KITCHEN-GARDENING. 113 



" 3. Mark out, as for corn, three feet apart each way, opening 

 the furrows eight inches deep. 



" 4. At the intersection drop a ivhole potato, the largest you 

 have, and spread upon it a handful (about forty bushels per acre) 

 of a compost made of eight parts of wood-ashes, four of bone 

 phosphate of lime, four of fine-ground plaster, two of finely 

 slaked lime, and one of salt ; or, if preferred, three ounces of 

 artificial fertilizer per hill. Then cover, roll, and spread 1,000 

 lbs. per acre of good artificial fertilizer. 



" 5. As soon as the young plants appear, run the cultivator 

 close to and between, but not over them, in each direction. 

 Afterwards, and before the weeds come up, cultivate, both w^ays, 

 with Knox's horse-hoe — so arranged as to cut as shallow as 

 possible, and keep the surface entirely flat. Repeat this, at 

 short intervals, three times. Then hand-hoe three tunes, still 

 keeping a flat surface. Allow no hilling at any time, nor any 

 weeds to grow. 



" 6. As soon as the tops are dead, dig in clear dry weather 

 with heavy five-tined digging forks; spread, under cover, to 

 dry, and store in a cool, dark, dry, airy cellar, spreading half a 

 pint of freshly-slaked lime in powder on each bushel of pota- 

 toes. 



" 7. Gather and compost the dry tops, for application next 

 autumn ; then plough and subsoil-plough as before, for next 

 year's crop. 



" The following are the advantages of this system of culti- 

 vation : 



"1. No possible entire failure of the crop. 



" 2. No rot in healthy varieties. 



" 3. Tlie largest yield the soil and variety are capable o£ 



" 4. The largest proportion of large potatoes. 



" 5. No degeneracy of varieties, but continued improvement. 



" 6. No necessity for rotation of crops : the potato can be 

 thus gTown almost indefinitely on the same land, with, perhaps, 

 at long intervals, a seeding to clover to maintain the supply of 

 vegetable fibre in the soil. 



