On the Cultivated Potato. 
287 
spores supposed to be carried by wet down the stem to the 
tuber. 
Of the conduct of the plant in different countries, I can. 
beyond what has been said, glean but little : this might be a 
profitable line of inquiry. The wild Arizona potato, of which 
I have some specimens in my garden, is said to be palatable 
and nutritious. In India, I believe, the plant usually thrives ; 
it is said it will not grow in Ceylon, except at Candv : whv is 
this ? Lemmon says, that when the first settlers went to Van 
Diemen's Land, one Samuel Bate took half a bushel of potatoes 
of a choice variety ; to his surprise he found five varieties, 
which maintained their distinctiveness for years : afterwards, 
sent to a warmer climate, these degenerated and became again 
one sort. 
Moulding-up or earthing-up, sometimes called Jensen's * 
system, after the learned Director of the " Bureau Ceres," 
Copenhagen, is, as I have shown, no novelty. "Mould-up — ■ 
mould-up monthly or fortnightly," says an old writer in the 
'Gentleman's Magazine' of 1764; and there are constant refer- 
ences to this practice through all the literature, some for and 
some against, as cutting the fibres : the famous old Scotch 
Judge, Lord Kaims, in his ' Gentleman Farmer,' 1798, was of 
this opinion. On the whole, earthing-up appears rather in 
favour than otherwise, but the importance of the practice should 
not be overrated. 
As to practical cultivation, the reader wdll find this branch of 
our subject exhaustively treated in the ' Journal ' of the Society,! 
and in the Report of the House of Commons Committee of 
1880. The Royal Agricultural Society sent a paper of queries 
to all parts of Great Britain and Ireland, and the replies have 
been admirably arranged by Mr. Jenkins. These two Reports 
to their respective dates absolutely fix the existing systems : 
there you will find amply treated the practical questions of 
ridge or flat, ventilation and space ; % the over distance which 
makes coarse, the narrowing in space which fines the tubers : 
early and late planting, manures, and varieties : these, and verv 
many other considerations and details of cultivation which must 
be passed over here, are of the deepest interest to the practical 
cultivator. But before we turn from our practical retrospect 
from the farmer's standpoint to consider American experience, 
let me commend the following as the most practical of all 
* Pamphlet, ' How to overcome the Potato Disease.' Edinburgh and Glasgow ; 
Menzies & Co., 1882. 
t 'Journal,' R. A. S. E., vol. x. 1874. 
X ' Journal/E.A. S. E., vol. si. p. 395. ' Disease-proof Potatoes.' Mr. Carruthers' 
rejiort on the results of the competition of 1871. The result of Mr. Maw's experi- 
ments gave only 2 square feet to each set. 
