CULTURE OF THE POTATO 29 



as, beside the rent, he is paid for the manuring his land 

 for a succeeding crop, be it wheat or barley ; hence 

 land is always to be obtained by the cotter, upon appli- 

 cation. We have a marked instance in the year 1825 

 how little we can predict what the product of this crop 

 will be, or the change that alteration of weather may 

 effect ; for after the drought of the summer, after our 

 apprehensions, our dismay (for the loss of this root is a 

 very serious calamity), the produce of potatoes was 

 generally fair, in places abundant ; many acres yielding 

 full eighty sacks, which, at the digging out price of 6s. 

 the sack, gave a clear profit to the laborer of HZ. 7s. 6d. 

 per acre ! But at any rate it gives infinite comfort to the 

 poor man, which no other article can equally do, and a 

 plentiful subsistence, when grain would be poverty and 

 want. The injudicious manner in which some farmers 

 have let their land has certainly, under old acts of par- 

 liament, brought many families into a parish ; but we 

 have very few instances where a potato-land renter to 

 any extent is supported by the parish. In this village 

 a very large portion of our peasantry inhabit their own 

 cottages, the greater number of which have been ob- 

 tained by their industry, and the successful culture of 

 this root. The getting in and out of the crop is solely 

 performed by the cotter and his family : a child drops a 

 set in the dibble-hole or the trench made by the father, 

 the wife with her hoe covering it up ; and in harvesting 

 all the family are in action ; the baby is wrapped up 

 when asleep in its mother's cloak, and laid under the 

 shelter of some hedge, and the digging, picking, and 

 conveying to the great store-heap commences ; a primi- 

 tive occupation and community of labor, that I believe 

 no other article admits of or affords. 



It has been said that the culture of the potato is in- 

 jurious to the farm in general, and I know landlords 

 who restrict the growth of it ; but perhaps the extent 

 of injury has been greatly overrated. The potato, it is , 

 true, makes no return to the land in straw for manure, 

 and a large portion of that which is made in the barton 

 is occasionally required for its cultivation ; and thus it 

 is said to consume without any repayment what is 

 C2 



