Potatoes raised in Lu~y Btih. 201 



vailed, is only to be reconciled by recollecting 

 tliat all errors have their champions; yet the 

 manifest advantages attending the use of the 

 plough in this culture, not only in planting, 

 gathering, and in producing a greater return, 

 but in their superior flavor, by being freed 

 from wet, which in most seasons occasions 

 great loss and injury; would, it might reason- 

 ably be expected, have been sufficient induce- 

 ments, long ago, to have produced more con- 

 verts, to a practice so evidently beneficial. 

 Where the plough, however, is injudiciously 

 used, there is a danger in cleaning the rows, if 

 delayed too long ; as without care the lateral 

 shoots may receive some injury ; in which case 

 the plants shoot downward, and the produce is 

 always reduced in size. In one instance, I 

 remember to have incurred great loss from a 

 late operation of this kind, and was not aware 

 of the cause until it was discovered by sub- 

 sequent experience. An open channel for the 

 escape of the water being constantly preserved, 

 is another material recommendation to the use 

 of the plough ; as it not only preserves the 

 manure, but benefits the present and future 

 crops in a high degree. A mistaken notion 

 generally prevails, that potatoes ought not to 

 be taken up until the haiun begins to decay. 

 As soon as the skin is sufficiently hard and 



