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manure should be regulated as far as possible to the 

 season at which it is applied and the period at which 

 the potatoes are to be dug. When dung is applied in 

 the spring it is obvious for all reasons that it should 

 be allowed to ferment thoroughly previously to its 

 application. Decomposition is caused -by fermentation, 

 and the dung should be induced to ferment as much 

 as possible by being thrown up into heaps, care being 

 taken not to tread upon it, as pressure retards 

 fermentation. 



The Quantity of Farmyard Manure Applied. 



The amount of dung required to produce a full crop 

 of potatoes varies according to the condition of the 

 land. If naturally rich, and a large quantity of cake 

 has been fed upon it, together with a heavy crop of 

 swedes, it is quite possible that no manure at all is 

 required, except it is desired on account of its 

 mechanical influence. Dressings of from 20 to 40 

 tons per acre are commonly applied in strictly market- 

 garden districts, but of course it is intended to take 

 other exhaustive crops subsequently, and these will 

 benefit from the residue left in the land. On light 

 sandy soils 50 or even more tons have been applied. 

 Before the development of early potato culture in the 

 warmer climates of the Scilly Isles, Madeira, Malta, 

 Egypt, and when the Channel Islands grew fewer, 

 English growers of early potatoes obtained the high 

 prices commanded by new potatoes, which unfortu- 

 nately they do not get now, as, except in favoured 



