As light lands are often profitably devoted to Potato culture, and more especially to the production of first-class early Potatoes for the markets, a few words on their management may be useful here.  If on the light land there is a choice of aspects, by all means select the plots that slope to the south-west; the dangerous aspects are north and east.  The ground should be ploughed up in autumn and left rough, but it is not economical to manure light lands in autumn.  At the time of planting, the furrows should be cut with a plough fitted with a double mould-board, and the manure spread evenly along them previous to laying in the sets.  A good dressing per acre will consist of fifteen loads of farmyard manure, and four cwt. of artificials, consisting of one and a half cwt. of guano, two cwt. of superphosphate of lime, and half a cwt. of muriate of potash.  When the sets are laid, cover them by splitting the ridges with the plough.  If planted early in March, the crop should come off in time for Turnips, for which the land will be in good heart, and the seed should be sown as quickly as possible after the clearing of the Potatoes.

==Preparing the Sets.==—­Among the many subjects that open out before us at this point are the selection and preparation of the sets.  Why are smallish tubers chosen in one case and planted whole? and why, in another case, are large tubers chosen and divided before planting, to make two or more sets of each?  Because there is a principle on which sound practice rests, and it is this:  the number of shoots starting from any one growing point must be limited, for if they become crowded the crop will be less than the land is capable of producing.  Keeping this principle in view, we proceed to remark, in the first place, that carefully selected seed of moderate size may be planted as it comes from the store without any preparation whatever, and with a fair prospect of a profitable result.  But certain varieties produce few tubers of seed size, and when large they must be divided in such a manner as to insure at least two eyes in each set.  As a matter of fact, profitable crops are grown in the most simple way; the seed is neither sprouted nor disbudded, and with a well-made soil and a favourable season, the return is ample, and all claims are satisfied.  Potato-growing entails much labour, therefore it is important to distinguish between tasks that are necessary and those that are optional.

But where the time and strength can be found for first-class cultivation, it should have the preference over the rough and ready methods that are satisfactory on a large scale.  Exhibitions of Potatoes are for the most part sustained by persons who can find the time to do things with extra care, and they have their reward in their crops as well as in their prizes, for what may be styled Exhibition culture consists simply in growing the crop in the best possible way, and planting many sorts where in any other case a