442 On the Culture of Potatoes. 
" I plant my large Potatoes much in the same way, but with wider 
intervals, according to the height which the stems attain ; thus, one 
which grows a yard high, at six inches distance from centre to centre, 
and three feet six inches, or four feet between the rows, never cutting 
any Potatoe; nor planting one of less weight than a quarter, but gene- 
rally half a pound. By using such large sets, I get very strong and large 
plants, with widely extended roots, very early in the summer. 
" The blossoms take away a good deal of sap, which may be better 
employed in forming Potatoes ; and whenever a Potatoe affords seeds 
freely, I think it almost an insuperable objection to it. As a general 
rule, I think Potatoes ought to be planted in rows, distant from each 
other in proportion to the height of the stems. The height of the stems 
being full three feet, the rows ought to be about four feet apart ; and the 
sets of the very largest varieties planted whole, never to be more distant 
from centre to centre than six inches. By such mode of planting, the 
greatest possible quantities of leaf (the organ, by which alone, blood is 
made) are exposed to the light." 
The philosophy of these able and simple directions may be shortly 
explained: it consists in the exposure of the utmost possible surface of 
the respiratory organs (the leaves) to the agency of the electrising prin- 
ciple of the solar light, — -and of corresponding breadths of soil, to the 
influences of air and heat ; so that the roots may be enabled to extend 
right and left, to a distance somewhat exceeding that of the height of the 
stems and foliage. 
That astonishing crops have been produced under such a method of 
planting, has been ascertained by many. I too, have experienced its 
efficacy, as the following results will testify. 
The Potatoe, called the Early Champion, was that with which I be- 
gan my experiments, early in March, 1831. The soil was that of a 
pasture — a deep brown sandy loam, upon a chalky sub-soil, approach- 
ing to marl. This soil had been trenched in the autumn to the depth of 
two feet, and the turf was inverted at the bottom of each trench. About 
80 Hj of these Potatoes were planted whole, in rows two feet asunder, 
running north and south, the sets about six inches apart crown from 
crown ; but as I could not obtain a sufficiency of the variety at the time, 
I was constrained to employ such as I had, and therefore the size of the 
potatoes was not attended to. The rows were weeded early, and the 
stems advanced regularly till the fatally destructive 6th of May, when 
the frost destroyed and blackened every leaf that had fairly emerged from 
the surface. Thus I lost all the benefit that would have been otherwise 
derived from the early developed leaves ; and consequently, a consider- 
able weight of the advancing crop. In a week or ten days, however, 
fresh shoots were protruded; and as the stems advanced they were deeply 
earthed up, that is, till the whole piece of ground had the appearance of 
