Culture of the Potato. S9 



would banish entirely the common hoe, not only from the 

 potato yard, but from the kitchen-garden also), and with this 

 powerful implement move the earth about the plants and be- 

 tween the rows 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 in. deep, according to the depth 

 or shallowness of the soil, in a fine hot dry day, when the 

 weeds will be more effectually destroyed by this operation, 

 than by two or three ordinary hoeings. The plants will now 

 grow rapidly ; and in the course of a fortnight or three weeks 

 the earth should again be well moved between the rows with the 

 mattock, and the plants earthed up into good large ridges, 

 which will completely clean the ground for the season ; or only 

 one side of the row may be earthed up, and, after a week's 

 interval, the other side may be earthed up a little higher, 

 which will twist the stem, and in some sorts increase the pro- 

 duce. Either plan effectually secures the stems ; for, being- 

 all single, they are liable to be injured by strong winds, until 

 by branching out, the ground is covered, and then the danger 

 is over. Some sorts branch freely, others but little, which 

 should never be lost sight of in planting. Ordinary ground 

 cultivated in this manner, will generally yield 240 lbs. of 

 potatoes a rod. 



For an early Crop. — Plant full-sized whole potatoes the first 

 week in October, on a south border, after the spade, in trenches 

 9 or 10 in. deep, and cover well with muck, leaving the bor- 

 der as light as possible, from which a crop of radishes may 

 be cleared by the latter end of March ; for by that time the 

 plants will be showing themselves above ground, unless the 

 weather should prove very severe. As soon as they are seen, let 

 the earth be deeply hacked with a mattock, and made very 

 loose about the plants ; then in a fortnight or three weeks 

 move the surface again, but the plants need not be earthed 

 up, unless they are very much exposed to the wind, when a 

 little may be drawn about them to keep them steady. By 

 this method fine ash-leaved kidney potatoes may be gathered 

 by the 1 2th or 1 5th of May, even in situations not very favour- 

 able for early crops, and nearly three weeks earlier than can 

 be gathered from sets planted in the same situation in the latter 

 end of February ; and if ordinary care is taken in planting, no 

 danger need be apprehended from the frost. 



For early crops I am not aware that any sort sent to the 

 table is more generally approved of than the ash-leaved kid- 

 ney ; nor for late crops do I know a better keeper, or a more 

 productive sort, than the Devonshire apple, a red, round, and 

 deep-eyed potato. The intermediate sorts are very numerous, 

 and some of great excellence, but mostly with local or pro- 

 vincial names. 



