274 



BRITISH HUSBANDRY. 



[Ch. XXII. 



" I think this result the most interesting that we have yet ohtained, for 

 it not only reduces to something like a demonstration the superiority of 

 sets over tubers, but it shows that the crop will be greater where the dis- 

 tance between the rows is most in accordance with the average height of 

 the potato stems ; and that if we take the minimum height — which in tliis 

 variety is one foot .and a half — although the crop may be the most pro- 

 mising while growing, it will in reality be smaller than when the branches 

 are less dense. Thus, the most uniform crop of stems in this experiment 

 was in the division where the rows were one foot and a half apart ; but 

 the crop in that division was less by 1 ton 3 cwt. 97 lbs., than where the 

 rows were two feet apart — that is, equal to the average height of the stems. 



" For the sake of contrasting the produce tlius obtained with the crop in 

 the fields of those who cultivate potatoes for the market, I caused the 

 weight in some neighbouring fields to be ascertained by the same men who 

 weighed the potatoes which w^ere the subject of the foregoing experiment. 

 '' A field of Yorkshire Shaw potatoes, belonging to Mrs, Medley of 

 Acton, was found to yield at the rate of 14 tons 1 cwt. 26 lbs. per acre : 

 about 27 bushels of sets per acre being planted ; which, allowing 

 68lbs. as the weight of the bushel, will give a clear return of only 

 13 tons 4 cwt. 94 lbs. per acre net. A crop of long kidney potatoes, 

 in a field of Mr. Jessop, a tenant of the Duke of Devonshire, at Sut- 

 ton Court, yielded a produce of 12 Ions 4 cwt. 84 lbs., or only 11 tons 

 8 cwt. 40 lbs. net. 



" The rows were from twenty-two to twenty- four inches apart, and 

 the sets at uncertain distances in the rows, varying from six to nine 

 inches; but, in the last case, they were not planted more than five 

 inches deep, including the subsequent eartliing-up by the plough ; 

 and in the first, not more than eight inches. Moreover, Mrs. Medley's 

 crop was not planted till the latter end of May ; and Mr. Jessop's 

 some time in the beginning of April. 

 " It is not difficult to account for the small amount of produce obtained 

 in both these cases, as compared with what was yielded in the Society's 

 garden ; and they are the more interesting, because, so far as distance 

 between the rows went, that point was attended to. The Society's pota- 

 toes were planted on the 27th of February, at the depth of nine inches, 

 and were subsequently earthed up three inches more ; so that, on the w hole, 



* The quantity of seed, and the estimated produce per acre, were calculated upon the 

 quantities sown and gathered, which are stated in the original table. 



