V. POTATOE. 



which is the sign of their genuine quality. As to the 

 planting and cultivation of potatoes, they are, in the 

 fields, laid along a little trench made by the plough, then 

 covered with manure of some sort, and then covered 

 over with a furrow of earth. Some people lay the po- 

 tatoe upon the manure, in place of under it. In a garden 

 the ground ought to be rich enough to bear potatoes 

 without any manure at all ; for the manure, though it 

 adds to the number of potatoes, makes the size of them 

 very various, and, as in all other eases, gives a strong 

 taste to the vegetable. Drills made with a hoe three 

 feet apart and four inches deep, the sets laid along the 

 drill at eight inches apart, then covered over with the 

 earth that came out of the drill and trod down with the 

 foot, are sufficient for the planting. But, care must be 

 taken to prepare the sets properly. The potatoe must be 

 cut in pieces, and there must be but one eye, or two at 

 most, left to each piece. A very small part of the pulp 

 is necessary to be left. It is the eye only which grows, 

 and, if a potatoe were peeled pretty deeply, the peeling 

 itself would do ; and it is a common practice amongst 

 the poorer people, to eat the potatoe and plant bits of the 

 peelings. As to the cultivation, as soon as the plants are 

 up, and are three inches high, the whole of the ground 

 should be flat-hoed, and should be carefully moved close 

 to the stems of the plants. When the plants get to be 

 seven or eight inches high, they should have earth drawn 

 up to their stems with a hoe, going along the interval 

 and drawing the earth from the middle to form little 

 ridges about four inches high. As the plants advance in 

 height, more earth should be drawn up to them, and 

 .when they are about a foot high above the top of the 



