Tlie Potato in Jersey. 
133 
supply of London, and of other large towns in the kingdom, 
and bv this culture derive a highly important and lucrative em- 
ployment. This change in the cultivation of potatoes in Jersey 
was first practised some 10 years after the manifestation of 
disease in the late crops, when the success of the undertaking 
became so apparent, that it was not long before all the sheltered 
portion of the south coast of the island was devoted to the plant, 
and new life again restored to that which some years l)efore was, 
as it were, lifeless. Now, not only do we see the early potato 
flourishing in these exceptional sheltered nooks, but also the 
broader fields on the high lands teeming with the luxuriant 
vegetation of these early crops, and the produce standing pre- 
eminently with that of the sister isle among the earliest and best 
in the provision markets of London. 
Let us g-lance for a moment at the chang-es which have taken 
place in its mode of culture since the first introduction of the 
potato to Jersey. We have observed that, originally, the potato 
was cultivated possibly more as an object of curiosity than other- 
wise. It is, therefore, perfectly natural to conjecture that the cul- 
tivation was proportionately roughly attended to ; small patches in 
the corners of the then abounding orchards * were occasionally met 
with ; frequently these patches were irregularly planted, and the 
tubers dug out as required ; indeed the whole affair managed, as 
we now see, in the out-of-the-way corners of a garden, a bed of 
Jerusalem artichokes, or what is known as the lazy-bed system. 
We must also bear in mind that the varieties of potatoes then 
existing were very unlike those which are now in use. They 
were large, knotty, and coarse ; and it was only after years of 
improved cultivation and treatment that this tuber became the 
palatable article which it now is. In the article written by 
Quayle, which we have quoted, is well described the attention 
which the potato received after it may be said to have been 
thoroughly established as a field crop in the island. To the 
culture of this plant is certainly due the system of drilling, 
or, rather, of lineal planting in our husbandry ; nor must we 
forget the introduction of deep ploughing, so well known here as 
" la fjrande charruer Neither let us overlook the feasts, nor the 
political discussions which at one time accompanied the work. 
The system of deep ploughing must have wrought a wonderful 
change in our fields ; we are told that before that, the potato 
was a dirty and ill-cared-for crop. We can well conceive that 
the use of " la grande charrue " has tended much to bring the 
state of our soil to that degree of productiveness which it now 
possesses ; and we can also readily imagine that in its work it 
has cleared many a field of those net-works of roots from the 
* Orcliards are said to have then occupied one-fourth of the arable land. 
