November 4. 
THE COTTAGE GAKDENEK. 
77 
object is to save seed, and give more light and air to the 
jilants. I plant on ridges, tliree feet wide, one row down 
the centre, choosing the linest Potatoes, and placing them 
thirty inches apart. I liat-hoe early, and when the stalks 
are nine or ten inches long, they are spread from the centre, 
forming a circle, and the earth is pulled by hand over the 
middle of the plant; this process is repeated whenever the 
earth cracks. 
“ I succeeded this last year in my garden in producing from 
a ridge fifteen feet by tliree feet, lbs. of Potatoes, from 
six planted whole in March last. The several weights 
were l.bltis., 15 lbs., 12 lbs., ll^-lbs., bflbs., bibs. Each 
Potato a different sort. Of the first, the Old Guernsey, six. 
tubers weighed more than (libs., and of the second, a pink 
Icidney, there were not more than forty Potatoes to make up 
the ] 5 lbs. All the Potatoes were particularly fine." 
We liopeJ to have had tliis year the results of a still 
Larger experiment tried by the same esteemed corre- 
pondent. lie, however, is gone from this world of 
experiments to that of realities; and we have tliis letter 
in reply to our inquiries :—“ 1 have looked particularly 
to the experiments of the Potatoes planted by my late 
brother, and am sorry that I am not able to furnish you 
witli any proofs of success of his intended mode of 
cultivation. Owing to his illness and inability to attend 
personally to them his directions were not carried out. 
He had planted them, on a large scale, in tlie field on the 
jilain, in rows three feet wide and two feet apart, in drills; 
but instead of being laid after the first hoeing, and the 
earth brought up to the centre, they were hoed up in 
ridges in the ordinary way; consequently no fresh roots 
formed as last year, and the produce was deficient in 
consequence. Still the crop was equal in weight to those 
planted in drills of twenty-two inches in width, and much 
finer in sample, being all fit for general purposes, whilst 
at least one-third on the narrow drills were small; and 
although it would appear to be a great waste of ground, 
yet, from the above statement, it proves that the wide 
drills and deep earthing are most desirable. I strongly 
recommend to all small occupiers to adopt the mode of 
cultivation tried by my brother last year, as I am con¬ 
vinced, from what I see by the crop this year, although 
not carried out according to his plan, that it will suc¬ 
ceed. I would also notice that, in this same field of 
several acres in wliicli many of the labourers had their 
winter crop, there was not one exception in which they 
were not diseased and rotten to that extent as to be 
scarcely worth the expense of taking up. Whilst in the 
deep experimental drills I do not think there was one 
affected.” 
We will only observe upon this that the writer is a 
highly intelligent, practical fanner, and one of the most 
extensive holders in the county of Somerset. 
! EOESYTH MSS. 
j If Sir .John Sinclair had achieved nothing more 
I in the course of the fourscore-and-two years of his life 
than gathering together and publishing his Code of 
Agriculture, his Code of Health, and his Statistical 
Account of Scotland, ho would have left sufficient 
monuments of his untiring industry; an industry the 
I more praiseworthy, because unstimulated by necessity. 
He was the third son of G. Sinclair, Esq., heritable 
sheriff of Caithness, and was born in that county, at 
Thurso Castle, in the May of 1754. Embracing the 
legal profession, ho was admitted a member of the 
faculty of advocates in Scotland, immediately that he 
was out of his nonage, and was called to the bar in 
England, about seven years later, in 1782, having 
previously to this sat in Parliament for his native 
county and other places. Although thus enrolled 
among the makers and interpreters of our laws, neither 
of their occupations were his favoured employments; 
for his heart was given to the cultivation of the soil. 
Flemish Agriculture, Merino Sheep, Oil as a Manure, 
the culture and uses of the Potato, the origin of Cattle 
Shows and Agricultural Meetings, and Shell Marl as a 
manure for Turnips, by turns, were the subjects of his 
researches, and were descanted upon by his pen. Nor 
were other subjects, though not strictly agricultural, 
if connected with the industrial produce of his native 
country, without receiving their share of his attention. 
An instance of this is afforded by the following letter, 
dated from Whitehall, Eebruary 19th, 1793 :— 
Sm JOHN SINCI.ATR TO MR. FORSYTH. 
It has lately occiu’red to me, that some of the French 
emigrants, who are now in this country, might be employed 
in a manner that would not be disagreeable to them, and 
would be useful to this country, in the culture of silk ; but, 
from all the enquiries I have been able to make, there is 
little prospect of any material progi-ess being made for 
some time. A French gentleman, however (one of the 
emigrants), the Viscount de llniges, being thoroughly con¬ 
versant in the cultiu-e of silk, it is a pity not to have some 
experiments tried in that branch even this year. I have 
sent for the eggs of the silk worm to different countries, and 
I beg you will be so obliging as to infonn me whether there 
are many mulberries in His Majesty’s gardens at Kensing¬ 
ton, or elsewhere, and how many trees of thirty years and 
upwards, either of the Red or White Mulberry, might be 
found in the neighbourhood of London, the leaves of which 
might be either purchased or obtained this season. I am 
told that they abound much in the neighbourhood of Ham¬ 
mersmith, &c. I have also heard that Her Majesty has 
tried some experiments in regard to the culture of silk, the 
success of which you may have heard of. I shall be glad to 
have the pleasure of hearing from you upon this subject. 
COVENT GAEDEN. 
Those whose field of observation does not extend 
beyond the smoke and din of London have very 
peculiar notions as to what is going on in the gi-eat 
world outside. They hear of frosts, and blights, and 
mildews, but comprehend them not; and when other 
men tell of this crop failed, a.nd that community suffer¬ 
ing, they regard the intelligence with a dim, hazy, and 
indistinct perception that there is something wrong 
somewhere, but they cannot realize it, simply because 
they do not see it, and have not felt it themselves. When 
you tell such people that apples are a short crop, 
and potatoes are diseased, they point to Covent 
Garden, and ask if there is evidence of such to be found 
there. “ Pooh, pooh ! nonsense," says one, “ I never 
saw liner potatoes in my life; the farmers always did 
gnimble, and always will; they 7nust have something 
to grumble about.” We confess there is some allowance 
