848 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



5315. The quantity of sets depends on the size of the potatoes ; in general, where the sets are sufficiently 

 large, from eight to ten cwt. will be required for an acre : more than ten for yams, and fewer than eight cwt. 

 for the eariy nonsuch and ash-leaved. 



5316. The modes of planting the potato are various. 



5317. Where spade culture is employed, they are very frequently planted on beds (provincially lazy-beds), 

 of four or six. feet wide, with a trench or gutter of a foot or eighteen inches in width between, which 

 supplies soil for earthing up the potatoes. This is the rudest mode of planting and cultivating potatoes, 

 and unworthy of being imitated either on a farm or in a garden. The next mode is planting on a plain 

 surface, either with or without manure, according to the state of the soil. Here the sets are placed in 

 rows, with a distance of from eighteen inches to two feet and a half between the rows according to the 

 kind of potato, and from four to nine inches in the rows. In planting, a hole for each set is made by a 

 man with a spade, while a woman or boy drops the set, and the earth is replaced ; or the potato dibber is 

 used, and the ground afterwards slightly harrowed. Another mode of planting on a plain surface, when 

 the soil is inclined to be dry, is in some cases practised, which is, after the land has been brought into a 

 proper condition by ploughing over twice or oftener and well harrowed, to spread the manure regularly 

 over the whole surface, the sets being planted in every third furrow, and the dung with the fine earth 

 turned upon them by the next furrow of the plough. In this way the manure is however placed upon the 

 sets, which has on experiment been fully shown to be injurious to the produce. Besides, from the whole, 

 of the surface of the ground being covered with dung, a considerably larger proportion must be requisite 

 than when deposited only in the drills, and of course the crop cannot be cultivated to advantage in 

 that respect. 



5318. In planting the potato on sward land, after it has been prepared by the use of a plough that just 

 pares off the surface and deposits it in the furrow, it is advised by Somerville to place the sets upon the 

 inverted sod, and cover them with the loose mould from below by means of a common plough ; or the 

 trench plough may be used with perhaps more advantage ; but a better method is that of paring and 

 burning. In some cases the practice is, however, to turn down the turf with or without manure, and 

 then to put in the sets by a dibble ; though the former is probably the better practice, as the turfy mate- 

 rial on which the sets are put soon begins to decay, and the purpose of a manure is in some measure 

 answered by it. It is a plan that may be adopted with advantage where manure is scarce, as in bringing 

 waste and other coarse grass lands into the state of preparation for grain crops. 



5319. A mode of planting potatoes and at the sa?ue time trenching the land, is practised in Lancashire, 

 and in some districts in the north-east of Scotland. The farmer having carried the dung, and laid it on 

 the field in heaps, at proper distances, the operation is performed by the manufacturers and people who 

 rent the field, and in the following manner : Across the end of the ridge a trench is formed, about 

 three feet wide, and from ten to fourteen inches deep, according to the depth and quality of the subsoil. 

 That being done, a second trench of the same breadth is marked off, and the surface-soil, to the depth of 

 six or eight inches, is thrown into the bottom of the former trench, over which a sufficient quantity of 

 dung being laid, the potatoes are planted at the distance of eight or ten inches from each other, and then 

 as much earth is taken from the bottom of the second trench as is necessary for covering the potato sets, 

 and making up the first trench to its former level Thus the field being completely trenched, well 

 manured, and kept thoroughly clean by repeated hand-hoeings, must not only produce an abundant 

 crop of potatoes, but must also be in high condition for receiving whatever kind of seed may be after- 

 wards sown. 



5320. The mode of planting potatoes practised by the best farmers of the northern districts, is in 

 drills formed by the plough in the same manner as in preparing the land for turnips. The soil is laid up 

 into ridgelets from twenty-seven to thirty inches broad, the manure is distributed between them, and 

 on this manure the sets are placed from four to eight inches asunder : they are then covered by reversing 

 the ridgelets. 



5321. The planting of early potatoes is carried to a very high degree of perfection in Lancashire. It is 

 stated in The Lancashire Agricultural Report, in respect to the raising of seed potatoes, that upon the 

 same ground from which a crop has already been taken, the early seed-potatoes are in some places after- 

 wards planted; which, after being got up about November, are immediately cut up into sets, and pre- 

 served in oat husks or saw-dust, where they remain till March, when they are planted, after having had one 

 sprout taken off, which is also planted. The sprouts are of a length sufficient to appear above ground in the 

 space of a week. But the most approved method is, to cut the sets, and put them on a room-floor, where a 

 strong current of air can be introduced at pleasure, the sets laid thinner, as about two layers in depth, 

 and covered with the like materials (chaff or saw-dust) about two inches thick : this screens them from 

 the winter frosts, and keeps them moderately warm, causing them to vegetate ; but at the same time 

 admits air to strengthen them, and harden their shoots, which the cultivators improve by opening the 

 doors and windows on every opportunity afforded by mild soft weather. They frequently examine them ; 

 and when the shoots are sprung an inch and a half, or two inches, they carefully remove one half of their 

 covering, with a wooden rake, or with the hands, taking care not to disturb or break the shoots. Light 

 is requisite, as well as air, to strengthen and establish the shoots ; on which account a green-house has the 

 advantage of a room, but a room answers very well with a good window or two in it, and if to the sun still 

 better. In this manner they suffer them to remain till the planting season, giving them all the air possible 

 by the doors and windows, when it can be done with safety from frost : by this method the shoots at the 

 top become green, leaves are sprung, and are moderately hardy. They then plant them in rows, in the 

 usual method, with a setting-stick ; and carefully fill up the cavities made by the setting-stick; by this 

 method they are enabled to bear a little frost without injury. The earliest potato is the superfine wiiite 

 kidney ; from this sort, upon the same ground, have been raised four crops, having sets from the repo- 

 sitory ready to put in as soon as the others were taken up ; and a fifth crop is sometimes raised from the 

 same lands, the same year, of transplanted winter lettuce. The first crop had the advantage of a covering 

 in frosty nights. It is remarked that this useful information was communicated by J. Blundell^ Ormslurk, 

 and has hitherto been known only among a very few farmers 



5322. In the western parts of Lancashire the early potato is cultivated in the fields in warm situations, 

 and brought to market in the end of May and during June. The chief sorts there grown for this purpose 

 are, the lady's finger, or early Rufford kidney, and the early round potato. The cultivators, aware that 

 the buds from the root and top end of the tuber germinate at different periods, assort their sets in the 

 following manner : The sets near the top end {fig. 747. a) are found to come to maturity a fortnight 



earlier than those at the root end (d) ; and these, therefore, form two classes of sets 

 for an earlier and a later crop. The sets from the middle {b, c,) are put together 

 for an intermediate crop. The sets are planted in the month of March or beginning 

 of April, in drills of twenty-four drills in twenty yards, in the following manner : 

 After the drills are formed (fig. 748. a), loose earth is brushed with a spade or 

 harrowed down, to the depth of six inches, in the interval between them (6) ; 

 dung is then placed over this loose earth, to the depth of four or five inches (c); 

 the potato sets of the earliest degree [fig. 747. a) are then laid on the manure, 

 at four or five inckes apart, for the early crop ; and sets of the second degree 

 {fig. 747. b.), at from six to eight inches apart, for later crops ; and so on. The 

 sets for the early crop are then covered with a spade, to the depth of two inches, 

 and subsequently covered, at two or three different times, to the depth of about 

 five inches. The second and third crops are usually covered with the plough. 



