POTATO. 



and south) iluring any of the winter 

 ntiontlis, two feet apart, and seven or 

 eiyhl inclies deep. Stable dung, half 

 decomposed, should he laid in the 

 drills, and combined with the earth 

 four inches downward, and covered 

 with some of the mould which had 

 been thrown out in forming the drills, 

 by the rake, to wiiiiiii lour inches of 

 the surface. The sets, uncut, are then 

 to be placed, with the crown eye up- 

 permost, in the centre of the furrow, 

 four inches from each other, and to 

 be covered with only an inch of mould 

 at first, and afterward with an occa- 

 sional quantity of sifted coal ashes, un- 

 til the plants are so vigorous and ad- 

 vanced as to require the usual earth- 

 ing, of which, however, very little is 

 necessary. Mr. Knight used leaves 

 as a lining at the sides of the drills 

 iU the early periods, to preserve as 

 much warmth as possible, and bet- 

 ter to guard against the effects of 

 frost. The sets near the top end 

 {Fig-, a) are found to come to matu- 

 rity a fortnight ear- 

 lier than those at 

 the root end (t/) ; 

 and these, there- 

 fore, form two class- 

 es of sets for an 

 earlier and a later 

 crop. The sets from 

 the middle {b, c) are 

 put together for an 

 intermediate crop. 



"This management alone will be 

 found successful, except, perhaps, in 

 very tenacious clay soil, in which the 

 rains of winter may lodge so near the 

 fibres of the plants as to destroy them 

 altogether; but destruction from this 

 cause may easily be avoided by in- 

 creasing the original depth of the fur- 

 rows and loosening the bed of clay 

 below with the spade to such a depth 

 as will allow the water to descend 

 from the surface, with a drain to 

 carry it off altogether ; or by laying 

 below some absorbent matter, such 

 as ashes, chalk, or calcareous gravel. 

 " The germination of the sets may 

 be accelerated by a little management 

 previously to their being planted, by 

 laying them on a floor, sprinkling 



F F F 



them with water until they bud, and 

 then covering them with fuicly-sifted 

 mould. If this be done early in Jan- 

 uary, tlie sets, with strong shoots, 

 may be taken up in April (with as 

 much earth as possible adhering to 

 thein), and carefully placed in the 

 drills prepared as directed, and cov- 

 ered with well-rotted leaves or earth 

 in the same way. 



" To market gardeners it is a great 

 object to raise the earliest (jotatoes, 

 considering the high \)x\ce wliich they 

 obtain for them, though in their waxy 

 state they are neither wholesome nor 

 palatable. Next in early maturity to 

 the ash-leaved and walnut-leaved are 

 the early manly and early champion, 

 and Fox's seedling. 



"The best soil lor potatoes gener- 

 ally is that which is altogether fresh 

 from the state of ley, or which has 

 not long been broken up : land which 

 has been in grass for only two or 

 three years is easily prepared for 

 the principal crop. It should be as 

 deeply ploughed as possible before 

 winter, and early in April harrowed, 

 and thoroughly cross-ploughed. Af- 

 ter lying in this state for two or 

 three weeks, it should again be well 

 harrowed and very deeply ploughed 

 twice, without brmging up any bad 

 substratum, and it will then be fit for 

 the reception of the crop. 



" The most approved modes of 

 setting are as follows : Drills should 

 be formed in the well-pulverized field, 

 with double boutings of the plough, 

 in order to have the shoulders uni- 

 form, which is essential to the cor- 

 rectness of succeeding operations. 

 The dung is then to be carted out, 

 and <livided by the carter with a drag 

 fork, as his horse and cart move for- 

 ward (the horse walking in the centre 

 of three drills, while the wheels move 

 in the other two), in sucii quantities 

 as can be most conveniently shaken 

 out into the drills by the labourers 

 employed to spread it. In dry weath- 

 er the carting does no injury, and 

 this method is universal in Scotland. 

 The other principal mode, more gen- 

 erally pursued in Ireland by some of 

 the best cultivators of the potato, i 



613 



