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Report of the committee of the board of agriculture, appointed to extract information from the county reports, and other authorities, concerning the culture and use of potatoes
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I 146

* ſeaſon, taking care to give them all the air poffible by the doors and « windows, when it can be done with fafety: by this method the ſhoots «*become green, put out leaves, and are moderately hardy. In this way ** four crops have been raiſed upon the ſame ground in one year, taking «« care always to have ſets from the repoſitory ready to put in as ſoon as «« the others are taken up. The author adds, That ¾*⅜a crop of winter- *c lettuce is ſometimes raiſed afterwards from the ſame land. We are not ſanguine enough to imagine that this practice can be generalty introduced with the ſame ſucceſs in every part of the kingdom: indeed the lateneſs of the ſeafons in ſome parts, together with other untoward circumftances, which neither ſkill nor induſtry can overcome, preclude all hopes of it.

But though we deſpair of ſeeing this done, we are enabled to ſay from experience, that two crops of potatoes may be obtained from the ſame ground yearly, with great eaſe, and afterwards a crop of coleworts or greens.

To raiſe tavo good Crops of Potatoes in one Nar. The method that has from experience been found moſt ſucceſsful is, to plant the ground in the ſpring with the beſt early potatoe(managed in the way already quoted from the Lancafhire Report); theſe will be ready in the beginning of ſummer: the foil ſhould then be ploughed once, and planted either with the large white kidney or Killimanca, the ſets of which fhould be cut at leaſt ſix weeks or two months before they are planted: they fhould be kept in a place where both air and light may have free acceſs to them, by which means their ſhoots will be ſtrong and vigorous; and as they will then have no froſts to encounter, they will grow immediately when they are put into the earth. The operation of planting fhould be performed with the greateft care, in order to preſerve the fhoots from being broken, as in that caſe the crop will be rendered conſiderably later.

Perhaps there is no way of doing this ſo completely as with a ftick: in chis way the plant is not only placed at a proper depth, but the fhoot is preſerved and ſet upright in ſuch a way, that the top is equal with the furface. It will certainly be objected to this mode of planting, that it requires more labour than the ordinary method of dropping the ſets into the furrow; but, when properly conſidered, this objection will vaniſh, as three people with dibbles will plant as many in one day as two perſons could do in the ordinary way..

If this compariſon as to the difference of expence is juſt, and we believe it is very near the truth, it will appear that dibbling requires only a third more labour than dropping the ſets into the furrow: to balance which the young tender fhoots are preferved, none of the plants are liable to be bruiſed by the horſes feet, and the work is regularly and accurately per- ſormed.