POT 



POT 



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them hang till March or April : 

 Then maslj the apples, wash the 

 seeds fronn the pulp, and dry them 

 in a sunny window. Sow the seeds 

 in a bed, about the first of May. 

 When the plants are four or five 

 inches high, transplant them into 

 ground well prepared, one or two 

 plants in a hill. They will produce 

 full grown apples, and some of the 

 roots will be as big as hens' eggs. 

 But if the seeds were sown in au- 

 tumn, some of them would come up 

 in the following spring. Nothing 

 is moreconimoti than their appear- 

 ing in fields, where potatoes have 

 been raised the preceding year. 



As potatoes are come to be of 

 more importance in this country, 

 than an}- other esculent root, and 

 are even an article of exportation, 

 I shall be the more particular in 

 pointing out the best methods of 

 cultivating them. 



The land should be ploughed 

 deep for this crop ; because roots 

 will commonly grow as low as the 

 soil is stirred, and no deeper. And 

 the more the ground is pulverised 

 before planting, the better will be 

 the crop. 



Perhaps green sward ground 

 ought to be mentioned here as an 

 exception. I have had the largest 

 crops on such land, even with one 

 ploughing, and that just before 

 planting. I account for it thus : 

 Potatoes want air ; such land af- 

 fords it from the hollows under the 

 furrows, in no small quantity, both 

 fixed and putrid, and in the great- 

 est abundance towards the end of 

 summer, when they require the 

 greatest quantity of nourishment. 



No dung is found to be more 

 44 



suitable for potatoes than hogs' 

 dung, mixed with a great deal of 

 straw, or other rubbish. This dung 

 is late in fermenting, and therefore 

 afibrds the roots plenty of nourish- 

 ment, when they most need it. And 

 as they want air and room, rubbish, 

 and even sticks and chips, or any 

 thing that makes the ground lie 

 light and hollow, encourages their 

 growth. 



But those roots are accounted 

 best for eating, which are raised 

 without dunjj. I once had a mid- 

 dlingcrop, by putting a handful of 

 old weather beaten salt hay in each 

 hill. New land, burnt, produces 

 excellent roots, and a large crop, 

 without any manure but what is 

 made by the burning; sometimes 

 not less than a peck in a hill. 



The potatoe is so hardy a plant, 

 that it will grow in any kind of soil, 

 and even with the poorest culture. 

 It is a great improver of land ; not 

 only by the rotting of its succulent 

 stalks, which should be buried in 

 the soil at, or immediately after dig- 

 ging ; but tlie digging itself is a fur- 

 ther improvement. A crop of po- 

 tatoes is good to prepare land for 

 other crops. It is not uncommon, 

 on poor land, with very little culti- 

 vation and without manure, to ob- 

 tain one hundred bushels per acre. 

 But in Ireland, with deep plough- 

 ing, or digguig, with manure, four 

 times that quantity is common : 

 And Mr. Young mentions one in- 

 stance of an acre in England, pro- 

 ducing a thousand bushels. As they 

 will ofow almost any how, we arc 

 tempted to neglect them ; but no 

 crop that I know of will better pay 

 I for good cultivation. 



