C 88 ) 
years to bring these to maturity, it follows, that the 
other method, which continues the species you plant, 
and in the perfection in which you plant them, is 
alone resorted to for a crop. The product is small 
or great, or enormous, according to the fertility of 
ihe soil and the labor bestowed upon its cultivation. 
We have never seen a larger product from theacre, 
than four hundred bushels ; but there are records 
of high authority, which give much larger crops, 
and from which, in justice to our subject, we offer 
the following extracts. 
“At Altingham, in England, a sandy soil gave 
* 700 bushels per acre. At Kirklatham, a similar 
* soil gave 580 bushels; and a black rich loam, 1166 
« bushels.”(1) 
We need hardly remark, that such immense pro- 
ducts were procured only by the most careful and 
well timed cultivation ; which we shall now proceed 
to indicate, under three different heads. Ist, the 
preparation of the soil; 2d, the choice of plants and 
mode of planting; and lastly, the treatment of the 
growing crop. , 
Ist. Of the preparation of the soil. 
Give your field, intended for potatoes, a good 
fall ploughing, and in ridges, if the soil be elay.— 
Leave it rough and open to the influences of the 
frost, during the winter, and as early in the spring 
as you discover in it the mark of vegetation, har- 
(1) See vol. 13, p, 114, of the British Annual Register. Some persons have ima- 
gined that by cutting the flowers of the potatoe, the crop may beincreased, and ana- 
logy forms the opinion. The procreative powers of the plant are thus diverted from 
the apple and concentrated in the bulb. 
