POTATO. 



253 



merits, mentioned in the paper from which they are ex- 

 tracted. Mr. Buel, of Albany, likewise asserts, that " the 

 best potatoes are grown npon cold, moist, but porous and 

 rich soils." — Am. Farmer ^ vol. ix. p. 409. 



Methods of planting, — These are various. If the land is 

 rough, hard, or stony, the common mode of planting in 

 hills is, perhaps, the most expedient. But, if it be some- 

 what mellow, drills are to be preferred. Dr. Cooper says, 

 ^' If your soil is stilF and wet, plough it in ridges ; if sandy 

 and dry, plough it flat. Plough it deep. Plant your sets 

 in drills marked out by the plough or the hoe. The plants 

 should be dibbled in, six inches deep, on long dung, scat- 

 tered not sparingly along the drills, then covered with 

 about four inches of mould. 



The drills should be in threes - one foot apart ; 



the plants should be eight inches apart, with an interval, on 

 each side of each set of three drills, of two feet, which will 

 admit of horse-hoeing between the sets of drills, and of 

 hand-weeding between each drill. 



To have a good crop, you must not spare dung, or spau' 

 labour in weeding. Some persons prefer sets of four o< 

 five drills, instead of three ; or, where horse-hoeing is no; 

 convenient, the intervals may be reduced to one foot be- 

 tween each set of drills, for the convenience of hand-weed- 

 ing; but, upon the whole, the method here first proposed is 

 as good as any. Forty loads of dung per acre will pay bet- 

 ter than a less quantity. 



If small potatoes are wanted for feeding, the sets may be 

 1 at six inches apart, and the rows at nine inches ; but the 

 1 method first here proposed admits, what is essential, accu- 

 1 rate weeding, and sufficient air to circulate between the 

 I plants." 



Deane says, the sets may be either in single rows, three 

 feet, or double, one foot apart, and from seven to nine inches 

 asunder in the rows. 



" An expeditious way of planting potatoes is as follows ' 

 After the ground is prepared, by ploughing and harrowing^ 

 cut furrows, with the horse-plough, forty inches apart ; drop 

 the sets in the furrows ; then pass the plough along the 

 back of each furrow, which will throw the earth of both 

 furrows upon and afterwards level the ground 



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