POTATO. 253 



As soon as the plants are discernible, the hoe 

 should be used carefully, and as deep as possible. 

 In about a fortnight or three weeks, more or less 

 according to the weather, the same operation should 

 be repeated ; and when the plants are eight or ten 

 inches high, a little earth drawn up on each side 

 will be of service, but if this is not done, they will 

 be the sooner in want of a final earthing, which 

 should be of a moderate height, and if drawn so as 

 to form a sort of flat surface at top, so much the 

 better, as it contains the moisture better than when 

 drawn to a slope. Some persons allege that the 

 earthing is of no service, and causes the potato to 

 be of a more watery nature. Where the whole 

 crop is to be taken off before coming to maturity, 

 an earthing may be dispensed with, but otherwise 

 a full earthing is very necessary. 



For planting the large and late kinds of this 

 root, two-feet rows should be allowed, and the sets 

 should be ten to fourteen inches apart ; and whatever 

 state the land is in, particularly if it is of a strong 

 nature, manure must be applied, as it leaves the 

 ground in a more pulverised state for any suc- 

 ceeding crop. Should it happen to be the same 

 as that taken off, still a little manure will be neces- 

 sary. 



The author observed, when in Devonshire, the 

 method which the cottagers take in planting their 

 small allotments of land with potatoes, by which 

 he has seen large and fine crops produced. It is 

 similar to the method pursued by the peasants in. 

 Ireland, and is there called the " lazy bed" way 

 of raising potatoes ; but the term " lazy " is not 



