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ior collecting weeds. It may be necessary to handpick the Sunn 

 or Dhaincha stalks before commencing ploughing if either 

 of these crops is grown as a preparation for the potato crop. 

 The highest manurial value is attained by these preparatory 

 crops, when they are in flower, and they should be cut then, 

 and if from August to September the stalks do not get suffi- 

 ciently decomposed by submergence under water, ploughing 

 and liming should be done after handpicking. The cost of 

 picking, however, will be more than realized by the sale of the 

 dry stalks afterwards for fuel or as stakes for the pea or pan 

 crop. The harrowing should be followed by a bakharing or 

 laddering to bring the land to a level seed bed. The land 

 should then be prepared for irrigation before sowing is done 

 as the making of irrigation channels after sowing uproots a 

 number of seed-tubers. The field is first divided^rom its head, 

 or main channel for irrigation, to its bottom, into a number of 

 long strips 6 ft. wide separated by water-channels about a foot 

 wide, leading from the main channel at the head of the field 

 to the bottom. The strip of land 6 ft. wide should then be 

 divided into ridges and furrows 18" from one another. Along 

 these ridges 6 ft. long and 18" wide potatoes should be planted 

 early, say in September or early in October, 4 inches from 

 one another and 4 inches deep. This is a very "costly method 

 of preparing the land for potato cultivation and one which 

 can be practised by cultivators only on a small scale with the 

 object of bringing the crop early to market. Early sowing is 

 however very risky. Heavy rain taking place after sowing 

 may do a great deal of damage by actually rotting the seed 

 or disturbing the irrigation arrangements and washing down 

 the ridges. Early sowing also very often results in insects 

 destroying a portion of the crop. But in localities such as 

 parts of Burdwan, Birbhum and Sonthal Perganahs, where 

 rain-water sinks into the soil or flows on freely, early sowing 

 is advantageous. Pickling of seed in a mixture consisting of 

 sulphate of copper, ashes and castor-cake and the use of lime 

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