262 POTATOES. 



they afford in proportion to the ground they occupy 

 and the expense attending their cultivation. To this 

 test we intend to bring all varieties of animals and 

 vegetables, before we can feel fully justified in making 

 up a positive judgment upon them. 



By referring to our memorandum-book, we find that, 

 on the 26th day of April last, we planted one Rohan 

 potato, weighing one pound, cut into thirteen pieces, 

 each piece containing one or more eyes, and making 

 one hill to each piece. We also planted, at the same 

 time, the same weight (one pound) of the kind of po- 

 tatoes commonly known as long i^eds or La Plata reds, 

 they having been originally brought from the river La 

 Plata, South America. These were cut into precisely 

 the same number of pieces as the Rohan, and made 

 just the same number of hills. As the experiment 

 may, just at this time, be regarded as rather an impor- 

 tant one, perhaps the details may not be uninteresting. 



The soil is a deep alluvian, with rather too large a 

 proportion of clay in its composition. It had lain for 

 several years in grass, till last year it was broken up 

 with a view of raising a crop of turnips ; but the se- 

 verity of the drought destroyed them. The past 

 spring it was well manured with long stable manure, 

 spread evenly over the surface and ploughed in. 



It was then furrowed about four feet apart, and the 

 potatoes planted in hills. In one of these furrows we 

 planted the potatoes above mentioned. There was no 

 perceptible variation in the quality of the soil, and we 

 observed the utmost exactness in planting by taking a 

 stick of a convenient length and marking off the hills 

 precisely two feet apart. In cultivation, they received 

 the same attention as the rest of the lot. They were 

 worked once with the cultivator, the weeds in the row 

 were cut out with a hoe, and, the ground being rather 

 heavy, it was all worked over once afterwards with 

 the spade. 



On the last day of September the crop was harvested. 



