222 The Rev. E. Cartwrigbt's T'sfay oh 



earthing up. Though when il e 1 ind is in tolerable heart, so as to give sufficient 

 vigour in the first stages of germination, and till the tubers begin to form, I trust 

 solely to the top-dressing, which is applied with peculiar advantage to a potatoe 

 crop, as it can be given at the precise point of time when most wanted, and imme- 

 diately ploughed in ; by which means it loses not a particle of its fertilizing quality, 

 by exposure to the exhaling influence of the atmosphere. 



Many are of opinion, that the flavour of vegetables is influenced by the manures 

 which are made use of in their cultivation. There is reason to doubt this opinion. 

 In the year 1804 I ^^^ potatoes manured for with chandler's graves, with soot» 

 and with malt-dust. Nothing can be imagined more offensive than chandler's 

 graves when in a state of putridity, as they must be before they can be absorbed by 

 the potatoe plants ; nothing can well be more acrid and bitter than soot ; nor can 

 any thing be more mild and inoffensive to the palate than malt-dust, which is the 

 germ of barley when sprouted for malting, and consists chiefly of mucilage, with a 

 small proportion of sugar. Yet th= potatoes produced with these three very dis- 

 cordant manures were all equally good, and in taste and flavour exactly similar. 

 And yet, though manures may seem to have no influence on the sensible qualities 

 of this vegetable, soil appears to have a great deal ; for when cultivated on some 

 descriptions of soil it loses, as it were, in every respect but its external form, its 

 very identity. A potatoe, which in one soil is firm and dry, will in another be soft 

 and watery, as though its very organization and texture had undergone a perfect 

 change. 



On what principle this is to be accounted for does not appear ; nor is there any 

 analogy, within the sphere of my observation, at least, that will furnish a solution 

 of this difficult problem in vegetable economy. The general flavour of every kind 

 of fruit or vegetable, if properly cultivated or not, will be the same on whatever soi] 

 it may be raised, varying only, and that perhaps but slightly, in the degree of its 

 poignancy. No change of soil or culture can debase a nonpareil to a codiin, nor 

 communicate to a codiin the flavour of a nonpareil, but under every change each 

 will preserve its distinctive character. 



V. Method of Planting. 



A very common way of planting potatoes is to form the land into ridges from 

 two to three feet wide, which are filled with manure, on which the sets are depo- 

 sited, and then covered by a double-mould-board plough. Others plant them upon 



