10 OF POTATOES. [Appetidta:, 



IV. OF POTATOES. 



1°. Nitrate of soda has been applied with great benefit to potatoes also. Af- 

 ter the potatoes have been hari'owed down and (hand) hoed, and the plants are 

 four to six inches above the ground, it is applied by tne hand round the stem 

 of the plants, and the earth then set up by the plough. Mr. Turnbull, in Dum- 

 bartonshire, last year used it in this way at the rate of U to 2 cwt. per Scotch 

 acre, (1^ English acres,) and the produce exceeded that of the land to which no 

 nitrate was applied, by 20 Scotch bolls to the Scotch acre. 



2°. Applied in the same way there is every reason to believe that the sul- 

 phate of soda would have a highly beneficial effect also I repeat my recom- 

 mendation that this substance should be fairly tried with every crop, because it 

 is a product of our own manufactories, which can be supplied in unlimited 

 quantity, and without the chance of any material increase of cost: while the 

 nitrate of soda is already in the hands of speculators, and within a short period 

 has risen in the market to the extent of nearly one-third of its former price. 



In plastering their potatoes, the Americans generally put in a spoonful of 

 gypsum with every cutting — a similar method, if preferred, might be adopted 

 with the nitrate and sulphate of soda, though the chance of loss by percolation 

 through the soil, would, by this method, be in some degree increased. In Flan- 

 ders, wood ashes and rape dust are frequently thrown in by the hand, when each 

 cutting is introduced. 



3°. I shall have occasion hereafter to recommend to the attention of the prac- 

 tical farmer, many waste materials of various kinds, thrown outfrom our manu- 

 factories, the application of which to useful purposes would be a great national 

 benefit. In reference to the culture of potatoes, I will here bring under your no- 

 tice the chloride of calcium, which is said to have been beneficially applied to 

 various crops, but to potatoes especially, with surprising effect. Under the in- 

 fluence of this substance the sunflower and maize have grown to the height of 

 14 to 18 feet, and potatoes have attained the weight of 2 to 3 lbs.* In Germany, 

 Sprengel also found it useful to potatoes. — {Chemu fUr Landwirthe, I. p. 635.) 



Thousands of tons of chloride of calcium may eveiy year be prepared from the 

 waste materials which flow into the river Tyne, from the alkali works upon its 

 banks. Thousands of gallons of the solution of this substance yearly run off 

 from the works o^ Messrs. Allan & Co at Heworth, and might be procured for 

 little more than the expense of collecting. It is also contained largely, though 

 mixed with other substances, in the mother liquor of the salt pans; and from the 

 numerous salt works on the coast might readily be obtained for trial. Wlien 

 prepared in the dry state, this substance rapidly deliquesces and runs into a liquid. 

 The most convenient way of applying it, therefore, would be in the state of so- 

 lution — so largely diluted as to have only a slight taste — and by means of a wa- 

 tering cart so contrived as to allow it to flow on the tops of the ridges and young 

 plants, by which unnecessary waste would be prevented. 



Without knowing the strength of the solution likely to be obtained from the 

 works, it is impossible to give any idea of the quantity of the chloride of calcium 

 which ought to be employed; but 500 gallons per acre may safely be used, it 

 the solution be so far diluted as to have only a decided taste of the substance. 

 The experiments here suggested, therefore, require four patches, as follows: — 

 These experiments are supposed to be made in ground 

 already prepared for the potatoe crop, by the usual quan- 

 tity of manure. I think it not unlikely, however, that 

 by planting the potatoe in the midst of nitrate or sul- 

 phate (sprinkled over with dry soil) at the rate of h cwt. 

 per acre, and afterwards applying 1 cwt. per acre, when 

 the plants are hoed, a crop might be obtained without 

 the use of manure. Of course, such an pxperiment as 



* The Rohan, a French variety of potatoe lately introduced into the United States— by the 

 ordinary mode of culture — yields tubers, very maxy of which weigh 3 lbs. and many attain to 



