THE POTATO. 145 



mountain land. In a section of thirty yards there 

 may be ten yards of useless gravel in which moisture 

 can find no resting-place till it be fathoms deep in 

 the ground, ten where there is not above three 

 inches of soil on the bare rock, and ten of soil of the 

 very best quality. The first and second portions 

 would not of course produce a crop of any descrip- 

 tion, and yet in the use of the plough it would be 

 necessary to pass over them, or to lose about the 

 same time in turning ; so that the expense of plough- 

 ing such a piece of land would be triple that of 

 ploughing the same extent of a champaign country. 

 On the other hand, when the spade is employed, the 

 culture of the fertile spots is not more expensive than 

 if they were continuous, and situated on the flattest 

 surface in the island ; while the nature of the soil 

 renders the labour of turning it and taking up the 

 crop comparatively easy. 



Thus the potato has this great and peculiar ad- 

 vantage over all other substantive esculent vegetables, 

 that it can be not only cultivated in places where no 

 others can be profitably grown, but that it can be 

 cultivated there at small expense ; while it is less 

 subject to disease, and more secure against dege- 

 nerating in those situations than on richer lands. 

 Consequently, in a soil so diversified as that of Bri- 

 tain, and where the communication between any two 

 places is so easy, an almost unlimited supply of 

 potatoes may be grown without any diminution of 

 the breadth of profitable crop of the cerealia, the 

 legumes, or indeed of any other useful plant ; while 

 this crop is recommended as causing an amelioration 

 rather than an exhaustion of the soil. 



The most usual and profitable manner of propa 

 gating this vegetable is by putting into the ground the 

 tubers, either whole or divided into as many parts 

 or sets as they contain eyes. The quality of soil best 



VOL. xv. 13 



