Cultivation of the Potatoe. » 19 
some time ago, that the developement of the tubers keeps 
pace with that of the flowers; and experiments especially 
directed to this point have untformly shown that the crop is 
much injured by the removal of the flowers. 
Cullen also tried the effect of cutting off the leaves as fast 
as they grew; the consequence was that the potatoes pro- 
duced no tubers, but merely filamentous roots. The experi- 
ments of Anderson, showing the injury occasioned to potatoes 
by the hasty removal of their leaves, are conclusive against 
this practice. 
The digging the crop has always been looked upon by 
great cultivators as the most difficult part of this branch of 
husbandry, and has been the main cause of their unwilling- 
ness to undertake it on a large scale. This fear, has, how- 
ever, greatly diminished; it has, indeed, been found, that the 
getting in may be performed with greater expedition and fa- 
cility than was formerly thought possible. They are taken 
up by means of a mattock, or potatoe hoe. When they are 
planted aecording to my method, one man can with such an 
instrument easily prepare work for twelve pickers. In this 
manner potatoes can be taken up with less work than with 
the plough. ° 
In gathering potatoes, I make use of boxes, which hold 
about thirty bushels, and are placed on waggons. In one 
side of these boxes is an opening, which shuts by means of a 
sliding door. When the boxes arrive at the barn the door is 
opened and a kind of gutter adapted to the opening, and 
along this gutter the potatoes descend to the place intended 
for them. 
Potatoes dug in dry weather may with safety be placed 
immediately in a cellar, or store-house, protected from frost ; 
but the place in which they are kept must be left open, to 
afford a free circulation of air, till cold weather comes on. 
