572

ON THE ARABLE LAND

wheat Yet potatoes cannot be considered as a farm crop,strictly so called; as, although they are cultivated on everyfarm, for the use of the farmer’s family and his cottagers, itis only in limited quantities f. Potatoes require a great dealof manure to secure an adequate crop, and generally returnvery little to the soil; indeed none at all when sold fromthe farm. They are a bulky article, troublesome and tedi-ous to take up, remove, and secure, and interfere consider-ably with the seed time of wheat, one of the most import-ant concerns of the farmer. They are not at all calculatedfor a regular shift, or for occupying a division in the courseof crops, unless in the immediate neighbourhood of townsand large villages, as they are utterly unsaleable beyond thequantity required by the population almost immediately de-pendent upon the farm, whilst their bulk and weight, in pro-portion to price, render it impossible to transport them to anydistance by land carriage, unless with loss instead of profit.

In the neighbourhood of small towns and villages, a largebreadth of potatoes may be profitably grown, for the supplyof the inhabitants. In this case, the farmer gives all the horseculture ; the sub-takers supply their own seed, and give allthe hand labour; and are generally bound to give all thedung produced at their cottages during that season, in addi-tion to the rent of the land, or at a price agreed on. Therent of these small patches is generally high; vai'ying, accord-ing to the quality of the soil, distance from towns and villages,and the proportional demand for ground, from four to twelvepounds the acre; and not unfrequently the villagers expend

* Brown’s Treatise on Rural Affairs.

In the moderate sized farms in the west of Scotland , potatoes may well becalled a farm crop. Not only man, but horses, milch cows, calves, &c. are fed upon'them. As soon as the corn harvest is over, the potatoes are stored up, and theland is sown with wheat, and a much better crop generally succeeds than afterturnips. At all times the land is found in better condition for after crops, wherepotatoes have been planted, than after turnips consumed off the ground, thoughthe manure for both have been equal. Hence turnips are less cultivated, andpotatoes more. Remarks by John Naismith , Esq.