POTATO. 



to cart out the manure before the 

 drills are formeil, in rows seven or 

 eight yards apart, and to supply the 

 drills from the lieaps as the plough 

 advances in its work, reserving just 

 as nuich as is supposed sufllcient for 

 the concluding drills, which are to be 

 made in the sections of the field pre- 

 viously occupied by the rows of ma- 

 nure. By the latter treatment the 

 manure may be laid over the sets, 

 which cannot be done in the former 

 case, and this will preserve them from 

 being displaced or crushed by the 

 feet of the horses during the process 

 of covering the seed. But against 

 this advantage, which is not incon- 

 siderable, there is the inconvenience 

 of calculating with precision and lay- 

 ing aside, as the plough advances to 

 draw the last drills — where the rows 

 had stood — the precise complement 

 of manure, and the difficulty to the 

 ploughman of preserving the exact 

 breadth in those drills. 



" Some avoid any perple.xities in 

 those respects by ploughing in the 

 manure thoroughly before drilling, 

 and either dropping the set in every 

 third furrow, or rolling the whole 

 manured and ploughed surface, and 

 tlien making drills. Our own expe- 

 rience is greatly in favour of this lat- 

 ter mode, when the fertilizing matter 

 is abundant and of the short descrip- 

 tion, which freely combines with the 

 soil, and does not obstruct the plough 

 in the subsequent drilling. The lazy- 

 bed method is so generally condemn- 

 ed that any e.xplanation of it here 

 would be superfluous, yet in undrain- 

 ed bog land, or under any circumstan- 

 ces in which a redundancy of wetness 

 is probable in the autumn, as on low, 

 marshy lands, or stiff clay soils which 

 liave no sufficient inclination to carry 

 off the water, and are likely to be 

 saturated with moisture in winter, 

 from want of drainage, the lazy-bed 

 system is by far the safest. The 

 deep, wide furrows at each side car- 

 ry off the water, or, at least, remove 

 it from the potato. Thousands of 

 tons of potatoes, in the year 1839, 

 were utterly lost in Ireland, being 

 drilled in flat and tenacious lands, 

 614 



which would have escaped destruc- 

 tion from the continued rains of that 

 season if drained by the furrow of 

 the lazy-bed. Besides, where circum- 

 stances preclude the practicabilily of 

 deep ploughing, the lazy-bed practice, 

 repeated for three years, will com- 

 pletely spade-trench the entire land, 

 and thus effect an important benefit, 

 not otherwise attainable by the hum- 

 ble tiller of the soil, who has no teams 

 for ploughing it effectually. Thus 

 local or national modes, though ap- 

 parently defective to the superficial 

 observer, are sometimes founded 

 upon sound principles ; and though we 

 feel disposed to exclude the minute 

 details of what is only defensible un- 

 der peculiar circumstances from an 

 essay on potato culture under our 

 modern system, we protest against 

 the unqualified condemnation of a 

 method which is still pursued through- 

 out nearly one half of Ireland. 



" The sets (uncut, for reasons to be 

 yet assigned) are next to be laid down, 

 either under or over the manure, at 

 the average distance of sixteen inch- 

 es, by the setters, who move in a 

 retrograde direction, and are provi- 

 ded with aprons to contain the sets. 

 A sufficient number of men is in at- 

 tendance to divide the manure even- 

 ly in the drills ; the plough also is in 

 the field, in order that there may be 

 the least possible exposure of the 

 manure and sets to the sun or to 

 parching wind, but the plough should 

 cover the sets rather lightly in clay 

 soil. 



" The roller is next used to lay an 

 even surface to the young plants, and 

 to facilitate the subsequent progress 

 of the paring plough, which is to be 

 set to work when the stems are si.x 

 or seven inches high, and should 

 move as close to the plants as is 

 practicable without injuring their ten- 

 der fibres. The weeders should then 

 hoe the plants carefully, and imme- 

 diately afterward (for the influence 

 of wind or hot air on the roots is per- 

 nicious) the scufller or drill-harrow 

 is to fullow, in order to clean and lev- 

 el the intervals, before the earthing- 

 plough, with either double or single 



