78 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



they are cultivated with the least expense, and gen- 

 erally give the largest product, though they in gen- 

 eral demand the most labour in gathering the crop. 

 The practice of raising potatoes with corn, by al 

 ternating two or three rows of each, has been emi 

 nently successful where it has been conducted with 

 spirit : the product of the mixed crop has been 

 greater than where each has had a separate depart- 

 ment of the field. We omit to notice the Irish mode 

 of planting in beds, as involving an economy in land 

 which we do not require, and an expenditure of la- 

 bour which we cannot afford. The seed should not 

 be buried more than three or four inches, and the 

 covering should be least in wet ground. 



Culture. The culture of the potato, to be profit- 

 able, should be almost wholly performed with the 

 plough, cultivator, and harrow ; little other labour 

 being required with the hand-hoe than may be bare- 

 ly sufficient to destroy the weeds which these imple- 

 ments do not reach. In the first place, the seed 

 may be covered with the plough, whether in hills or 

 in drills. In the next place, the harrow should be 

 used, before the plants are above ground, to reduce 

 the ridges made by the plough in planting, to pulver- 

 ize the surface, and to destroy the young weeds. 

 In the third place, the cultivator or the plough, turn- 

 ing a superficial furrow from the plants, may be in- 

 troduced when they are not more than six inches 

 above the surface. In the fourth place, the plough 

 may be used to turn a light furrow to the plants, so 

 as to give their stems an earthing of three or four 

 inches ; but the plough should run twice nearly in 

 the same track, that the ridges upon which the crop 

 grows may be rather flat and broad than pointed 

 rather concave than convex calculated rather to re- 

 tain than to throw off water. Here the hand-hoe 

 may be of use in gathering around the stems a por- 

 tion of the earth raised by the plough, in destroying 

 weeds among the plants, and in perfecting the earth- 



