Potato 



be still more favourable. To insure the highest possible return, it 

 is absolutely necessary that the sets should be carefully sprouted in 

 advance of the planting time. This is easily managed by placing 

 the tubers in shallow wooden trays or baskets fully exposed to 

 light and air, but heat must be avoided, or the sets will be forced 

 injuriously. The result is a growth of short stout shoots, that are 

 ready at once to make a healthy start. The land is previously opened 

 in wide ridges, and when planting time arrives the furrows are heavily 

 dressed with manure. The sets are laid upon the manure at proper 

 distances, and the ridges are split so as to make a new ridge above 

 them. For the first crop some reliable early Potato is chosen, and 

 while it is growing the trays are filled again with a main-crop or late 

 variety for sprouting. The early crop is fit to lift in from eight to 

 eleven weeks, and can be placed in the market when prices rule high. 

 The ground is at once opened again into ridges and furrows by the 

 double mould-board plough, care being taken that the ridges are in 

 exactly the same positions that they occupied over the first crop. 

 The furrows are then dressed with manure, upon which the sets are 

 placed, and the ridges are split to cover them as before. In about a 

 week the shaws begin to be visible, and the usual routine is followed. 

 Thus the second crop is practically grown on fresh soil, and the pro- 

 duce is ready in ample time for the late season trade. This practice 

 necessitates very liberal dressings of manure, but it is a thoroughly 

 paying procedure, and the land is finally left in capital condition for 

 carrying a crop of Cabbage. 



The culture of Potatoes cannot be dismissed without allusion to 

 the destructive fungus which is never absent in dry seasons, and in 

 wet summers does its deadly work on a vast scale. Scientific men 

 have acquainted us with the history of the Potato fungus, and this 

 may eventually result in as efficient a remedy as that which renewed 

 the vineyards of France. Such a remedy for the Potato murrain has 

 yet to be discovered. Meanwhile, we must continue to resist the foe 

 with the plough, spade, draining tool, and above all with a wise 

 selection of sorts. It is an acknowledged fact that many Potatoes that 

 have been cultivated for a long time appear to have lost their vigour, 

 and are liable to succumb to the disease ; but several kinds that have 

 been raised from seed in recent years possess a constitution which 

 almost defies the virulent assaults of the Phytophthora infestans. 

 These seedlings belong, however, chiefly to the main-crop or late- 

 growing class, and thus we reach the conclusion that, although we 

 may be unable to stamp out the disease, because it is developed by 



