778 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part IIL 



of the London market. This must form, no doubt, the principal supply ; but many- 

 fields of potatoes are to be seen in the other counties bordering on the capital, and many 

 ship-loads are annually imported from a distance. In every county in England, it is 

 now more or less an object of field culture. 



4829. Potatoes^ as an article of human food, are, next to wheat, of the greatest 

 importance in the eye of the political economist. From no other crop that can be 

 cultivated will the public derive so much food as from this valuable esculent; and it ad- 

 mits of demonstration, that an acre of potatoes M'ill feed double the number of people 

 that can be fed from an acre of wheat. Potatoes are also a nourishing and healthy food, 

 relished by almost every palate ; and it is believed there is hardly a dinner served up for 

 six months in the year without them, in any part of the kingdom. Notwithstanding all 

 these things, and they are of great importance in one point of view, we are doubtful 

 whether potatoes can be placed so high in the scale as several other articles of produce, 

 when the profit and loss account of the agriculturist is to be ascertained. They require 

 a great deal of manure from the farmer; while, generally speaking, little is returned by 

 them ; they are a bulky unhandy article, troublesome in the lifting and carrying processes, 

 and interfering with the seed season of wheat, the most important one to the farmer. 

 After all, from particular circumstances, they cannot be vended unless when raised in 

 the vicinity of large towns ; hence they are in most respects an unprofitable article to the 

 agriculturist. To him the real criterion is the profit which potatoes will return in feed- 

 ing beasts ; and here we apprehend, the result will altogether be in favor of turnips, 

 and ruta baga, as the most profitable articles for that purpose. 



4830. What is called the yam, or Surinam potatoe, is of more importance to the farmer, 

 because with this variety he has an excellent assistant to his turnip crop, or rather a suc- 

 cedaneum, which is of material benefit when turnips are consumed. Perhaps this root 

 may be cultivated with greater advantage than ruta baga upon many soils, as the preca- 

 riousness of ruta baga has been acknowledged by almost every one who has treated upon 

 the subject. It requires soil of the best quality, and a large dose of rich dung, to insure 

 even a middling crop of ruta baga ; therefore it can never be generally nor profitably 

 cultivated by common farmers. On the other hand, yams present every advantage which 

 can be got from ruta baga, and are not so pettish in their growth. Their culture is a 

 matter of far less difficulty, as they will grow upon soils where ruta baga would starve. 

 They require less manure, and may be planted as late in the season as the other, thereby 

 enabling the farmer to bestow the like previous preparation upon the ground, the want of 

 which is a general argument against ordinary potatoe husbandry. By taking them up in 

 October or November, they may be safely housed, arid the ground directly ridged up and 

 sown with wheat. (Brown. ) 



4831. The value of potatoes as afalloiu crop, and as an article of food for cattle com- 

 pared with turnips and cabbages for the same purposes. Marshal observes, may be consi- 

 dered thus : Potatoes are more nutritious ; and, in the opinion of those who have used 

 them, fatten cattle much quicker than either turnips or cabbages. Potatoes, too, being 

 secured from the severities of winter, are a more certain article of fatting than turnips or 

 cabbages ; both of which are liable to perish under an alternacy of frost and thaw ; and 

 the turnip, more particularly, is locked up, or rendered more difficult to be come at, 

 during a continuance of snow or frost. Turnips and cabbages, if they out- weather the 

 severities of winter, occupy the soil in the spring when it is wanted to be prepared for 

 the succeeding crop ; While potatoes, if properly laid up, are a food which may be con- 

 tinued without inconVeniency until the cattle be finished, or the grass has acquired the 

 requisite bite for finishing them in the field. On the other hand^ potatoes are a dis- 

 agreeable crop to cultivate : the planting is a tedious dirty business ; and taking them 

 up, may be called the filthiest work of husbandry, especially in a wet autumn. A pow- 

 erful argument for the extensive culture of potatoes as food for liVe-stock is, that in 

 seasons of scarcity they can be adopted as human food. Here, as in many other points, 

 the opinion of Marshal and other English agriculturists, is rather at variance with that of 

 the Northumberland and Berwickshire cultivators. 



4832. The varieties qf the potatoe are innumerable: they differ in their leaves and bulk 

 of haulm ; in the color of the skin of the tubers; in the color of the interior compared 

 with that of the skin; in the time of ripening; in being farinaceous, glutenous, or watery; 

 in tasting agreeably or disagreeably ; in cooking readily or tediously ; in the length of th6 

 subterraneous stolones to which the tubers are attached ; in blossoming or not blossom- 

 ing ; and, finally, in the soil which they prefer. 



4833. The earliest varieties qf the potatoe are chiefly Cultivated in gardens, and there- 

 fore we shall only notice such early sorts as are grown in the fields. These are 



The early kidney. The early shaw, and 



The nonsuch. The early chanrtpion. 



The last is the most generally cultivated round London ; it is very prolific, hardy, and 

 mealy. Early varieties, with local names, are cultivated near most large towns, especially 

 Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and the raetropolis. 



