should be put close to the
wall to enjoy the warmth, and dryness, and shelter it affords. When the
crop is lifted, the soil specially laid up for it may be taken away, or
scattered over the border. But the bulk will be so slight that it will
not matter much what becomes of it. However, in a new place with a clay
soil it may be prudent to remove it, and keep it ready as an aid in seed
sowing, for there are times and places where a little fine stuff is
worth a great deal to give a crop of some kind a proper start.

==The main crop==, as the source of supply for fully nine months out of
twelve, deserves every attention. Potatoes are grown with advantage on
so many diverse soils, and in such unlikely climates, that the plant
appears, on a casual consideration, to be altogether indifferent to its
surroundings. But it is none the less true that for the profitable
cultivation of this crop certain conditions are absolutely essential.
Among these an open situation and a well-drained soil are perhaps the
most important. To this might be added favourable weather, because a bad
season frustrates every hope and labour. Having an open situation and a
well-drained soil, it is much to be preferred that the soil be of a
deep, friable, loamy nature; in other words, a good medium soil,
suitable for deep tillage, but neither a decided clay, chalk nor sand. A
fertile sandy loam, lying well as regards sunshine and drainage, may
generally be considered a first-rate Potato soil, and excellent crops
have also been grown on thin soils overlying chalk and limestone. So
again, fine crops are often taken from poor sandy soils, and from
newly-broken bog and moss, as well as from clay lands that have had some
amount of tillage to form a friable top crust. But when all is said the
fact remains that the ideal soil for Potatoes is a deep mellow loam,
and, failing this, preference should be given to calcareous and sandy
soils rather than to clays or retentive soils of any kind.

==Manures==.--Much prejudice prevails against manuring land for Potatoes,
and where the soil is good enough to yield a paying crop, it will be
prudent to do without manure, and to dress generously for the next crop
to restore the land to a reasonable state. Still it is the practice of
many of the most successful growers for the early market to manure for
this crop, and in some instances the manure is laid in the trenches at
the time of planting. Generally speaking, land intended