38 A Method of obtaining Early Crops of New Potatoes. 



of all those varieties of the Potatoe, which do not naturally vege- 

 tate till late in the spring. 



I am not prepared to say what weight of New Potatoes may be 

 obtained from any given weight of old ; but I have reason to think 

 that the young will be equal to the weight of one third at least of 

 the old ; and (as I have shewn in a communication two years ago*) 

 that more than thirty-five thousand pounds of our best and earliest 

 variety of Potatoe, now cultivated, may be obtained from an acre 

 of ground, the mode of culture recommended will not be found 

 expensive, (where artificial heat is not employed) comparatively 

 with the usual price of New Potatoes early in the season. Hogs 

 if hungry will eat the old tubers, when the young have been taken 

 away ; but those probably contain little nutriment, and their value 

 therefore may not be worth calculating. 



Two early varieties only of Potatoe have been the subjects of 

 the above stated experiments : but there does not appear any reason 

 to doubt that similar success may be obtained with all other early 

 kinds. 



* Hort. Trans. 1st Series, Vol. VII. p. 407-8. 



