Rational Potato Culture. 
407 
this could be done by the adoption of rational methods of thorough 
cultivation, procedds rationnels de culture intensive, which he has 
duly formulated. During the last few years an increasing band of 
workers, comprising potato growers upon a large as well as a very 
small scale, have responded to his appeals to help him by making 
experiments in various parts of France to demonstrate the value of 
his system. The results of these were successively published in 
1889, 1890, and 1891, and showed clearly and satisfactorily that 
M. Girard’s recommendations are valuable ; but the records of the 
far more numerous experiments of 1892 prove that by carrying 
them out thoroughly the potato crop can be largely increased, 
although the weather may be excessively dry, and not by any means 
suitable for potato growing, especially upon dry soils. 
Of the 600 cultivators who co-operated with M. Girard in 1892 
421 cultivators, having among them 1,590 acres of land planted with 
potatoes, furnished valuable and reliable reports. These M. Girard 
divides into three groups : — 
The first group (grande culture ) comprised eighty-four growers, who had 
from 2£ to 140 acres of potatoes, the whole extent cultivated by them being 
1,450 acres. 
The second group (moyenne culture') was composed of 107 growers, 
having from 80 poles to 2| acres of land planted with potatoes, the total 
extent being 103 acres. 
The third group ( petite culture ) comprised 230 small cultivators, whose 
total potato acreage amounted to 40 acres, divided into plots ranging from 
4 to 80 poles. 
M. Girard gives the results obtained in each of the above groups, 
fixing a crop of 12 tons per acre as the line of demarcation, in his 
estimation, between good and inferior crops : — 
1st group (grande cul- 
ture ) , acreage from 2^ 
to 140 acres 
12 tons and upwards ) 
per acre . ,J 
Below 12 tons perl 
acre . . ' ,J 
2nd group (moyenne 
culture ), 80 poles tO' 
2£ acres , . . 
12 tons and upwards 1 
per acre . 
Below 12 tons perl 
acre . . . f 
3rd group (petite cul- 
ture), 4 poles to 
poles 
ul- f 
80-J 
12 tons and upwards \ 
per acre 
Below 12 tons per 
acre , , 
* * » 
No. of Acreage 
cultivators of potatoes 
49 962 
35 488 
84 1,450 
62 60 
45 40 
107 100 
111 20 
119 20 
230 40 
421 1,590 
General Total 
