350 
Cultivation of the Potato. 
In Xo. 2, the substitution of the breast-plough for the hoe, by 
giving a firm bed to the potatoes, produces an increased yield of 
each kind in each year. In Xo. 3, the use of unripe seed gives 
a further increase throughout upon Xo. 2. Again, Xo. 4 sur- 
passes Xo. 3 each vear, all other things remaining the same, but 
the eye being turned to the bottom of the furrow. This steady 
increase in yield, progressing in accordance with the rules laid 
down above, gives me great confidence in proposing their adoption. 
These e.\periments were made on a piece of poor sandy soil, very 
apt to run together and get baked on the top after heavv rains. 
The Ash-leaves were each year planted the last week in March, 
the Prolifics the third week in April, and the other sorts the 
second week in !May. 
Hoeing is a thing that is not in general done as it ought to 
be. We very often see two horses with a plough between rows 
of potatoes not more than 2 feet apart : sometimes the horses 
tread on the plant, sometimes the plough slips aside ; and when 
this is not the case, if you walk along behind the plough you 
may see large masses of the fibrous roots of the potato exposed 
to the scorching sun, and often torn off. Xow nature teaches 
us, and experience teaches us, that this cannot be right, when 
we might get them hoed in the very best manner for 18a\ per 
acre, that is, Qis. each time of hoeing ; and I can with confidence 
assert, that if manual labour was substituted for horse-labour 
in this particular, the remuneration would be full 30 per cent, 
above that of horse-labour. Our own practice is to hoe them 
slightly as soon as we can see the rows of plants above ground, 
and again in about eight or ten days. If the planting is performed 
with the breast-plough and in dry weather, there is no occasion 
for the hoe to go more than an inch and a half deep, just to loosen 
the surface and to destroy weeds. The third hoeing or earthing 
is performed in about the same time after the second as the second 
is after the first. The plan of earthing potatoes 6 or 7 inches 
high is bad, because the fibrous roots of the potato extend them- 
selves a great ^istance from the set, and by drawing the ijiould 
from between the rows to earth up the stems, a great number 
must be cut off or exposed to the sun. The only real benefit 
derived from earthing up potatoes is, first, to keep the wind from 
breaking them down, and thus hold the stems erect ; secondly, to 
keep the tuber from being exposed to the influence of the wea- 
ther. When it is approaching a state of maturity 2 inches are 
quite sufficient for those purposes, but the wider the bank extends 
the better. 
Hoeing potatoes is a very great help to their vegetative }X)wers, 
especially on those soils that are apt to cake on the top after rain ; 
whether from admitting air to their roots, or from allowing the 
