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LXIV. A further account of experiments upon the cultivation of 

 the Potatoe, made in the Garden of the Horticultural Society, 

 in the year 1834. By John Lindley, Ph. D. F. R. S. Assistant 

 Secretary. 



Read January 20, 1834. 



though the Experiments already laid before the Society* 

 seem abundantly sufficient to prove the advantage of planting po- 

 tatoes, wider apart and deeper than is the usual practice, and to con- 

 firm Mr. Knight's statements of the results that he has obtained ; 

 yet it appeared desirable to repeat the comparison of whole tubers 

 and sets, and to illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of close 

 or distant cropping, by trials with the varieties of potatoes commonly 

 in cultivation among those who supply the markets of London. 



With this view, a quantity of early Champion Potatoes was 

 purchased in the beginning of 1834, and a piece of ground on 

 which no potatoes had been previously grown, was selected for the 

 trial. No manure was employed, nor was the soil by any means 

 in a fertile state for garden ground. 



The ground was divided into four equal parts. In one of these 

 the rows of potatoes were as much as two feet and a half apart ; in 

 another two feet; in a third one foot and a half, and in the 

 fourth only six inches. Half of each division was planted with 

 whole tubers, and half with sets, cut to a single eye. The whole 

 were committed to the ground on the 27th of February, the tubers 

 or sets being, in every case, six inches apart in the rows, and nine 

 inches deep. 



On the 24th of April the points of the potatoes had reached the 



* See pages 153 and 445 of this volume. 



