CULTURE OF THE POTATO. 36 



consume without any repayment what is equally 

 due to other crops : but the cultivation of this 

 tuber requires that the soil should be moved and 

 turned repeatedly ; it is generally twice at least 

 ploughed, trenched by the spade for sets, hacked 

 when the plant is above ground, then hoed into 

 ridges, and finally, the whole turned over again 

 when the crop is got out : thus is the soil six times 

 turned and exposed to the sun and air ; and it is 

 kept perfectly free from weeds of all kinds both 

 of which circumstances are essentially beneficial to 

 the soil: If the potato must have manure, it does 

 not exhaust all the virtues of it, as the crop which 

 succeeds it, be it wheat or barley, sufficiently mani- 

 fests : there are, besides, exertions made by the 

 renter to obtain this profitable crop, that greatly 

 improve the farm, and which a less promising one 

 would not always stimulate him to attempt he 

 will cut up his ditch banks, collect the waste soil of 

 his fields, composting it with lime and other mat- 

 ters as a dressing for the potato crop, and it answers 

 well : the usual returns from corn, and fluctuations 

 in the price, will not often induce him to make such 

 exertions. All this is no robbery of the farm-yard, 

 but solely a profitable reward and premium to in- 

 dustry. 



Much has been said and written about the 

 potato ; but as some erroneous ideas have been 

 received concerning its early introduction into 



D 



