Book VI. THE POTATOE. 781 



feet wide, with a trench or gutter between a foot or eighteen inches in width, and which 

 supplies soil for earthing up the potatoes. This is the rudest mode of planting and 

 cultivating potatoes, and unworthy of being imitated either on a farm or garden. The 

 next mode is planting on a plain surface, either with or without manure, according to 

 tlie state of the soil. Here the sets are placed in rows at from eighteen inches to two 

 and a half feet distance between the rows, according to the kind of potatoe, and from 

 four to nine inches distant in the rows. In planting, a hole for each set is made by 

 a man with a spade, while a woman or boy drops the set, and the earth is replaced ; 

 or the potatoe dibber is used, and the ground afterwards slightly harrowed. Another 

 mode of planting on a plain surface, when the soil is inclined to be dry, is in some 

 cases practised, which is, after the land has been brought into a proper condition by 

 ploughing over twice or oftener and well harrowed, to spread the manure regularly over 

 the whole surface, the sets being planted in every third furrow, and the dung with the 

 fine earth turned upon them by the next furrow of the plough. In this way the manure 

 is however placed upon the sets, which has on experiment been fully shown to be 

 injurious to the produce. Besides, from the whole of the surface of the ground being 

 covered with dung, a considerably larger proportion must be requisite than when depo- 

 sited only in the drills, and of course the crop eannot be cultivated to advantage in 

 that respect. 



4848. In planting the potatoe on sward land, after it has been prepared by the use of a 

 plough that just pares off the surface and deposits it in the furrow, it is advised by 

 Somerville to place the sets upon the inverted sod, and cover them with the loose mould 

 from below by means of a common plough ; or the trench plough may be used with 

 perhaps more advantage : but a better method is that of paring and burning. In some 

 cases the practice is, however, to turn down the turf with or without manure, and then to 

 put in the sets by a dibble ; though the former is probably the better practice, as the turfy 

 material on which the sets are put soon begins to decay, and the purpose of a manure is 

 in some measure answered by it. It is a plan that may be adopted with advantage where 

 manure is scarce, as in bringing waste and other coarse grass lands into the state of pre- 

 paration for grain crops. 



4849. ji mode of planting potatoes and at the same time trenching the land, is prac- 

 tised in Lancashire, and in some districts in the north-east of Scotland. The farmer 

 having carried the dung, and laid it on the field in heaps, at proper distances, the operation 

 is performed by the manufacturers and people who rent the field, and in the following 

 manner : Across the end of the ridge, a trench is formed, about three feet wide, and 

 from ten to fourteen inches deep, according to the depth and quality of the subsoil. 

 That being done, a second trench of the same breadth is marked off, and the surface-soil, 

 to the depth of six or eight inches, is thrown into the bottom of the former trench, over 

 which a sufficient quantity of dung being laid, the potatoes are planted at the distance 

 of eight or ten inches from each other, and then as much earth is taken from the bottom 

 of the second trench, as is necessary for covering the potatoe sets, and of making up the 

 first trench to its former level. Thus the field being completely trenched, well manured, 

 and kept thoroughly clean by repeated hand-hoeings, must not only produce an abundant 

 crop of potatoes, but also be in high condition for receiving whatever kind of seed may 

 be afterwards sown. 



4850. The mode of planting potatoes by the best farmers of the northern districts, is in 

 drills formed by the plough in the same manner as in preparing the land for turnips. 

 The soil is laid up into ridgelets from twenty-seven to thirty inches broad, tiie manure 

 is distributed between them, and on this manure the sets are placed from four to eight 

 inches asunder : they are then covered by reversing the ridgelets. 



4851. The playiting of early potatoes is carried to a very high degree of perfection in 

 Lancashire. It is stated in The Lancashire Agricultural Report, in respect to the raising 

 of seed potatoes, that upon the same ground from which a crop has already been taken, 

 the early seed potatoes are in some places afterwards planted ; which, after being got up 

 about November, are immediately cut up into sets, and preserved in oat husks or saw-dust, 

 where they remain till March, when they are planted, after having had one spit taken off, 

 and planted with another, of a length sufficient to appear above ground in the space of a 

 week. But the most approved method is, to cut the sets, and put them on a room-floor, 

 where a strong current of air can be introduced at pleasure, the sets laid thinner, as 

 about two layers in depth, and covered with the like materials f chaff or saw-dust) about 

 two inches thick : this screens them from tlie winter frosts, and keeps them moderately 

 warm, causing them to vegetate ; but at the same time admits air to strengthen them, 

 and harden their shoots, which the cultivators improve by opening the doors and windows 

 on every opportunity afforded by mild soft weather : they frequently examine them, and 

 when the shoots are sprung an inch and a half, or two inches, they carefully remove one 

 half of their covering, with a wooden rake, or witli the hands, taking care not to disturb 



