614 Cultivation of Arable Land.—Potatoes.

damp, and there is more moifture in the foils, and lefs danger of their becoming too dry for the perfect growth of the potatoe, and on all the thinner forts of foils, it may be the moft advifable method to raife the land into what is termed one-bout ridges; as, in this way, the depth of the ftaple is confiderably aug- mented, the manure is more concentrated for the fupport of the crop, a better bed is provided for the fibrous roots and wires of the plants to eftablith and ex- tend themfelves in, the danger of ftagnant moifture guarded againft, and the after- culture of the crops rendered more eafy, beneficial, and convenient, by which they may be kept more clean and free from weeds, and be earthed up atdifferent times, fo as to infure the moft full and perfeé&t extenfion of the roots in the fine mold that is thus conftantly laid up. And as the whole of the procefs is capable of being performed by means of the common plough and a horfe or two, it is pro- bably the moft advantageous where fuch crops are cultivated on land that has been fome time in the ftate of tillage. Where the ridges are only required to be {mall, the operation is completed in one bout of the plough, or by going up with one furrow and laying another up to it in returning, fo as to produce a ridge in the middle. This is the method that is the moft commonly purfued in thofe diftri€ts that are the moft engaged in the cultivation of this valuable root.

It is the cuftom in the Lancafhire practice of planting, after the land has been harrowed fine and level on the furface, to make equidiftant drills the Jength of the field, in doing which, the plough, after making a furrow up the field, muft be drawn down again on the contrary fide clofe by the fame, throwing the foil equal heights on each fide. Thefe drills are made as wide and deep as will make them capable of containing the dung, which is to be laid in the bottom of each. The diftance of the drills is fuch, that when the horfes ftand in one, each wheel of the cart or tumbrill may be in the middle of the next drills on each fide. The next operation is to carry in the manure; and as the horfes ftand in one drill, and each wheel of the cart in a fimilar fituation, the neatnefs and order of the land is very little injured. The dung is then to be thrown out of the cart in fmall heaps, fufficient to fupply the three drills which the horfes and the wheels of the cart occupy, a moderate f{cattering of which is to be put into the bottom of each. This will be completed in a very fhort time by perfons with forks of two tines.

Where long ftrawy dung, lately thrown out of the ftables or cow-houfes, or colleéted from the farm-yard, can be procured, it is employed. When the drills are thus prepared, the fets are put into them upon the dung about fix inches