CULTIVATION FOR EARLY MARKET PURPOSES. 51 



Mersey, Mr. Caird tells us, 1 two crops of potatoes are some- 

 times got the same year. For the earliest crop, the seed is 

 prepared about the beginning of the year, by being sprouted 

 under cover, and planted out into beds as soon as the 

 weather admits. The land is very heavily manured, and 

 gre,at care is taken to preserve the young shoots unbroken. 

 The second crop, the seed having undergone the same pre- 

 paration, is planted as soon as the first is removed. But 

 the more common custom is to transplant Swedes after the 

 first crop of early potatoes, and very excellent crops are 

 " occasionally obtained in this way." On the " warp" soils 

 of the Humber, near Goole and Selby, the same system of 

 double crops may be seen carried out on the richer quali- 

 ties of land; while on others, where the command of 

 manure is favourable, they are frequently grown in suc- 

 cession, year after year, in the same field, or alternately 

 with oats or wheat, as may be most suitable for the soil. In 

 some places in Wallasey, Morton, and Bidstone (Cheshire) 

 Mr. Caird tells us that he found the small farmers growing 

 early potatoes for the Liverpool markets. The ash -leaved 

 kidney, previously sprouted 3 inches or so, was dibbled in 

 upon a well-dunged bed in January, and covered witli 

 about an inch of soil ; the ground was then covered with 

 straw about 1 8 inches in depth, which was taken off in 

 fine days, and put on again at night. By these means 

 early potatoes have been sent to market by April 12th. 

 This method of cultivation, though carried on in the field, 

 is more the operation of market gardening than of farm- 

 ing. The portion of land under such cultivation rarely 

 exceeds an acre, and the prices obtained for the produce, 

 from Is. to 2s. Qd. per Ib. in a good season, make the money 

 returns per acre very satisfactory. 



The potato, although long known to be subject to cer- 

 tain diseases during its growth, was usually looked upon 



1 English Agriculture, p. 271. 



