406 Culture of the Early Potatoe in Lancashire. 



particular name), and the Lady's Finger, or Early Rufford 

 Kidney potatoe. Both sorts are excellent, as all Lancashire 

 men will testify, and are produced and brought to market as 

 early as May and June. I will speak particularly of the 

 Lady's Finger, or Early Rufford Kidney potatoe. A cul- 

 tivator may pursue a similar plan with the other if he 

 deems fit. 



It is well known in Lancashire to some, though I believe 

 to very few, cultivators of the potatoe, that different eyes ger- 

 minate and give their produce, or become ripe at times vary- 

 ing very materially, say several weeks, from each other ; 

 some being ripe, or fit for use, as early is the middle of May, 

 and others not till June or July, as may be best shown by the 

 accompanying sketch. 



The sets nearest the extremity of the potatoe 

 [fig. 80. a) are soonest ripe, and in Lancashire 

 are planted, as hereinafter mentioned, in warm 

 places in March or the beginning of April, and 

 are ready for the market about the 1 2th or 1 5th 

 of May. The produce of the next sets (b) are 

 ready in about a fortnight after, and those from 

 the root end (c and d) still later. These root-end sets (from 

 b to d) are usually put together, and the extremity of the 

 root end is thrown aside for the pigs. The eye of the set or 

 plant should be near the middle of the cut, and a moderate 

 portion of the tuber round each bud, as shown in the sketch, 

 is sufficient. In a certain part of Lancashire this potatoe is 

 cultivated with peculiar care, and some growers shelter the 

 young plants with hurdles and hedges of furze here and there, 

 to protect them from the cold winds, and sometimes even 

 cover them with mats during the night. The sets are there 

 planted in the month of March or beginning of April as before 

 stated, in drills of twenty-four drills in twenty yards, and of 

 sixteen inches to the top of the drill in the following manner. 

 After the drills are formed (Jig. SI. a) 

 loose earth is brushed with a spade, or 

 harrowed down, to the depth of six 

 inches in the interval between them (b) f. 

 dung is then placed over this loose 

 earth, to the depth of four or fiveg 

 inches (c); the potatoe sets of the earliest 

 degree (Jig. 80. a) are then laid on theg 

 manure, at four or five inches apart, 

 for the early crop, and sets of the second 

 degree (Jig. 80. b), at from six to eight 

 inches apart, for later crops, and so on, 



