192 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF chap. Vll. 



little pease or oat-meal mixed with them, for a few 

 days before killing. It has been already observ- 

 ed, that potatoes constitute a large proportion, 

 and a very wholesome part, of the food of all 

 ranks, but especially of the lower classes of the 

 people. They are used in various different 

 ways. Sometimes boiled and eaten simply with 

 ^ak, often with milk, sometimes with butter, 

 and sometimes with both. Frequently with 

 butcher- meat, in pudding and in soup. Pota- 

 toes are also manufactured sometimes into starch 

 by private families for their own use. 



As potatoes are usually planted in drills, it 

 might be an improvement to mix them with 

 beans. When this practice is observed, the pro- 

 per method is to drop the beans regularly be- 

 tween the potatoe sets, as they are laid in the 

 furrow. From ground usually so w r ell prepar- 

 ed and manured, a tolerable crop of beans may 

 in this manner be produced, without injury to 

 the potatoes. I myself have repeatedly tried 

 this plan on a small scale, and found it to an- 

 swer. There was no perceptible difference in 

 the quantity or quality of the potatoes, and no 

 inferiority in the following crop. The last trial 

 was made in 1798. The potatoes were planted 

 in drills four feet distant, anc) both potatoes and 

 beans laid under the dung. The produce was 

 90 bolls of potatoes from the acre. Not half the 

 beans came up ; whether this was owing to the 

 seed, or to their being planted under the dung, I 

 cannot say. But, notwithstanding this, the 

 produce was from three to four bolls. Such as. 

 did spring were extremely prolific. I sometimes' 

 counted upwards of 30 pods upon one stalk. 



