POTATO. 
01 
potato here / in the United States] are just such as prove the meet congenial 
for it in Britain. And so, on the contrary, the best soils by far for pro¬ 
ducing the driest and best flavored potatoes here, and altogether the most 
abundant crops, are those of a strong, heavy loam.'” These assertions are 
corroborated by a number of experiments, mentioned in the paper from 
which they are extracted. Mr. Buel, of Albany, likewise asserts that u the 
best potatoes are grown upon cold, moist, but porous and rich soils .”—Am 
Farmer , vol. ix, p. 409. 
Methods of planting .—These are various. If the land is rough, hard, or 
stony, the common mode of planting in hills is, perhaps, the most expedient. 
But if it be somewhat mellow, drills are to be preferred. Dr. Cooper says, 
“If your soil is stiff and wet, plow it in ridges; if sandy and dry, plow it 
flat. Plow it deep. Plant your sets in drills marked out by the plow or 
the hoe. The plants should be dibbled in, six inches deep, on long dung, 
scattered not sparingly along the drills, then covered with about feu' nches 
of mould. 
The drills should be in threes - one foot apart; the plant* should 
be eight inches apart, with an interval on each side of each set of three 
drills of two feet, which will admit of horse-hoeing between the sets of 
drills, and of hand-weeding between each drill. 
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To have a good crop, you must not spare dung, or spare labor in weeding. 
Some persons prefer sets of four or five drills instead of three, or, where 
horse-hoeing is not convenient, the intervals may be reduced to one foot be 
tween each set of drills, for the convenience of hand-weeding; but, upon the 
whole, the method here first proposed is as good as any. Forty loads of 
lung per acre will pay better than a less quantity. 
“ If small potatoes are wanted for feeding, the sets may be at six inches 
apart, and the rows at nine inches; but the method first here proposed ad¬ 
mits, what is essential, accurate weeding, and sufficient air to circulate be¬ 
tween the plants.” 
Deane says, the sets may be either in single rows, three feet, or double, 
one foot apart, and from seven to nine inches asunder in the rows. 
“ An expeditious way of planting potatoes is as follows:—After the 
ground is prepared, by plowing and harrowing, cut furrows with the horse- 
plow forty inches apart; drop the sets in the furrows; then pass the plow 
along the back of each furrow, which will throw the earth of both furrows 
upon the sets ; aad afterwards level the ground with the back of the har¬ 
row. or with e Farrow that has short tines; but it is of no great consequence 
