AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 271 



depredations of the fly. " A bushel of quicktime," he says, 

 '• is sufficient to dust over an acre of drilled turnips, and a 

 boy may soon be taught to lay it on almost as fast as he 

 could walk along the drills. If the seminal leaves are pow- 

 dered in the slightest degree, it is sufficient ; but should the 

 rain wash the lime off' before the turnips are in the rough 

 leaf, it may be necessary to repeat the operation, if the fly 

 begins to make its appearance." ' 



POTATOES. Above two hundred and forty years have 

 elapsed since the introduction of the potato into the British 

 isles. During that period, it has been gradually making its 

 way in the favor of the inhabitants ; but its progress for a 

 long time was very limited. So slight, indeed, was the esti- 

 mation in which it was held, even after the era of the revo- 

 lution, that we find the celebrated Evelyn, in the year 1699, 

 giving directions to plant potatoes in the worst grounds. 

 ^ Take them up,' he says, ' in November, for winter spending ; 

 there will enough remain for a stock, though they be ever so 

 exactly gathered.' 



The potato began however to be extensively cultivated 

 about the middle of the last century ; and now it is grown in 

 every farm and cottage garden, almost without exception. 



If experience seemed to have proved beyond a doubt that 

 this root may be deemed one of the most important vegeta- 

 ble productions ; if, in the face of every assertion to the 

 contrary, it be found a very valuable and, generally speak- 

 ing, a most salubrious article^ of diet, and admirably 

 adapted to supply nutritious food for animals and poultry ; 

 it becomes a serious interest to determine with certainty 

 that mode of culture which shall at all times, and in all situ- 

 ations, tend to produce the heaviest crops, and of the finest 

 quality. 



* It has been argued that the potato, at least under certain conditions, 

 possesses a slightly poisonous quality. The idea may have originated in 

 the botanic character of the plant ; in fact, it is one of the family of the 

 nightshade, the solanum tiiberomm of Linnaeus, and of the old natural or- 

 der liiridcE, which included plants whose appearance was described as be- 

 ing ' uusky, dismal, and gloomy.' The genus or family solanum is the 

 type of that numerous tribe or order in the natural system, sulanea, many 

 of whose members exhibit great beauty of appearance and possess very 

 useful properties. 



