AGRICULTURE. 
if they are harvested favourably, their straw 
is valuable, and, at all events, may be con- 
verted into admirable dung. By a bad 
crop of peas, the land is often filled with 
weeds ; but though a crop of beans should 
be extremely bad, the land may neverthe- 
less be in the highest state of cleanness. 
The quantity of seed differs according to 
the variety of the grain. About two bushels 
of the horse-beans per acre, in rows equi- 
distant, at eighteen inches, is a proper al- 
lowance, and February is the month in 
which they should be put in. 
Buck-wheat is known to a vast majority 
of the farmers of this kingdom only by 
name. It has, however, numerous excel- 
lencies, is of an enriching nature, and pre- 
pares well for wheat, or any other crop. 
One bushel of seed is sufficient to sow an 
acre, which is only about the fourth part of 
the expense of seed barley. It is sold at 
the same price as barley, and is equal to it 
far the fatting of hogs and poultry. The end 
of May is the proper season for its being 
sown, and grass seeds may be sown with 
it, if the practice should be thought in any 
instance eligible, with more advantage than 
with any other grain, unless barley may be 
excepted. Buck-wheat may be sown even 
so late as the first week in July, a circum- 
stance by which the period of tillage is con- 
siderably protracted, and an ameliorating 
crop may thus be produced, after the usual 
period has, from any unavoidable or casual 
occurrence, been neglected. 
Potatoes form a most important article of 
food, both for the human species and for 
cattle, and are an inestimable substitute 
for bread formed of grain, the best resource 
in periods of scarcity of wheat ; and, hap- 
pily, when the crops of grain fail, through 
redundant moisture, the potatoe is far from 
being equally injured, and sometimes is even 
benefited by the wet season. The choice 
of soil for the culture of this root is of prime 
importance. Potatoes never make palatable 
nourishment for man if grown in a clay soil, 
or in rank, black loam, although in these 
circumstances they are well fitted for cattle, 
and relished by them, and also produced in 
great abundance. They grow to perfection for 
human food in gravelly and sandy soils. The 
drill should be universally preferred for their 
cultivation. In September, or October, the 
field intended for them should have succes- 
sively a rousing furrow, a cross braking, 
and the operation of the cleaning harrow ; 
and being formed into three-feet ridges, 
should remain in that state till April, which 
is the proper season for planting this root. 
After cross-braking them, to raise in a 
small degree the ftirrows, well-rotted horse- 
dung should be laid along them, on which 
the roots should be laid at eight inches dis- 
tance. The plough should then pass once 
round every row, to cover them. As soon 
as they appear above ground, the plough 
should be passed round them a second time, 
laying on the plants about an inch, or some- 
what more, of mould, in addition. When 
they have attained the height of six inches, 
the plough should go twice along the middle 
of each interval, in opposite directions, lay- 
ing earth first to one row, and then to an- 
other ; and, to apply it more closely to the 
roots, a spade should afterwards be used to 
cover four inches of the plants, and bury 
all the weeds. The weeds which arise af- 
terwards must be extirpated by the hand, 
as the hoes would go too deep, and damage 
the roots of the plants. From ten to fif- 
teen bushels will be sufficient to plant an 
acre, the produce of which may probably 
be three hundred bushels. Sets should be 
cut for some few before they are planted, 
with at least one eye to each, and not in 
very small pieces, and the depredations of 
the grub upon them may be effectually pre- 
vented by scattering on the surface of the 
land about two bushels per acre of lime 
fresh slaked. The most certain method of 
taking them up, is to plough once round 
every row, at the distance of four inches, 
after which they may easily be raised, by a 
three-clawed fork, rather than by a spade, 
and scarcely a single one will by this prac- 
tice be left in the ground. They may with 
care be preserved till the ensuing crop, par- 
ticularly by the allowance necessary till 
April being closely covered in the bam with 
dry and pressed down straw, while the re- 
mainder for the ensuing part of the year is 
buried in a dry cave, mixed with the husks 
of dried oats, sand, or leaves, especially if 
a hay or corn-stack is erected over it. 
Potatoes are subject to a disease called 
the curl, which has drawn the attention of 
sagacious and experienced men, and sug- 
gested, in consequence, a great variety of 
opinions on its cause and remedy. Some 
kinds of this root, however, it is almost 
unanimously agreed, are less susceptible of 
the disease than others, and the old red, the 
golden dun, and the long dun, are the least 
of all so. One or more of the following 
circumstances may be most probably con- 
sidered as causing it ; frost, insects, the 
planting from sets of unripe and large pota- 
