188 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



of manure for the cultivation of the potato, — we seriously inter- 

 fere with the quality of the crop. We may get greater results, 

 but we have not the quality. We, in Essex County, who have 

 been in the habit of supplying the Boston market and others 

 with potatoes, have been anxious to produce as large crops as 

 possible, and as early ; but we do not pretend that we can 

 raise potatoes of such good quality as come from the State 

 of Maine and other places. I am satisfied it is the result of 

 over-manuring, for I know many cultivators who use little or 

 no manure in their small private gardens, who get potatoes 

 of very excellent quality, though very small crops. I will say 

 here, tnat it is a fact which I know to be true, that a good 

 quantity and quality of potatoes can be raised from Peruvian 

 guano alone, year after year, on the same land. That is a 

 fact worthy of consideration. 



As to the method of cultivation, probably you are very 

 familiar with it, and I will only mark out, in a few gen- 

 eral remarks, the principal features. If any one cultivates 

 the potato very largely, he may use to advantage Drew's 

 potato-planter, which cuts, drops and covers the seed at one 

 operation ; but it would not, perhaps, be advisable for small 

 farmers, who do not have large fields, to incur the expense 

 of that. But potatoes can be grown with little or no hand- 

 culture, and the method is this : After ploughing the land, 

 spread the manure on the surface and harrow in ; furrow out 

 the rows three feet and a half apart, and have them as nearly 

 equal distances as possible ; drop the potatoes ; cut with two 

 eyes in a piece, ten inches apart in the rows, and then cover 

 them with a plough, and the planting is done. Just before 

 the potato comes up, go over the field with a drag, which I 

 will explain pretty soon, and level off those furrows, leaving 

 a smooth, plain surface, and destroying the first crop of weeds 

 that break the ground ; then, in a few days, the potatoes will 

 come up, looking fresh and bright. The after-culture may be 

 done with some of the various potato-hoers, or cultivators. 

 There are plenty of such, and it is not worth while for me to 

 go into a description of them. You are all familiar with the 

 different kinds. But the after-culture, as I say, may be 

 managed entirely with the horse and these potato-hoers, or 

 cultivators. Then, in digging, there are potato-diggers that 



