No. 216,] 325 



THE CULTURE OF THE POTATO. 



BT JAMES ANGUS. 



T. B. Wakeman, Esq., 



Corresponding Sec'y. of the Ant. Inst., 



Sir — I beg leave to transmit you the following in reference to the 

 subject of the potato. 



The potato is justly entitled to pre-eminence in the list of escu- 

 lents, generally cultivated for culinary purposes. It is too well 

 known and too highly appreciated to require any recommendation in 

 this place J all that I would attempt on this occasion, is merely to 

 state my own individual experience, and to recommend such modes 

 in the cultivation of this invaluable root, that I consider the most 

 practicable and successful in their resultSc 



In Scotland where I was brought up, the potato was cultivated on 

 a very extensive scale, until the recent failure. I lived for some 

 time with a farmer in the immediate vicinity of Glasgow, who plan- 

 ted from 40 to 50 acres yearly, and they were generally of a very 

 superior quality; the mode of culture adopted on the farm and on 

 farms in general in that section of the country, was as follows: the 

 oat stubble was plowed in, in the fall or the early part of winter; 

 and early in the spring, say last of March or the first of April, the 

 ground was well harrowed, and then cross plowed, and harrowed 

 again; which being done, the plow was employed to mark out rows 

 about 12 feet apart, along which the manure, (which was generally 

 well rotted,) was placed in cocks about the same distance apart as 

 the rows; and when a sufficient number of rows were completed for 

 one or two days planting, it was done in this way. A man with a 

 two-horse plow opened the drill and covered the potatoes; eight per- 

 sons were required to keep pace with the driller; four spread the ma- 

 nure, and the other four planted the potatoes; in this way from two 

 to three acres were generally planted per day. The potatoes used in 

 planting, were generally the largest and the best, which were cut so 



