 N. R. of Yorksh. p. 149 ; Cambridge, p. 134 ; Hollands Cheshire, pp. 145 — 148 ; Cora- 

 wall, p. 76 ; Burroughs on Green Crops, 2nd edit. p. 45 ; Drew's Norfolk Husbandry, 

 p. 151 ; Brown of i\Iarkle, Treat, on Rur. Aff-. vol. ii. p. 82. 



•)• Lincolnshire Rep., 2nd edit. p. 321. It is, however, remarkable that potatoes do 

 not succeed on the '• Corkass land," or alluvial soil found in those parts of Iieland bor- 

 dered by the Shannon, which consists of a very rich blue clay. — Young's Irish Tour, 

 vol. i. p. 324. 



X Annals of Agric, vol. x. p. 324. 



§ Young's Irish Tour, vol. i. pp. 176, 284, 289,207, 305, 339. 



n Rep. of the Board of Agric. p. 11. 



% Marshall's Rur. Econ. of Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 64. 



** Parraentier, Traite sur les Porames de Terre, p. 164. De Crud, Econ, de I'Agric, 

 4to. p. 285, Voa Thaer, Agric, Anglais, torn, iii. p. 237. 



