48 ON POTATOES. 



(kiced Sf bushels to the rod, a round white potato, very saleable 

 for shipping, but not quite equal to No. 1 for eating. No. 3 

 produced 2 bushels to the rod, about equal in quality to No. 2. 

 No. 4, 3 bushels to the rod, a fair potato, but inferior to either 

 of the other kinds for eating. 



In 1831 I planted 100 rods of land with potatoes. The soil 

 was a light loam ; the condition as it respects manure, crop, 

 ploughing and harrowing, the same as in 1830. I planted it on 

 the 16th of May with the several kinds from No. 1 to No. 4 of 

 the previous year's experiment, putting 40 hills on the square 

 rod. On the 15th of October I gathered them. Numbers 1, 2 

 and 4 produced 2^ bushels to the rod ; No. 3 only 2 bushels. 



Thus far my object has been to determine the relative quality 

 and productiveness of the several kinds. . To ascertain the best 

 method of cultivating potatoes I planted two acres with No. 2. 

 On the first part I put 8 cords of manure to the acre, and after 

 ploughing two furrows, one on each side of the lot, I dropped 

 the potatoes which I had selected for seed in the bottom of the 

 furrow, two and a half feet apart, then spread the manure along 

 the furrow on the top of the potatoes. I then ploughed three 

 furrows, and in the fourth dropped the potatoes ; manured and 

 ploughed as before until the whole was finished. On the second 

 part 1 ploughed the land in ridges or back furrow, put on the 

 same quantity of manure as on the first, dropped the potatoes in 

 the hollows between the ridges at the same distance as the first, 

 spread the manure on the potatoes and covered it by turning 

 the ridges back into the furrows. 



The third part I ploughed, furrowed and holed at the same 

 distance as the first and second parts, and put the manure into 

 the holes, dropped the potatoes on the top of the manure, and 

 covered with the hoe. In October I gathered the whole ; my 

 product was from 200 to 250 bushels per acre. The first and 

 second lots, where the potatoes were under the manure, produced 

 about equally, and I should think ten per cent, more than when 

 they were over the manure, but the first being deeper in the 

 ground cost more labor in digging. 



The present year I have planted about three acres, three- 



