210 C^iUurc and Presewation of Potatoes. 



the landlord, its growth might be encouraged so as amply to 

 repay the outlay. On some of the worst soils that it has been 

 tried upon in this neighbourhood, about a ton per acre has been 

 produced ; and upon others of a sandy nature, where cultivation 

 had been farther advanced, eighteen and even twenty tons have 

 been obtained upon the same space. 



This variety has the power of collecting nourishment where 

 the sorts previously grown would be incapable of procuring it; 

 or, as the growers express it, would be burnt up. We must not, 

 with this advantage, however, overlook its defects. 



It will be readily inferred, from what has preceded, that al- 

 though a greater quantity of vegetable matter is produced on a 

 given space, yet its relative quality as food is not equal to that 

 of other kinds ; its weight and bulk being made up by a larger 

 quantity of watery particles. This circumstance accounts for the 

 fact, that the roots, when stored up, are more liable to decay than 

 those of the ordinary kinds. 



It may be interesting to some to know the mode of culture 

 adopted in this neighbourhood, although it differs little from that 

 pursued in the other varieties ; and, as the season is fast ap- 

 proaching for sowing, I am not without hopes that it may be 

 more extensively proved than it hitherto has been. The best 

 time for sowing appears to be the last week of April, and the 

 two first in May ; for not only is it difficult to make the seed ve- 

 getate if sown earlier, but, of those that do succeed, many of the 

 strong plants will put up flowering stems, and thus reduce the 

 value and weight of the crop. 



I may here caution growers against saving seeds from those 

 plants that start prematurely, for by this practice, in a few gene- 

 rations, the stock would return to its wild condition, an annual; 

 and thus, by losing its increase of succulency acquired by culture, 

 lose all its value as an article of food. 



The land should be worked till it becomes very finely broken ; 

 and the drills into which the seeds are to be placed should be 

 very shallow. The distance from row to row must be regulated by 

 the soil and its condition ; but the space of from 10 in. to 14 in. 

 asunder, according to the circumstances named, will be found 

 the most proper : for it will allow ample space for the plants to 

 grow, and gives facility to hoe and thin out the superabundant 

 ones; which latter operation should be commenced early, or the 

 vigour of the seedling plants will be greatly diminished. 



Ca7iterbury, March, 1840. 



Art. XIII. On the Culture and Preservation of Potatoes. By Robert 

 Lymburn, Secretary to the Kilinarnock Horticultural Societ}'. 



In the January number of the Edinburgh Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, 

 there is an essay by Mr. Aitken, nurseryman, Castle Douglass, on the culture 



