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XLVII. On the Culture of the Potatoe. By Thomas 

 Andrew Knight, Esq. F. R. S. fyc. President. 



Read July 1, 1828. 



Wh ate ver may have been the amount of the advantages, 

 or injury, which the British Empire has sustained by the very 

 widely extended culture of the Potatoe, it is obvious that 

 under present existing circumstances it must continue to be 

 very extensively cultivated ; for though it is a calamity to have 

 a numerous population who are compelled by poverty to live 

 chiefly upon Potatoes, it would certainly be a much greater 

 calamity to have the same population without their having 

 Potatoes to eat. 



Under this view of the subject, I have been led to endeavour 

 to ascertain, by a course of experiments, the mode of culture 

 by which the largest and most regular produce of Potatoes, 

 and of the best quality, may be obtained from the least extent 

 and value of ground ; and having succeeded best by deviating 

 rather widely from the ordinary rules of culture, I send the 

 following account of the results of my experiments. These 

 were made upon different varieties of Potatoes ; but as the 

 results were in all cases nearly the same, I think that I shall 

 most readily cause the practice I recommend to be understood 

 by describing minutely the treatment of a single variety only, 

 which I received from the Horticultural Society, under the 

 name of Lankman's Potatoe. 



