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tiller imagines, that if the fets or fcullians: were fown fo foon as cut, the fnails and worms would much injure them, and the crop would be greatly leffened. But the failure, in my opinion, does not proceed from its being newly fown after it has been cut, but from the state it is in when fown; for it is obvious to every person converfant in the sowing of potatoes, that the fet or fcullian long before it is cut from the potatoe, nay even the potatoe itself, appears hagged and fhrivelled up, owing to the different shoots proceeding from it; and even these when fown, do not all grow, one-third at least perifhes, because the strength has been taken from them by the different shoots; and if there be any small remains of life in the fcullian, it perifhes on the very threshold of vegetation, because, when come to its birth, it has not strength to bring forth.

By obferving the mode I have laid down for the culture of potatoes from the shoots, the cottier, who perhaps has an acre of ground to fow under potatoes, (I mean for a fecond crop) and the potatoes ftored in heaps in the garden, and who for feveral weeks in fpring had remained in a torpid idle ftate,

when

when he might be employed to advantage in making drills in his potatoe garden, will have full leifure to begin his potatoe tillage, provided he be careful in digging out the feed, when the demand for labourers is not great; he can open one or two of his heaps, collect all these shoots that heretofore have been thrown away as useless, fell his potatoes, pay his rent, and at his leifure plant five or fix drills with the shoots, in the month of March, provided they be fufficiently ftrong; in the month of April he can plant as many more, and fo on, till he plants his entire acre.

The labour attending this mode of culture is but trifling; for he has nothing more to do, than to make a drill of about five or fix inches deep, and about two inches wide; his wife or children may follow him with a barrow of manure, throwing a fmall quantity into the drill in which the fhoots are to be planted, (as you would any other plant,) covering it with about two inches of earth; by this means, his potatoes will ripen in fuccef fion, and he will find his garden filled almoft imperceptibly, without hiring a fingle labourer to affift him; and when the ftocks appear

above ground, he will have about twelve inches of ground at each fide of the drill to earth them up, at least eighteen inches high,

for the higher you earth them up, the greater

will be the produce; for the potatoes from the shoots, if properly attended to, will not spread in the ground, but afcend to the furface, as you may fee them when dug out, growing to the ftock, as onions tied in a

trace.

But this kind of culture will not answer for a first crop, the furface is too ftubborn, and the ground not fufficiently meliorated, for the loofer and finer the earth, the greater will be the produce, and the less expence attending it; but it will answer exceedingly well for a fecond, third or fourth crop, provided what I have before mentioned be well attended to, viz. the clearing the ground carefully from all feed potatoes, for by chang ing the drills, and putting a very small quan tity of manure into them every year, you renew, or recreate your ground (if I may use the expreffion) and you may keep your garden under potatoe-tillage for feveral years; and when the garden is to be let out for wheat, or any C

other

other kind of grain, those different fummerfallowings, affifted by a small quantity of manure every year, will be the best preparation for the grain, befides an amazing improvement to the ground.

Nature points out the time for fowing po tatoes, and that is, when they first begin to vegetate, and put forth their shoots. The countryman is so sensible of this, that he opens his heaps twice or thrice in spring, in order to take off those shoots which hurt his potatoes, and in order to keep them as long as he can plump and fit for fale; that is the time he should begin his culture on the shoots, and though they be but two or three inches in length, he should have his drills ready on the first opening of his heaps, to receive them; thefe will give him an early crop, and from their ftrength, will be able to ftand against a flight froft; for from the experiment I have made, I find the potatoe ftocks from the shoots more luxuriant, and much thicker than those that grew in the beds, I had fown with potatoes at the fame time.

The

The Palatine mode of fowing in drills by much the cheapest manner of tillage, because less manure is neceffary, and the ground always in heart; befides the drills being made by the plow, and the potatoes covered by the plow, and turned out by the plow when ripe, are not injured, they come out of the ground entire, without any cut or wound, which is not the cafe in fpade digging, where every fifth or fixth potatoe receives fome damage; yet notwithstanding this easy and profitable mode of culture, his neighbouring cottiers can fcarcely be prevailed upon to adopt it, because they have always fowed in beds, tho' attended with greater expence and labour; nor is it likely that they will at firft adopt the experiment I have made, for they are naturally timid, and will not easily be brought to give credit to the produce of my experime t, though it comes to them fo well authenticated by affidavits, and the certificates of fo many respectable perfonages; they think it is putting too much at hazard; and indeed they are not to blame, for fo novel a mode of producing potatoes will not eafily gain credence even among the better fort of far

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