114 
Farming of Yorhshire. 
held liigliest In estimation was that obtained from the mossy or 
peaty land beyond the Grampian Hills running down to the sea- 
coast : these likewise In about ten years shared the fate of their 
predecessors ; but the disease assumed an entirely distinct form, 
viz., that of a dry decay of the tuber, which usually commenced 
shortly after cutting and planting if the weather were warm. 
In 1832 the kidney-potato was generally abandoned for a 
round, deep-eyed, rough-skinned potato Imported from Perthshire. 
This, like the kidney. Improved In value from the change of 
climate and soil, always fetching, when sent to the London 
market, 20 to 30 per cent, more than the produce of the county 
of its origin : these were known by the name of the Scotch reds ; 
their average produce was generally not less than 10 tons per 
statute acre, whilst In some Instances 14 tons have been grown. 
The seed had to be changed every year, and. In 1840, symptoms 
of dry-rot appeared both In the sets and curled tops of the grow- 
ing plants ; to obviate this the seed was then procured from the 
Highland districts extending from Blair Athol to Aberdeenshire. 
The disease. In the form in which it now prevails, was observed 
in Perthshire In the spring of 1844, where, on opening some of 
the pits, discolouration below the skin appeared, which at that 
time was attributed to the weather, particularly to the frost. In 
the following year, however, thousands of tons of the red potatoes 
In that county, which had been taken up apparently sound, be- 
came In a few weeks one mass of corruption. Many attempts 
were made to re-establish this valuable potato by autumn 
planting, selecting particular roots, raising from the apple, &c., 
but all without effect. The regent, an oblong, rough-skinned, 
small-eyed potato, of unknown origin, was next cultivated : In 
appearance it somewhat resembles the shaws and the Cheshire 
white ; it was extensively grown from 1846 to 1856 with occa- 
sional failures ; It Is not a prolific potato, an average crop being 
about 6 tons per statute acre ; It Is now more or less subject, 
according to the atmospheric Influences, to the blight in the haulm 
and decay of the tuber, and the last year may be said to have 
sealed its doom as a staple commodity. In 1852 the fluke, a dry, 
sweet, rather yellow-looking potato, was Introduced out of Lan- 
cashire, and is a great favourite In the London market. At the 
spring of the year a large breadth of land Is now cultivated with 
this description of potato, notwithstanding the expense attendant 
on the seed, which will not produce from more than one eye. 
Even this potato Is showing symptoms of decline ; and a new 
kind called seedlings, a round, small, slippery-skinned, unservice- 
able potato, was some time ago introduced, which has been for 
the last two years comparatively sound, but Is not, and never will 
be, a favourite in the London market. Many other kinds, such 
