THE SOUTHE 



about one dollar the bushel, an idea may be 

 formed of the loss which our people sustain 

 from the failure to cultivate this crop more 

 .largely. 



Is there any just reason why we may 

 not raise potatoes enough here at home to 

 supply all the demands of our market ? Pre- 

 vious to a late trip, which we made to Green- 

 brier county, we had supposed that there was a 

 sufficient reason in the peculiar character of our 

 climate and soil. Living here in lower Vir- 

 ginia, we are familiar with the well known 

 fact, that it was impossible, or nearly so, to 

 raise Irish potatoes in this latitude which would 

 keep through the winter well, and that even 

 when they were so preserved, they were not 

 suitable for seeding purposes the ensuing spring. 

 In our own case we had experienced these diffi- 

 culties, and, in common with our neighbours, 

 year after year, had been compelled to buy for 

 seed, potatoes which were raised in the Nor- 

 thern States. Convinced thus by our own 

 experience and observation of the impractica- 

 bility of cultivating this crop, except as a spring 

 and summer crop, in the tide-water section of 

 the State, and ignorant of the vast capabilities 

 of the Piedmont Valley and Trans-Alleghany 

 districts, we- are disposed to acquiesce in the 

 existing state of things as a condition of affairs 

 which could not be remedied, and are still of 

 the opinion that Irish potatoes cannot be 

 successfully and profitably cultivated in this 

 portion of the State. It will pay to raise them 

 even here for consumption in the spring, sum- 

 mer, and fall, but not to keep through the win- 

 ter. * • 



What we observed, during the jaunt before 

 referred to, gave us entirely new ideas of what 

 the State can do in regard to the Irish potatoe 

 crop and of the remissness of our people in this 

 particular. There we found a soil and a climate 

 equal for this purpose to any in- the world, and 

 the potatoes grown so excellent in quality, and 

 brought to perfection with so little trouble and 

 expense, that we could only wonder and admire. 

 Think of a soil into which you may drop the 

 potatoe, and which is so well adapted to its 

 cultivation that almost without work they grow 

 off finely, yielding a half bushel to the hill, and 

 sometimes producing so liberally that the rich 

 deposit actually bursts the soil, as one gentle- 

 man assured us had happened on his farm re- 

 peatedly. And this too, occurring, as he told 



RN PLANTER. 317 



us, when the tuber was merely dropped in corn 

 rows and left so without special care. And 

 another, a gentleman widely known not only in 

 Virginia, but- throughout these United States, 

 showed us potatoes of most prodigious size, 

 grown on his farm, assuring us at the same 

 time that they were raised with little trouble, 

 yielding a most bountiful return. Facts like 

 these coming to us from the most reliable 

 sources, satisfied us that in the Greenbrier 

 lands, and in other lands of like qualities, we 

 have everything that could be desired, and we 

 see no longer any reason why we may not 

 raise in Virginia an ample supply of Irish po- 

 tatoes. 



As to the quality of the potatoe raised in 

 this region, we speak what we know when we 

 pronounce them to be unsurpassed in all the 

 requisites of good potatoes by any raised any 

 where, whether in this or the old world. 



They are altogether different from the wa- 

 tery, insipid productions of our gardens and 

 farms hereabouts, and as they are of necessity 

 planted late, and matured late, they must pos- 

 sess those very qualities which will enable 

 them to withstand the frosts of winter, preserve 

 their good qualities, and may, for all that we 

 can see to the contrary, entirely supersede 

 the necessity of sending North for potatoes 

 for spring seeding in tide-water Virginia. 

 A little incident will perhaps confirm our 

 judgment of the quality of these roots. See- 

 ing some Irish laborers at work, and ascertain- 

 ing on enquiry that they earned but seventy- 

 five cents per day, we asked, " why don't you 

 go to Richmond, where you can make double 

 these wages/' when one of them replied, his 

 face beaming with satisfaction, "faith and you 

 should see the praties they have here." 



Heretofore the farmers of the part of the 

 State to which we now refer, have had no in- 

 ducement to cultivate this crop extensively, be- 

 cause shut in by the hills, they could find no 

 market to which they could carry what they 

 couttnot consume. This hindrance will spee- 

 dily oe removed, and it is in view of that fact 

 that we call upon them to raise the po- 

 tatoe in sufficient quantities to supply the 

 market of our eastern cities and towns through 

 the winter, and until the crop of the summer is 

 sufficiently advanced for use. At present, in 

 Richmond, Petersburg, Alexandria, Norfolk 

 and other places from October to June, the whole 



