354 
Cultivation of the Potato. 
purify the atmosphere within the heap. A trench should be dug 
round the outside of the heap at least 6 inches deeper than the 
bottom of the heap, which will drain it in case of wet ; nothing is 
more injurious than the water Iving about the bottom of the heap. 
A sort of thatch should be put on the outside of the mould about 
the beginning of December to keep out the frost, but should be 
removed quite as soon as the beginning of Alarch. Late potatoes 
may be kept fresh as when dug till the beginning of May by this 
practice, when they may be taken away, and put into any dark and 
cool place till used. 
I should not have troubled the Society with this short Essay 
but for the complaints which are so very common about curl. 
Bobbing Joans, rot, &c. I do say, and it cannot be too strongly 
urged, that half the failures in the potato crop might be avoided 
if proper care was taken in cultivation, preservation, and selection 
for seed. 
How common it is to see a field of potatoes, in a wet situation, 
just put in with the horse-plough, wuthout any regard to the selec- 
tion or the manner of planting, without stopping to inquire whether 
the plant requires a light soil or a heavy one, a dry situation or a 
wet one, whether the soil should be liollow or close, — there they are 
planted ! If a failure ensue, it is imputed to a bad season or bad 
soil, or the disease called the curl is said to be in the ground; but 
there is no glance at the real cause — bad cultivation. 
I can assure my friends in the low counties that if they would 
take a little more pains to ridge their wet and adhesive soil, so 
that the potatoes may stand out of the water, to use the best means 
of making the soil light and friable by turning it in dry and frosty 
weather, and by mixing with it unfermented manure ; if they were 
a little more particular in choosing their seed; if they were a little 
more particular in choosing a dry time for their operations; if 
they were more particular in choosing a good dry situation for 
preserving them in ; I can tell them, from practical experience, 
that we should not hear one quarter so much about failures, curl, 
rot, or anything of this sort ; and I can say, from practical experi- 
ence, that their additional trouble would be repaid 100 per cerlt. 
Much has been said and written about picking off the blossoms 
from potatoes, but a question arises, whether it will pay ? I can 
positively say it will not. 
I have no doubt that if v, e could manage to get the blossoms 
picked off without deranging the foliage, or otherwise disturbing 
the plant, it might make a sliglit difference in the crop. But if 
we come to consider that at the time when the blossom is formed the 
plant nearly covers the ground, we shall find that we cannot send 
boys or women amongst them to gather the blossoms without very 
much injuring the foliage and otherwise deranging the plant. 
