500 On the Advantat/es and Disadvantages of 
i 
2ntl. That no dung- or manure that retains moisture should be 
applieil to the tubers. 3rd. That in sprins: planting, eyes fresh 
scooped from the tubers are as certain to produce a crop as larger 
sets, but they should be planted in land well manured and in 
fine tilth, and not set deeply in the soil. 
I will add, that the haulln of all my potatoes was attacked, 
and showed symptoms of disease on the same day in July; that 
where I cut off the haulm there was less disease in the tubers 
than where it was left ; and that where I pulled up the haulm 
there was still less disease ; that the small size of the tubers in 
lot 12 was probably attributed to the deprivation of haulm at 
this very early stage of their growth. The quality of my whole 
crop was regular, and clean and good, and, having been housed in 
the store-house exactly as in 1845, has shown similar improve- 
ment, and is keeping well. The size of the tubers is two-thirds 
of the average growth of former years. 
, I hope these facts may be useful, and tend to the future im- 
proved management of the potato crops. 
Yours truly, 
PoRTMAN, 
Bryanston, Oct. 29, 1846. 
XXXI. — On the Advantages and Disadvantages of Breakirig up 
Grass Land. By John Clarke, of Long Sutton, Lincoln- 
shire. 
The great and benevolent idea suggested by this subject, the 
conversion of grass lands into tillage, is the extent of the provision 
to be made for the food and employment of the rapidly-increasing 
population of this country. 
It is necessarily incumbent on the producer, the landowner, 
and the occupier, to exert every energy to make the soil pro- 
ductive ; and they conjointly are in duty bound to do so, even to 
the very utmost of its capability. The landlord Ou*ht to give 
every reasonable facility to this end, and the tenant must not be 
niggardly in his expenditure to promote improvements in its cul- 
ture. As it is his duty, so is it to his advantage; nothing pays 
him so well as a judicious application of his capital to the soil he 
cultivates ; land must be kept in a good state of culture, or cer- 
tain loss ensues; bad farming is ruinous to landlord and tenant; 
capital must be liberally expended to bring liberal returns — pro- 
ductive remunerating crops. By this course the tenant is con- 
tinually creating property in the soil by his own capital ; and his 
landlord ought to afford him e\ery encouragement for this pur- 
pose, and every opportunity to secure a favourable return for his 
outlay. This happily, in the present day, is the case : the under- 
