about an inch from the bulb, care being taken not to injure the bulb itself. The top leaves may then be given to cows or young cattle, and the turnips stored up against a wall, and covered with straw, heath, or dry peat mould.

You may easily save your own seed, by transplanting in November the turnips of the best form, and cutting off the tops; they will ripen their seed in the following July.

Sheep fed in the field on turnips, serve to manure the land, and by this plan the light lands of Norfolk are made to yield very valuable crops of barley and wheat. The Swedish turnips, and mangel wurzel, are eaten greedily by horses.

It has been often disputed, whether turnips or potatoes are the most profitable crop; but whatever may be the opinion of the large farmer on the subject, there can hardly be any doubt as to the superiority of the turnip for the small farmer. The late period of the year at which turnips may be sown, admits of their succeeding rape, winter vetches, rye-grass, annual clover, or early cabbage. The Malta turnip may be sown at any time in July, with the prospect of a good crop; so that three crops may be obtained off the same land in two years, turnips being one.

The use of turnips ensures to the small farmer support for his stock, and a supply of milk and manure. A stone of turnips will yield as much milk and manure as a stone of potatoes; whilst the same land will, with proper management, yield three stone of the former, for one of the latter. Compare turnips, applied to fattening cattle, with potatoes sold in the market. The expense and loss of time in driving a fat cow to the fair, is trifling as compared with the labour of attending the market with a horse and cart, day after day, to sell the potatoes; whilst the farmer and his horse might be both more advantageously employed at home, in the business of the farm. The turnip must, indeed, on all accounts, be considered preferable to the potato, as a crop by the produce of which the small farmer is to pay the rent of his land.

The Potato is originally a native of South America, whence it was brought into Europe by the Spaniards, in the latter part of the sixteenth century. It was unknown in the British islands till introduced into Ireland by Sir Walter Raleigh, from Virginia, in 1584; and from a few roots grown in his garden at Youghal, all the potatoes now cultivated in the United Kingdom are believed to have sprung.

Potatoes cannot be planted too early, if the danger of frost be over, and they thrive in almost any soil, when properly cultivated; but everything depends upon their being kept clean from weeds, and upon the sets not being planted too close, and also upon the surface being pulverised by repeated hoeing. A heavy crop must not be looked for, if set nearer than ten inches apart, and if the roots have not a good covering of loose earth to work in.

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With potatoes, much depends upon changing the seed frequently; and it is observed that potatoes from cold, wet, and mossy land, answer best as seed on the lighter and finer soils. The same rule holds also in grain of every kind. The seed should be changed every second year; and if soil be light, purchase seed that has grown on the strongest land, and the contrary if the soil be heavy. This plant may be grown on the same land for several years, but it is always most luxuriant in a new soil. A crop of oats is generally taken before planting potatoes in England and Scotland, while in Ireland they are most commonly planted on the lea, in what are called "lazy beds," a system which the best cultivators condemn, except on wet moorland soils. Potatoes require a good supply of manure to insure a good crop, and return very little to the soil.

For seed, cut off the crown of the best potatoes, by doing which you will have the earliest and best sets, and the root end is the best to eat. The set should not be less than a quarter part of a well-sized potato; and do not choose for seed, potatoes which are considered too

small for eating. The seed should not be cut until it is wanted for planting, and when you cut the seed, riddle a little slaked lime, or peat ashes over the sets, which will stop their bleeding, and help to strengthen the growth. When planted, the sets should be laid in the ground with the eye uppermost. On wet, boggy land, whole potatoes are safest for seed, and the smaller roots may be selected for this purpose, but do not choose them too small.

The season for planting depends on the state of the weather and soil: if these are favourable, you may plant from the middle of April to the middle of May; but late crops are never so abundant as early ones. Ground which has been recently limed, will, with the addition of a little dung, produce an abundant crop *of potatoes. The best method is, where the manure is short or compost, to plough it in and mix it through the soil, which is not only cheaper, but is also better for the subsequent crops, and at least as good for the current

crop.

The culture of potatoes is performed in Ireland for the most part with the spade, and in England and Scotland by the plough. In whichever way they are planted, it is of the first importance that the land should be freed from weeds and noxious roots, which cannot as in the case of turnips, be easily removed afterwards, when the plant is growing.

In preparing the land for a drill crop, a first ploughing and furrowing, as deep as possible, should be given in autumn, and the soil be allowed to lie undisturbed till the following spring. Another ploughing and harrowing across the first furrows should then be given. The complete pulverisation of the soil is indispensable, for upon this the success of the crop will greatly depend. The land should then be laid up into ridgelets, from twenty-four to thirty inches broad, the distance depending upon the probable luxuriance of the stem. The manure is then spread evenly in the bottom of the drills, in the same way as for turnips, and the seed planted on the top of the manure at from six to ten inches apart, and the ridgelets then reversed to cover

them. This is generally considered to be the most approved mode of planting the potato.

The lazy-bed system, as practised in Ireland, consists in making beds a few feet broad, upon which the seed potatoes are laid, about six inches apart, after manure has been spread on the surface if it is arable land, or without manure if it is grass land. Trenches are then formed between the beds, from which the cuttings are covered. After the plants have appeared above-ground, they are again covered, and this successive earthing up is continued until the plants come into bloom. This plan is not adopted by the best cultivators, and is only practised by the small farms, and the cottier peasantry, who are ignorant of the advantages of the drill system, by which the benefit of a summer fallow is obtained for the land. As before stated, the lazy-bed should never be resorted to, except on low wet situations.

The manner in which potatoes are generally cultivated in England and Scotland, is by dibbling in rows from twenty-four to thirty inches apart, the manure being ploughed in broadcast, and the potatoes dibbled in every third furrow. This mode will be found equal to any other in use. By it, the plant meets with no obstacle in its progress to the surface, the sets or cuttings are never too deeply planted, nor does a dry season take that effect upon the manure and roots, which it is sometimes apt to do in drills ridged up in an exposed position. This method is frequently practised without dibbling, by women employed to follow the plough, and plant the sets in every third furrow, but in this way it is necessary to plough with a very shallow furrow. From four to five inches is as deep as the potato sets should ever be planted.

When the plants begin to appear above the surface, the ground should be harrowed, either lengthwise or across; the horse-hoe, hoeing-plough, or hand-hoe, is then to be repeatedly employed between the rows, and the hand-hoe alone between the plants, as may be required. The earth is next to be gathered about the roots of the plants, once, or oftener, as may be found necessary, and all weeds must be carefully taken out by

hand; for when the roots have spread through the soil in search of food, it is impossible to introduce either the hand or horse-hoe with safety.

Another mode of moulding potatoes, is as follows:As soon as the stems are three or four inches above ground, run an exposing plough as closely as possible to the roots, in order to loosen the earth, which it throws from them into the middle of the furrow. After this operation, weeding is executed quickly and effectually, either by the hand or by a gardenhoe; and carefully remove all the weeds to the dunghill. The next moulding is to be in the usual way, without again stripping their sides. Choking up with clay, or hard stiff soil, an unlucky crop of potatoes, immediately after their tender shoots appear above ground, instead of loosening the earth, in order to let the fibres strike freely, is very injudicious. The small farmer who moulds with a spade or a hoe, should take especial care to loosen the earth about the plants, in every direction, before he moulds them up. of the principal objects in drilling green crops, is to clean and pulverise the land completely, to afford it all the advantages of a fallow, while it is yielding a valuable crop.

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Such are the usual modes adopted in cultivating the potato; each will have its advocates; but as one method may answer in one place, which will not succeed equally well in another, experiment is the test to which every husbandman should resort, to ascertain the greatest produce which can be obtained, at the least expense, keeping the fertility of the soil at the same time unimpaired.

It may not be improper to add here, that every mode of cultivation which tends to the fertilising of the land, will better adapt it to the growth of the potato. The effectual draining and deepening of the soil, which is the foundation of all improvement, is peculiarly important for the potato, which delights in a dry, deep, sandy loam, and will never flourish in a shallow, poor, stiff, or retentive soil.

The process of deepening the soil, after perfect draining, is performed with admirable effect by the subsoil