1801.] On the Cultivation of Potatoes. 28

Since writing the above, 1 have met with an account of this grain having been ſown in ſpring-as Egyptian or Siberian barley, under which name it was ficſt introduced into this country 10 the year 1767- I am, Sir, your humble ſervänt,

White Webb Farm, A. WILKINSON, M. D. Enfield Chace, Feb. 10th, 1801.

RELIES Iman

ON VYHE EUL TINA TION OF POTATOES.

Tothe Editor of the Comniercial and Agricultural Magazine.

SIR»

BE information given to us by the Rev. Mr. Ford, in your Magazine for December laſt, reſpe&ing the culture of that moſt proftable vegetable the potatoe, is, in certain parts of the kingdom, too uſcfal not to merit the thanks of the public. In many of our counties, however, particularly the northern oness ſuch a proviſion is annual!y made as entirely ſuperſedes the neceſlicy of adopting the ſaving praéice which he recommends. In theſe counties, it has long been a cuſtom, at the time of dig- ging up the crop, to ſele ſuch potatoes as for ſize are deemed too ſmall for thé kitchen, and yet are large enough to cut into two or three ſets or plants each, and to reſerve them entirely for(ced. In the county of Crefter, in particular, in which every poſſible experiment has bzen made tending to improve the cultivation of this root, and which, I] do not hefitate to call the beſt ſchool in the world for ¡nſttruA@ion in this branch of hufbandry, you never ſee a perſon digging up potatoës without dividing them in the moſt expeditious manner, three ways; ſuch às are bruiſed in digging, and the very ſmall ones, are thrown together into one baíket, for the food of hogs thoſe of the fecond order, about the ſrze of a common walnut, are committed to a ſecond baſket, for ſced; and the third diviſion comprehends all of a larger ſize, and fuch as are counted too valuable to be uſed for ſeed. The ſeed potatoes are uſually ſold for ſomething leſs than half the price of the large ones, but are with equal care, ſecured ſrom the effeds of froſt, by a good covering of raw,

anda thick coat of earth.

As the ſeaſon for planting this vegetable is faſt approaching, ánd as its culture is at prelent deſervedly a national concer, perháps you will ſuffer me to lay before the public a few par- ficulacrs of the mode of cultivation adopted in the abovemention- ed county, which is by far the moſt judicious, 2 1d the moſt pro- duäive method, eſpecially upon poor land, that I have yet either enor heard of.. Ir 1s, always, in Cheſhire, the cuſtom to plant the potatoe in narrow beds, of, as near 2s may be, five feet width, ſo formed by the plough. The ſets or plants are dibbled into the ground, by means ofa ſtrong fick preſſed down with the