SEED POTATOES 273 



by trim, well-brushed hedges, the condition of which 

 as much as anything else indicates the keenness 

 of the occupier of a farm. On this farm, as on most 

 in the neighbourhood, rye grass was harvested for 

 seed, and we saw one or two fields still in stook, the 

 crop being just about ready to be carted in and 

 threshed. But the exceptional feature of the farm 

 was its root crops, which really looked enormous for 

 this or any other season. Our host spoke of having 

 weighed 56 tons of swedes per statute acre and 

 1 8 tons of potatoes, and in face of the growth we 

 saw the figures seemed probable enough. 



He did a considerable business in seed potatoes, 

 sending them all across to Lincolnshire ; in fact, 

 he had been the first man to demonstrate that 

 potatoes grown in Ireland afford as good a change 

 of seed for English soils as the Scotch grown seed 

 that is so generally planted. The intensive potato 

 growers of Lincoln and Cambridge and even of the 

 Lothians find it desirable to import seed at least 

 every other year from a cooler and more backward 

 climate, Forfarshire being one of the great sources 

 of supply. But Ireland has proved to be capable 

 of producing an equally good strain of seed, the 

 cool equable climate leaving the seed potatoes with 

 that touch of immaturity which seems to ensure their 

 starting readily into growth in the following spring, 

 whereas potatoes harvested from a hot, dry soil often 

 start slowly and weakly or even fail to sprout at all. 



The soil was a reddish free working loam resting 

 on limestone rock not far below, but the turnips 

 were all drawn off for the large head of horned stock 

 on the farm. A quarry of the limestone had been 

 opened, and the rock was burnt to lime not only 

 for the farm, but for sale, all the land in the district 



