Glimpses of Farming in the Channel Islands. 377 
I frequently met twenty or thirty carts loaded with vraic coming 
up a road from the seashore. It costs practically nothing be- 
sides the labour of getting it — only a nominal fee of a shilling 
a year being charged for the right of cutting it from the rocks 
on some parts of the coast, and, I believe, not even that in 
others. Moreover, a great deal, of course, depends upon whether 
a farmer and his sons do all the work or have to employ others 
to assist in collecting the seaweed. At any rate, the ardour for 
collecting it is still considerable ; one wealthy farmer, by way of 
illustrating the fact, having assured me that his son had been 
out all nisfht at the work, and this more than once during^ the 
week. Women used to help in the gathering, but seldom do so 
now. Sometimes the seaweed is burnt, and the ashes are applied 
as a dressing for the potato crop. In that case I think it may 
be taken for granted that the ashes cost a great deal more per 
cwt. than equally valuable artificial manure would cost. 
Before referring to the returns of the potato crop, a few 
remarks upon its cultivation are desirable. To begin with, 
nothing is more important in the system pursued in Jersey 
than the careful preservation and prepai-ation of the seed tubers. 
In the first place, a frequent change of seed is regarded as 
essential, and seed tubers of the Aslileaf and other varieties are 
imported from England regularly. In the first year after im- 
portation the crop is abundant, but rather later than that grown 
from Jersey seed. In the second year the stock is in its perfec- 
tion, earliness and yield being both satisfactory. After that 
the vigour of the stock deteriorates, as shown in declining yield,' 
and it is desirable to have a fresh lot of English seed after the 
third year. 
Whether home-grown or imported, the seed consists of 
whole sets, as a rule, rather small tubers being alone saved for 
seed. These are placed, eyes upwards, in shallow boxes of 
thin deal, where they remain till taken out into the field to be 
planted. The boxes are piled up one upon another in a shed or 
barn, and the seed is taken in them to the field without having 
been disturbed. The tubers have by that time sent out strong 
green shoots, about an inch in length, which are carefully kept 
uppermost in planting. In this way the produce is brought to 
such a degree of maturity as it is allowed to reach, a month 
earlier than it would be if potatoes without shoots were planted. 
The system of cultivating the land for potatoes is well described 
by Colonel Le Cornu in his prize essay on " The Potato in Jersey," 
in the sixth volume of the present series of the ' Journal ' (1870). 
In ploughing, a small plough drawn by two horses is used, 
turning a 16-inch furrow, about 4 inches deep. This is followed 
