168 THE POSSIBILITIES 



of mutual support, derived therefrom, are alive 

 to the present time. As to the fertility of the 

 soil, it is made partly by the sea-weeds gathered 

 free on the sea-coast, but chiefly by artificial 

 manure fabricated at Blaydon-on-Tyne, out of all 

 sorts of refuse inclusive of bones shipped from 

 Plevna and mummies of cats shipped from Egypt. 

 It is well known that for the last thirty years 

 the Jersey peasants and farmers have been 

 growing early potatoes on a great scale, and 

 that in this line they have attained most satis- 

 factory results. Their chief aim being to have 

 the potatoes out as early as possible, when they 

 fetch at the Jersey Weigh-Bridge as much as 

 17 and 20 the ton, the digging out of potatoes 

 begins, in the best sheltered places, as early as the 

 first days of May, or even at the end of April. 

 Quite a system of potato-culture, beginning 

 with the selection of tubers, the arrangements 

 for making them germinate, the selection of 

 properly sheltered and well situated plots of 

 ground, the choice of proper manure, and ending 

 with the box in which the potatoes germinate 

 and which has so many other useful applications, 

 quite a system of culture has been worked 

 out in the island for that purpose by the col- 

 lective intelligence of the peasants.* 



* One could not insist too much on the collective character 

 of the development of that branch of husbandry. In many 



