44 THE POTATO CROP. 



as soon as may be convenient, by hand-hoeing between the 

 plants in the line of drill ; another turn of the horse-hoe 

 will generally be desirable as the plants advance in growth, 

 after which the moulding-plough should be sent in be- 

 tween the rows, and the soil again thrown up round the 

 plants, to replace that which has been cut away by the 

 horse and hand hoes. The stems should be moulded up 

 to the first leaves, and they then may be left without any 

 further tillage until the time for harvesting them arrives. 

 When the time of flowering arrives, which is generally 

 about the month of July, according to the variety in 

 cultivation, a practice has been recommended by some 

 growers, who consider it of advantage to the future pro- 

 duce of the crop to pluck off the flowers as they are 

 formed, and thus prevent the formation of fruit, which 

 allows the whole productive powers of the plant to be 

 exhausted in the development of its more valuable tubers. 

 This practice, which is quite consistent with the theory of 

 vegetable development, was first made known by Mr. 

 Knight, who found it to produce an average increase of 

 about 1 ton per acre to the crop. It has often been tried, 

 but apparently with various degrees of success, as the 

 practice is never seen in practical operation, except in 

 isolated cases, and then only to a limited extent. It is, 

 however, an experiment so readily and so cheaply tried, 

 that it ought to be tested on a scale sufficiently large to 

 enable us to accept the results as sound and reliable evi- 

 dence, whether of its success or of its failure. In such 

 case, the flowers ought to be carefully nipped off as soon 

 as the petals begin to expand, which a child can easily 

 perform at the rate of about 2 acres per day. In trying 

 the experiment, alternate rows in the same field should be 

 selected for picking; these rows would probably require 

 to be gone through twice, so that the later buds might 

 not be passed over. The cost of the experiment could 



