THE POTATO CROP. 351 



be grown." Lawson, in his work on Agricultural Produce, 

 gives a very complete list of the different varieties to which 

 we refer. The reader will also find them fully detailed in 

 Wilson's " Farm Crops," (Blackie & Sons). Of all soils, 

 that reclaimed from rivers, or what is called " warp land," 

 is the best adapted for the potato ; it can be cultivated in 

 this soil for long periods without much, if any, deteriora- 

 tion in quality. The next best soil is a free loamy one; 

 sandy soils also, if well manured, are adapted for the crop; 

 as indeed may be said of almost all soils met with on farms 

 which are well drained, carefully worked, and well manured, 

 the good drainage of the land is essential. A good crop 

 can be got from old ley or sward ; as a rotation crop it is 

 placed between two grain crops. As soon as the grain 

 crop is off the land the plough should be set to work, or, 

 what is better, the scarifier or grubber, to get it properly 

 cleaned from all weeds. When this is done the land should 

 be ploughed with a pretty deep furrow and left to stand 

 exposed to the winter's frost, &c. In the preparation of 

 the soil for potatoes the great point to be aimed at is a free 

 and porous condition, in which the tubers can have liberty 

 to grow. As already stated, the crop is one which requires 

 the soil to be well manured; opinion is divided as to the 

 period at which the manure should be applied to the land, 

 some holding that it is best to apply it in the autumn or 

 winter, others that the proper time is to apply it just im- 

 mediately before the planting; the latter is the method 

 generally in use; although it may be reasonably doubted, 

 as has been suggested, whether the fresh applied manure 

 has not an injurious effect upon the potatoes, inducing the 

 much-dreaded disease. Potatoes are always grown in drills 

 or ridges ; these should be at widths of thirty inches. The 

 manure, farm-yard dung at the rate of 15 to 20, and even 

 in some instances as high as 30 tons to the acre, is placed 

 between the ridges, spread evenly out between them with 

 the fork, the " sets " placed at the proper intervals apart 1 2 

 to 15 inches, and the ridges split by the double mould 

 broad plough to cover the manure and the sets. Great 



