176 THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FARM. 



of hours that the others were out of the ground before 

 weighing. There were nine tubers, none so fine as the 

 other lot, and the aggregate weight was lib. 7oz. This 

 year has of course been an exceptional year, and the 

 drought was disadvantageous to the spring sets, buried 

 as they were only about five inches ; but, on the other 

 hand, it is to be remembered that they had the advan- 

 tage of lime to keep their skins cool. I am so encou- 

 raged by the experiment that, as I take my crop up 

 this year, I shall deposit fresh, in drills already pre- 

 pared, all the large-sized diseased tubers that we come 

 across, and cover them with nine inches of mould. A 

 great authority pronounces that no potatoes are ever 

 diseased over which six inches of soil are kept by 

 repeated earthings-up ; he also says that the disease 

 hits the haulm just at the back of the neck, and that 

 repeated high earthing-up baffles the assault of the 

 blight as it sweeps by. The rationale of planting 

 diseased potatoes is this : They are calculated to clear 

 themselves under the soil, of the morbific matter which 

 is in an advanced stage when they are planted ; whereas, 

 no potato now-a-days being trustworthy, the great pro- 

 portion of the so-called soimd sets have in them the 

 undeveloped seeds of mischief, which they perpetuate 

 in their produce. But of potatoes enough, most excel- 

 lent esculent as it is in its place. 



To change the subject, I was rather surprised at 

 Leicester to be asked by one of our leading English 

 agriculturists whether I used a donkey upon the farm. 

 " Heavens !" I replied, " I should think I did, of all sizes 

 and all ages." On further parley, however, I found 

 that he did not use the word metaphorically, but lite- 

 rally — that seriously he meant to inquire whether I 



