Ch.XXIL] ON POTATOES. 265 



to remain in that state about a week, when the weeds will again begin to 

 appear; the ridges are then earthed up, and in a week or two as much of 

 the earth from the sides of them is ploughed down as can be done without 

 leaving the roots too bare. After this the tops of the ridges are carefully 

 hand-hoed, and the earth which was ploughed from the ridges is again 

 turned to them : if afterwards weeds grow up, they are again hand-hoed, 

 after which the earth is drawn up to the top of the ridges. The plants 

 having by this time got to a considerable size, soon overcome all weeds, 

 and consequently require no further attention till the time of taking up*. It 

 has, however, been justly observed, that " On all very dry sands, and in a 

 dry climate, the land should be laid quite flat, and the plants should be 

 hoed by hand, as the only means of preserving the ground sufficiently moist 

 to promote the growth of the crop ; but in every situation where there is 

 no danger of the land being too dry, and on all thin soils, one-bout ridges 

 have the advantage over every other methodf." 



Another mode — which it seems has been borrowed from America — is to 

 pla}it the sets in banks. " The field is marked out in shallow drills, at about 

 two feet and a half distance, by the double mould-board plough, and is 

 then marked out transversely at the same distance ; thus intersecting the 

 surface at right angles, and the dung is laid at the time of planting. The 

 holes for the reception of the sets are formed by a labourer at the intersec- 

 tions marked by the plough, in such a manner as to leave them flat at the 

 bottom, about ten or twelve inches diameter, and three or four inches deep. 

 This being done, the manure is divided into the holes as evenly as possible, 

 taking care that the particles be well separated by women and children 

 breaking it with their hands. Four cuts are then to be laid in each hole, 

 within four inches of the edge, and about six or seven inches distance, and 

 covered by levelling the soil into the holes with shovels, which finishes the 

 work until the plants appear above ground ; after which only a small quan- 

 tity of earth is thrown lightly on the banks, just sufficient to refresh the 

 surface, and if the land be foul with weeds, it should be hand-hoed before 

 the banks are dressed. The last earthing should not be performed until 

 the crop is in full blossom, when it must get another light dressing." 



Mr. Burroughs, from whom we have extracted the above account, says, 

 that " many who have heard of this culture, but who have not practised it, 

 imagine that its chief object is to afford a great quantity of earth being 

 thrown up to the plants ; but so far from this being the scientific jn'inciple 

 of the system, that should the sets be deposited too deep, or the banks be 

 landed too high, the crop would prove very unproductive.'' He adds also, 

 from his own experience, that " the banks being left quite flat at the top 

 when finished, the crop proved much more productive than the adjoining 

 drills sown with an equal quantity of manure, and the potatoes were of 

 better quality J." On which we shall only remark, that it is contrary to 

 the customary practice, and opposed by several experiments to which we 

 shall hereafter call attention. 



The mode almost universally practised throughout Ireland, in some parts 

 of Lancashire, Cheshire, and the Isle of ]Man, as well as in many parts 

 of the western Islands of Scotland, is that known as the lazy-bed fashion, 

 which consists in planting the sets in beds, of a few feet in width, covered 

 from trenches formed with the spade. The manure is spread upon the 

 land when ready for planting, and the beds are formed of various widths — > 



* Ml<ldleton"s Surv. of Middlesex, 2d edit. p. 251. 



f Surv. of the N. R. of Yorkshire, ji. 152 ; Lancashire, p. 371. 



X Burroughs on Green Crops, 2nd edit, p, 51, 



