352 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



care should be taken to prepare the land, and to free it 

 from weeds ; good weather should be chosen, avoiding going 

 on the land when wet ; otherwise the soil will be lumpy 

 and not in the finely pulverized condition which the tubers 

 demand. On the modes of planting and the preparation 

 of the sets, the following remarks by a practical farmer in 

 the " Mark Lane Express " are so good that we do our 

 readers a service by giving them here. The modes of plant- 

 ing are various. "The most common mode is to plant 

 every third furrow. Another mode is to open the soil, 

 plant along the open, and close the soil again, as in ridging. 

 Another is to plant along the prepared soil by spade, 

 making crevices at proper intervals, into which the plant or 

 set is dropped. Another is to form beds, or plant along 

 the surface, leaving a space, which is dug out, and thrown 

 over the top : this is called the ' lazy-bed ' system. 

 Another is to make a trench with the spade, plant the sets, 

 and hoe the trench in. This is the general garden practice. 

 For ordinary field practice the third furrow system is the 

 best. Two furrows are opened the whole length of the 

 field, so that the planters are planting the two furrows on 

 the one space while the other is preparing, and so on 

 throughout the field. The distance from set to set is of 

 great importance. If too near, the potatoes are small arid 

 numerous, but not marketable. The experience of a great 

 many extensive growers, farming in the district from which 

 I write, proves much in favour of wide intervals; none 

 planting at a less distance than ten inches apart, while 

 many prefer fifteen inches as the minimum interval, pro- 

 viding the sets are large and sound. My own practice, 

 derived from long experience, has settled down to planting 

 from eleven to thirteen inches as the intervals from set to 

 set, not including the set itself; depending, N ho we ver, much 

 upon the variety planted, early potatoes being planted 

 nearest, and large haulmy varieties the further distance. 

 It is a great point to have them so planted as to produce 

 the greatest quantity of marketable potato, i. e., the greatest 

 weight or number that will not pass through the meshes of 



