780 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



4840. In prepming the soil for p)otntoes, it is of much importance to free it as com- 

 pletely as possible from weed roots, which cannot be so well extirpated afterwards, as in 

 the culture of turnips, and some other drilled crops, both because the horse-hoe must be 

 excluded altogether at a time when vegetation is still vigorous, and because at no period 

 of their growth is it safe to work so near the plants, especially after they have made some 

 progress in growth. It is the earlier time of planting, and of finishing the after-culture, 

 that renders potatoes a very indifferent substitute for fallow, and in this respect in no 

 degree comparable to turnips. For this reason, as well as on account of the great 

 quantity of manure required, their small value at a distance from large towns, and the 

 great expense of transporting so bulky a commodity, the culture of potatoes is by no 

 means extensive in the best managed districts. Unless in the immediate vicinity of 

 such towns, or in very populous manufacturing counties, potatoes do not constitute a 

 regular rotation crop, though they are raised almost every where to the extent required 

 for the consumption of the farmer and his servants, and, in some cases, for occasionally 

 feeding horses and cattle, particularly late in spring. The first ploughing is given soon 

 after harvest, and a second, and commonly a third, early in spring ; the land is then 

 laid up into ridgelets, from twenty-seven to thirty inches broad, as for turnips, and 

 manured in the same manner. 



4841. The best manure for the potntoe appears to be littery farm-yard dung ; and the 

 best mode of applying it immediately under the potatoe sets. Any manure, however, 

 may be applied, and no plant will bear a larger dose of it, or thrive in coarser or less 

 prepared manure : even dry straw, rushes, or spray of trees, may be made use of with 

 success. It is alleged, however, that recent horse manure, salt, and soapers ashes, have 

 a tendency to give potatoes a rank taste, and to render them scabby. 



4842. The best climate for the potatoe is one rather moist than dry, and temperate 

 or cool, rather than hot. Hence the excellence of the Irish potatoes, which grow in a 

 dry loamy calcareous soil and moist and temperate climate : and hence, also, the inferiority 

 of the potatoes of France, Spain, and Italy, and even Germany. In short, the potatoe 

 is grown no where in the world to the same degree of perfection as in Ireland and 

 Lancashire, and not even in the south of England so well as in Scotland, and the north 

 and western counties: all which is, in our opinion, clearly attributable to the climate. 



4843. The season for j)lanling early potatoes in the fields, depends much on the soil. 

 Where this is very dry, as it always ought to be for an early crop, the sets may be put in 

 the ground in March or earlier ; but for a full crop of potatoes, April is the best time 

 for planting. Potatoes, indeed, are often planted in the end of May, and sometimes 

 even in June ; but the crops, although often as abundant, are neither so mellow i:or 

 mature, as when the sets are planted in April, or in the first eight or ten days of 

 May. 



4844. In preparing the sets of potatoes, some cultivators recommetid large Sets, others 

 small potatoes entire, and some large potatoes entire. Others, on the ground of ex- 

 perience, are equally strenuous in support of small cuttings, sprouts, shoots, or even only 

 the eyes or buds. With all these different sorts of sets, good crops are stated to have been 

 raised, though tolerable siieed cuttings of pretty large potatoes, with two or three good 

 yes or buds in each, are probably to be preferred. Independent of the increased ex- 

 pense of the seed, it is neVer a good practice to make use of whole potatoes as sets. The 

 best cultivators in Ireland and Scotland invariably cut the largest and best potatoes 

 into sets, rejecting in the case of kidney potatoes the root or mealy eiid as having no 

 bud, and the top or watery end as having too many. No objection is made to two or 

 even tjiree buds on each set, though one is considered as sufficient. A very slight 

 exercise of common sense might have saved the advocates for shoots, scooped out eyes, 

 &c. their experiments and arguments, it being evident, as Brown has observed, to every 

 one that has any practical knowledge of the nature of vegetables, that the strength of 

 the stem at the outset depends in direct proportion upon the vigor and power of the 

 set. The set, therefore., ought to be large, rarely smaller than the fourth part of the po- 

 tatoe ; and if the set is of small size, one half of the potatoe may be profitably used. 

 At all events, rather err in giving over large sets, than in making them too small ; be- 

 cause by the first error) no great loss canbe sustained ; whereas, by the other, a feeble 

 end late crop may be the consequence. 



4845. The time for cutting the sets should always be some days before planting, that 

 the wounds may dry up ; but no harm will result from performing this operation several 

 "weeks or months beforehand, provided the sets are not exposed too much to the drought 

 so as to deprive them of their natural moisture. 



4846. The quantity of sets depends on the size of the potatoes ; in general where the sets 

 are sufficiently large from eight to ten cwt. vt^ill be required for an acre : more than ten 

 for yams, and fewer than eight cwt. for the early nonsuch and ash-leaved. 



4847. The modes of planting tixQ potatoe are various. Where spade culture is em- 

 ployed, they are very frequently planted on beds (prorincially lazy-beds), of four or six 



