1908.] Small Holdings in Lancashire. 565 



top of the ridge with a dibbler, and filled, after the sets have 

 been deposited in them, by the stroke of a fork, or they are 

 worked in with a spade. In the latter method of planting, a 

 workman sticks his spade into the ridge and lifts the soil a 

 little both upward and forward, while another labourer deposits 

 a set in the hole he has thus made. When the spade is with- 

 drawn the soil falls back over the set. Anyone unacquainted 

 with this mode of planting would think it slow and expensive, 

 but it is not really so. A couple of workers taking turns at 

 the spade and the potato-basket can plant three-quarters of 

 an acre in a day. The open furrows and the sides of the ridges 

 are kept clean after planting by means of horse-hoeing, and, 

 if it can be done without injury to the sets, saddle harrows 

 are run over the tops of the ridges. As soon as the whole of 

 the young shoots are well above ground the crop is hand-hoed 

 and cleaned, the cultivator, set as wide as possible without 

 disturbing the potatoes, is worked deeply between the rows, 

 after which the crop is moulded up. This often completes 

 the cultivation of the potato crop to the time of digging, but 

 more frequently it is followed by another round of the cultivator 

 and moulding plough. 



Plants for the catch crop have by this time been raised on 

 a seed-becl, and the furrows between the ridges are now prepared 

 for their reception. Little mounds of earth are made along 

 the furrows by means of a horse implement known locally 

 as a " rooker," the working parts of which consist of one or 

 more cultivator tines and a spade. The tines stir the soil, 

 which is then collected by the spade and deposited at intervals 

 of 2 J or 2\ ft. by the workman lifting the handles. A wheel 

 in front regulates the depth of the work. Planted upon these 

 mounds the cabbages or cauliflowers become well established 

 and make a certain amount of growth before the potato crop 

 is removed. Varieties of potatoes which produce little or only 

 a moderate amount of haulm are preferred on account of their 

 favouring the catch crop. The potatoes are necessarily dug 

 by hand and the green haulm is buried in the furrows. As 

 soon as the cabbage or cauliflower crop has entire possession 

 of the land, a dressing of nitrate of soda is usually applied. 

 The remaining cultivation is simple, consisting merely of once 

 cultivating between the rows and moulding up, and tends to 



