418 



On the Culture of the Potatoe. 



leaves upon the top of a very tall stem, and down again to the 

 roots, and tubers. 



The Potatoes, in the extraordinary crop of which I have above 

 spoken, were not washed, and therefore a deduction must be made 

 for a portion of soil which adhered to them : but that was small, 

 owing to the dryness, and nature of the soil. Supposing a deduc- 

 tion of one hundred and sixty-four bushels be made in the above- 

 mentioned account, and to afford Potatoes sufficient to plant the acre 

 of ground again, eight hundred bushels would still remain, and these, 

 if judiciously given to proper animals, would certainly give twelve 

 hundred pounds of animal food. For this purpose early varieties of 

 Potatoes possess great advantages; because all our domesticated 

 animals thrive most on Potatoes after these have begun to germi- 

 nate : and if those of early, and of course of very excitable habits, 

 be taken up and collected into heaps, as soon as they have acquired 

 maturity, they will germinate in autumn, and be fit for use without 

 being boiled, through the winter. Potatoes, of such varieties, are, 

 however, wholly unfit for human food, late in the Spring ; and for 

 such purpose those of later, and less excitable habits must be cul- 

 tivated. Of such kinds in the last season, which was not favourable 

 owing to the plants having suffered injury from drought, I obtained 

 a produce varying from twenty to twenty-four tons per acre, the 

 soil being naturally light and poor, and not more highly manured 

 than would have been necessary for a crop of Swedish Turnips. 



