376 GUmjyses of Farming in the Channel Islands. 
Experienced farmers in Jersey say tliat many of the small 
holders of land devote too much of it to the potato crop, and 
frequently lose by so doing. For instance, they have to pay 
considerable amounts for hay and straw imported from France 
for their cattle. !Many of them grow potatoes year after year 
for several years on the same land, which is only saved from 
deterioration by a heavy expenditure in manures. A second 
crop is always taken after potatoes, consisting of roots of some 
kind, or " seeds " when the land is to have a rest for a year or 
two, or occasionally barley. Probably when hay and straw are 
cheap, and potatoes sell fairly, the profits on the latter crop 
more than make up for the expenditure on imported fodder ; 
but last year high prices had to be paid for both hay and straw. 
The details as to the cost of growing a verrjee of potatoes 
were supplied to me by Mr. Joshua Le Gros, and I add below 
the corresponding amounts per acre : — 
Cost op Giiowixg Potatoes ix Jeusey 
Per rergee 
Per acre 
£ 
J. 
d. 
£ 
s. 
<f. 
■1 
0 
0 
9 
0 
0 
Seed 
4 
0 
0 
9 
0 
0 
4 
0 
0 
9 
0 
0 
Guano or artificial ..... 
4 
0 
0 
9 
0 
0 
1 
0 
0 
2 
5 
0 
Digging 
1 
5 
0 
2 
IC 
3 
0 
12 
0 
1 
7 
0 
Ploughing, hoeing, picking up, &c. 
1 
3 
0 
2 
11 
9 
20 
0 
0 
45 
0 
0 
It is considered that at least SOL an acre must be received 
from the sale of potatoes in order to pay the Jersey farmer, and 
it is clear that, on his small acreage, he needs more than that, 
although liis second crop, grown at a very small expense, must 
not be lost sight of. When a man and his family do all the 
work, the expense of raising the potato crop is, of course, 
greatly reduced, especially when seaweed — vraic^ as it is termed 
— is chiefly relied on as manure. It is not deemed the best 
practice to apply seaweed directly to the potato crop, though ifc 
is often done. The better plan is to put it on for the temporary 
pasture or " seeds," after which the potatoes are grown. 
Seaweed is highly prized by the people of Jersey as a 
manure, and no doubt it contains some of the constituents in 
which their soil is deficient, including the potash so essential to 
the potato crop. The cost of the labour in obtaining it, how- 
ever, is so great that it is a question whether what it supplies 
to the land could not be more cheaply obtained. In !Marchlast 
