CULTURE OF THE POTATO 
29 
as, beside the rent, he is paid for the manuring his land 
for a succeeding crop, be it wheat or barley ,* hence 
land is always to be obtained by the cotter, upon appli- 
cation. We have a marked instance in the year 1825 
how little we can predict what the product of this crop 
will be, or the change that alteration of weather may 
effect,* for after the drought of the summer, after our 
apprehensions, our dismay (for the loss of this root is a 
very serious calamity), the produce of potatoes was 
generally fair, in places abundant ,* many acres yielding 
full eighty sacks, which, at the digging out price of 6s . 
the sack, gave a clear profit to the laborer of lll.ls. 6cL 
per acre ! But at any rate it gives infinite comfort to the 
poor man, which no other article can equally do, and a 
plentiful subsistence, when grain would be poverty and 
want. The injudicious manner in which some farmers 
have let their land has certainly, under old acts of par- 
liament, brought many families into a parish ; but we 
have very few instances where a potato-land renter to 
any extent is supported by the parish. In this village 
a very large portion of our peasantry inhabit their own 
cottages, the greater number of which have been ob- 
tained by their industry, and the successful culture of 
this root. The getting in and out of the crop is solely 
performed by the cotter and his family : a child drops a 
set in the dibble-hole or the trench made by the father, 
the wife with her hoe covering it up ; and in harvesting 
all the family are in action; the baby is wrapped up 
when asleep in its mother’s cloak, and laid under the 
shelter of some hedge, and the digging, picking, and 
conveying to the great store-heap commences ; a primi- 
tive occupation and community of labor, that I believe 
no other article admits of or affords. 
It has been said that the culture of the potato is in- 
jurious to the farm in general, and I know landlords 
who restrict the growth of it ; but perhaps the extent 
of injury has been greatly overrated. The potato, it is 
true, makes no return to the land in straw for manure, 
and a large portion of that which is made in the barton 
is occasionally required for its cultivation ; and thus it 
is said to consume without any repayment what is 
C 2 
