Page:Treatise on Cultivation of the Potato.djvu/26

 soils of gardens usually are, and the manure which it had received consisted chiefly of decayed oak leaves, which I prefer to other manures, because it never communicates a strong taste or flavor to any vegetable. No previous preparation was given to the soil, and the spot where the plantation was made was not fixed upon till the day of planting; and no manure of any kind was then given. Owing to the variety being of a very excitable habit, I planted the tubers at least nine inches deep in the soil, and I subsequently raised the mould in ridges three inches high to prevent the young plants sustaining injury from frost; but no subsequent moulding was given. I anticipated from the previous produce of the variety, which I had raised by cross-breeding from two early varieties in 1830, a very extraordinary crop; and I therefore invited several gardeners and farmers to witness the amount of it; and I procured the attendance of the two most eminent agriculturists of the vicinity, who were tenants to other gentlemen. The external rows two (deep), and the external plants at the ends of all the remaining rows, were taken away, and the produce of the interior part of the plantation was alone selected; and that was pronounced to be fully equivalent to nine hundred and sixty-four bushels and forty-three pounds, or 34 tons 8 cwt. 107 lbs. per statute acre. Still larger crops may, I feel satisfied, be obtained, and my opinion is, that more than a thousand bushels of potatoes may, and will be, obtained from an acre of ground.

An opinion is, I believe, generally prevalent, that varieties of potatoes of very high and luxuriant growth are capable of affording per acre the greatest weight of produce; but this is certainly erroneous. Such will grow in poorer soil, and, requiring wider intervals between the rows, are better calculated for culture with the plough; and therefore, perhaps, their produce may be raised at as little or less cost per bushel, though that is, I think, very questionable. Much time and much labour of the plant must be expended in raising the nutriment absorbed from the soil into the leaves upon the top of a very tall stem, and down again to the roots and tubers.

The potatoes, in the extraordinary crop of which I have above spoken, were not washed, and therefore a deduction must be made for a portion of soil which adhered to them: but that was small, owing to the dryness and nature of the soil. Supposing a