10 Cultivation of the Potatoe. 
The amount of producé of each variety must be taken into 
consideration, but the value calculated according to the quan- 
tity of nutritive matter contained init. This may be judged 
of approximately by the sensation which the fleshy part of 
the tuber produces when applied to the tongue; or more ac- 
curately by cutting the tubers in pieces, drying them, and com- 
paring their weight in the dry state with what it was before ; 
but an accurate estimate is only to be made by chemical an- 
alysis. Great bulk is by no means desirable, if it be not 
attended with increase in the quantity of starch: for the pota- 
toes then take up more room, although their intrinsic value 
remains the same, and they are more likely to be spoiled. 
In other respects when potatoes are cultivated for sale, the 
choice must be directed by the taste of purchasers. 
Potatoes will grow on soils of all descriptions, and in favor- 
able weather will yield a good crop, even on moving sand, 
provided that it has been well manured. On a stony soil, 
well prepared, and lightened with dung, containing straw, 
the success of the potatoe is certain; though a sandy soil is 
best adapted to it. 
On clearings and marsh lands, provided the soil has been 
well drained, and especially if the turf has been burned upon 
it, potatoes thrive particularly well, and sometimes yield a 
very large produce. 
It is generally admitted that potatoes grow larger after 
recent manuring; they will, however, yield a good crop even 
when raised as a second or third crop ; but the soil will then 
be greatly exhausted. J have never even thought of assert- 
ing that potatoes do not impoverish the soil; on the contrary 
Thave stated that they do so; they do not, howeyer, exhaust 
the resources of the establishment in general, but increase 
those resources to aconsiderable extent, if they are given as 
Sood to the cattle. 
On strong land, fresh dung mixed with straw is most ben- 
