Ch. XXII.] ON POTATOES. 273 



tubers and sets, for tlie purpose of furtlicr illustrating the advantages and 

 disadvantages of close and distant cropping, by trials with the varieties 

 commonly in cultivation among those who supply the London markets, a 

 quantity of early Champion potatoes was purchased by the Society in the 

 beginning of 1834, and a piece of ground, on which no potatoes had been 

 previously grown, was selected for the purpose. No manure was employed, 

 nor was the soil by any means in a fertile state for garden ground. The 

 following account of the experiment was drawn up by Dr. Lindley, who, as 

 one of the secretaries to the institution, attended to its management. 



" The ground was divided into four ecpuil parts. In one of these the 

 rows of potatoes were as much as two and a half feet apart ; in another, 

 two feet; in a third, one foot and a half; and in the fourth, only six inches. 

 Half of each division was planted with whole tubers, and half with sets cut 

 to a single eye. The whole were committed to the ground on the 27th of 

 February ; both the tubers and sets being in every case six inches apart 

 in the rows, and nine inches deep." 



" On the 24th of April the points of the potatoes had reached the surface 

 of the soil, and the next day aljout three inches of soil were drawn over 

 them, for tlie purpose of protecting them from ground frosts, which in low 

 and flat places, like the Society's garden, are still prevalent at that time of 

 the year. By the 2nd of May the whole surface of the ground, in the divi- 

 sion where the rows were only six inches ajiart, was a mass of entangled 

 stems. By the 20th of the month, the stems in the division wliere the 

 rows were one foot and a half apart had nearly covered the ground ; and 

 in a week after, those in the two feet division were in the same state ; but 

 the ground was not covered during the whole season, where the rows were 

 two feet and a half aj)art. 



" The shoots from the whole tubers were, in all cases, much stronger 

 than those from the single eyes, but they began to be prostrated in the 

 six-inch division, on the 29th of May, and the whole of them, in all the 

 divisions, were in the same state by the 27th of June ; while the stems 

 from the single eyes continued erect till thev began to turn yellow and 

 wither, in the end of August. This will probably account for the superi- 

 ority of sets over whole tubers : could the crop be protected from winds, 

 and the stems of the tubers prevented from breaking, I have no doubt 

 that tubers would yield the largest cioj) ; but their very vigour makes ihem 

 brittle, and once broken, they are no longer able to perform their functions 

 perfectly. 



" The greatest length to which tlie stems attained was two feet : the 

 principal part of them attained that length, but many did not exceed one 

 foot and a half; and those in the division where the rows were at that 

 distance were the most uniform in their appearance. The important infer- 

 ences to be drawn from this were afterwards shown by the result." 



" On the 2Gth of September the whole crop was taken up, freed from 

 mould, and weighed. Where the rows were only six inches apart, a num- 

 ber of new potatoes were partially decayed, and a very large proportion was 

 too small to be fit for use. The most unif(}rm size was obtained from the 

 division where the rows were two feet apart. The result of the experiment 

 was as follows : — 



