As many situations may not admit of building a kiln twenty feet high, and as other situations may allow of its being built thirty feet, or even forty, for it cannot be well made too high, the diameter of the kiln should be guided by its height; viz. one-third in drawing part, and two-thirds in the body of the kiln. For several years I have made use of a small lime-kiln in an outside kitchen, the height nine feet, the diameter three feet and a half; in the sides of the kiln next the fire I had three square boilers placed, one of them large, containing half a barrel with a cock, which supplied the family with constant boiling water; for the two others I had tin vessels made to fit inside with close covers, in which meat and vegetables with water were placed, and put into the two small boilers, which never had any water, but had close covers; the tin boilers were heated sooner than on the smartest fire, and, when the meats were sufficiently dressed, the whole was taken up out of the metal boiler; at one side I had an oven placed for roasting and boiling meat ; the bottom was a metal of twenty-six inches. diameter, and an inch and a half thick; a flue from the fire went underneath; even with the bottom of this oven, a grating nine inches square was placed, which opened a communication between the oven and the hot fire of the kiln; the height of the oven was was fourteen inches, shut close by a metal door eighteen inches square, and the top of it, which was level with the mouth of the kiln, covered by another metal plate half an inch thick, on which was placed another oven, and the heat, that escaped through the half inch plate, though not near the fire, was sufficient to do all small puddings, pies, breakfast cakes, &c. &c. &c. The meat in the large oven was placed on an iron frame, which turned on a pivot standing in a dripping-pan, and once in half an hour was turned by the cook; over the kiln I had a tiled stage for drying corn, and a chimney at one side, with a cowl on the top, carried off all steam and sulphur. A large granary was attached to the building; the lime, if sold, would more than pay for fuel and attendance, and I have frequently had dinner dressed for fifty men, without interfering with my family. CHAPTER VIII. On the Culture of Potatoes. THE Agricultural Board of Great Britain has been pleased to express its approbation of the following Essay. See the annexed letter. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. Sackville-street, SIR, June 15th, 1802. I have the honour to acquaint you, that the Board have read with great satisfaction the paper, which you have been pleased to send them, containing your thoughts on the propagation of potatoes, and have desired me to return you their best thanks for the same. The plate, which was voted you by them, has been long since ready, and is lying here subject to your directions. I have the honour to be, Sir, CARRINGTON, President. Thomas James Rawson, Esq. Cardenton, Athy. The The Carlow Farming Society deputed three of their members to inspect the crops of the country and vicinity in November; after a minute investigation, they voted me their gold medal as the best cultivator of potatoes. If it be true, that Great Britain has expended upwards of ten millions in one year for the purchase of provisions, it is equally so, that almost the whole might be saved to the nation, by extending the cultivation of potatoes, so as to make them a general substitute for fallow. In Ireland, one-third of the land occupied by tillage is unprofitable to the farmer, who has an immensity of labour, and two years rent to charge to his wheat crop; and at present not one hundredth part of the fallows of Ireland is occupied by a potatoe crop. I have for many years been in the habit of cultivating potatoes in three feet drills with the plough; the difficulty of procuring seed in the year 1800, induced me to adopt the following: I began at November to have a thin slice taken off each potatoe, at the end where the eyes are in a cluster, as they were washed and used by my family, taking care to cut the bottom of the eye each slice produced four or five eyes, which were sub-divided, dried, and put into casks with oaten chaff from a mill, for use. In March following, they resembled small pieces of buff leather: I planted some acres of them, and can assert, assert, that not one failed, and their produce came in a fortnight sooner than those planted in the usual way. It is to be observed, that by the mode, which many farmers about me adopted with success, the sets are taken from good potatoes; no abuse is given the potatoes, as is the case with the scoop; no more of them are used than would be rejected at the table, and the scheme is more likely to be adopted in times of scarcity, than the use of the shoots, for carrying a second or third crop by transplanting. These slices, being in a small compass, will be easily lodged and handled in the nursery. The most prolific sets are obtained from the cluster end; the sets from the best kinds may be removed in large quantities for little trouble, even from one kingdom to another. Having remarked, when potatoes have been second planted in the lazy-bed mode, that some whole potatoes, which escaped in the digging out, and in the turning of the ridges, (by which they fell into the bottom of the first trench, and had a covering of eighteen inches of earth) have always remained in a growing state, long after the rest of the potatoe stalks in the ridge are withered, and that they produce much larger and finer potatoes, it determined me to give the planting of whole potatoes a fair trial. Having marked out a piece of land for that purpose, I caused a hole to be dug in the centre of each |