49 



the machine is a very useful introduction. Whatever 

 method is adopted when planting on the Flat it is 

 important to cover the potatoes sufficiently to keep 

 them from being frozen in the ground. Except in 

 very rare instances 110 injury is done if there are two 

 inches of mould on them, but it is safer to place them 

 an inch or two deeper. On the Ridge system they are 

 necessarily well covered. 



Planting on the Ridge. 



So many of the best potatoes are grown on the 

 Ridge system, that being the system adopted in the 

 districts where soil and climate combine to produce 

 excellence in quantity and quality, that perhaps it is 

 entitled to be considered the best method of cultivating 

 the crop ; and we are inclined to favour this view on 

 the whole, though owing to the climate being dry in 

 summer, and the soil being very porous, we find it 

 more suitable to adopt the Flat system in our own 

 district. It is also more convenient as being better 

 suited to the particular work on our farms. The only 

 point in connection with the Ridge system which is a 

 serious objection to it is that it requires such a large 

 supply of horse labour at the time of planting, which 

 proves very irksome in wet seasons. This fault is 

 much intensified by the custom of placing the manure 

 in the ridges at planting time ; work which, when the 

 Flat system is practised, is better and more conveniently 

 done at less busy seasons. This, however, is a matter 

 which will be dealt with in the section relating to 



E 



