A POTATO HOE. 



117 



s ipply of soil for earthing. The rule to plant first early sorts 

 9 inches or 1 • foot from set to set and 2 feet apart in the rows, 

 second earlies and small topped maincrops 1 foot by 2| feet, and 

 coarse topped varieties 15 inches by 3 feet is good. 



What is a good crop of Potatoes 1 In this connection I am 

 irresistibly reminded of one of the sermon-paper experts, who 

 happened to find himself on a platform extolling the virtues of an 

 artificial manure formula that he had read of somewhere. One of 

 the horny-handed sons of toil present asked how many Potatoes it 

 would grow per rod, and received the startling reply, "About 20 

 sacks." I have no such dazzling prospect as this to hold out. One 

 sack of a hundredweight and a half per square rod, pole or perch, 

 equal to 12 tons per acre, is a very good crop. Once, and once only, 

 I saw two sacks per rod lifted. The variety was Up-to-Date. 



Those who are interested in the question of how many Potatoes 

 can be grown from a given quantity of seed may be reminded of a com- 

 petition which took place some twenty-seven years ago, the quantity 

 allowed being 1 lb. A Kentish gardener was the victor, and history 

 records (truthfully let ns hope) that he produced 647 lb. of Potatoes. 

 I must confess to having nourished " doots " about this, but I once met 

 with a person who claimed to know all about the matter. He 

 informed me that a strong local committee checked all the pro- 

 ceedinrs of the victorious gardener, and that there is no doubt that the 

 record is perfectly accurate and genuine. My informant certainly 

 astonished me in one respect. He stated that "the way in which the 

 grower treated his seed was to remove the eyes with a gouge and 

 establish them. I just remember the variety. Eureka, a hideously 

 coarse Potato, lumbered with eyes ; but all the same I was, and am, 

 surprised to hear that enough plants to yield such an enormous crop 

 were secured in this way. I should have thought a great many more 

 plants could have been secured by starting the sprouts in a box on 



