in One Year, off the same Groimd. 687 



and this done, the ground is ready to be planted again. My 

 first crop, this year, was planted on the 30th of March, and 

 my second on the 13th of July ; the second has been as good 

 as the first, and the potatoes are perfectly ripened : the joint 

 produce of the two crops has been fully at the rate of 960 

 bushels an acre. I took some of the potatoes of the second 

 crop, of nearly the full size, to market on September the 15th. 



First Crop. — It is well known to growers of the ash- 

 leaved kidney potato, that it is difficult to prevent its exhaust- 

 ing itself previously to the time for planting it; and that, if 

 seed potatoes of it are allowed to remain too long in the pit, 

 frequently not one third of them will grow. To prevent 

 this, I seldom put them into the pit before Christmas, and 

 take them out in the latter end of February or beginnino; of 

 March. 



Second Croj^. — Those which I intend for the seed potatoes 

 of the second crop I spread thinly on the floor of an out- 

 house where there is a free current of air. This treatment 

 so much checks the growth of the chits, shoots, or sprouts, 

 that these do not become more than an inch long, and are 

 individually furnished with a cluster of roots. I plant the 

 potatoes, with the shoots upon them, in this state; and, in 

 planting them, guard carefully against breaking off any of the 

 shoots. 



The potatoes produced in the second crop are the fitter to 

 preserve for the next year's planting, as, when housed or 

 pitted, they are less prone to exhaust themselves by sproutive- 

 ness than are the potatoes produced in the first crop. 



I have reserved 20 bushels of the produce of my second 

 crop for seed ; and intend, next year, to have two crops on 

 all the ground on which I shall plant the ash-leaved kidney. 

 I have planted out plants of the Guernsey cabbage, which 

 will be ready for market in April. By planting the first crop 

 of the ash-leaved kidney, with the chits on, early in May, 

 after the cabbages are sold off, two crops of potatoes and one 

 of cabbages can be procured from the same ground in one 

 yeai'. I may be told that this is exhausting work for the 

 land : I reply, that decayed and decomposed vegetables are 

 the best of manure; and that the more vegetables there are 

 grown, the more is the manure increased in proportion ; 

 whilst every turning up of the soil is a species of fallow. 



In conclusion, I may notice that my nephew (who assists 

 me in all I do) suggests that, when the first crop of the ash- 

 leaved kidney is taken up before the potatoes are fully ripe 

 (as, in the desire to get them early to market, is frequently the 

 case), it may be well not to bury the herbage from such ; as 



