In exposed Midland districts there is an unwritten law that
to plant potatoes before April 18th is to fly in the face of the Almighty. Being Midland born I therefore kept secret the heresy of planting five rows of Epicure in Kent on March 7th. These potatoes, however, in spite of the bitterest spell of the whole winter on and about March 9th, made astonishing and in my experience record progress. They were through the ground in just under three weeks, actually on March 20th. While this was no doubt largely due to their being planted under an eight-feet south wall, it was also the result of careful seed-nursing during the autumn and winter. Small seed was selected in August, then sun-dried until almost black, and sprouted in boxes in a mild room during winter. The chits at the time of planting varied from one to two inches and were as thick as the little finger and a purple cabbage colour. The importance of sprouting is not always realized ; but it has been authoritatively stated that the yield per acre from sprouted potatoes is as much as two tons above that of unsprouted. But the point of these remarks is not so much to retail agricultural advice as to say that I hope this year to emulate the feat of a certain devilishly cunning and now famous relative, who up to the age of 90 regularly raised two crops of potatoes each year on the same piece of land.
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