AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 289 



experiments, where saltpetre lessened the crop four bushels per acre. A teaspoonful of sul- 

 phur gave an increase of six bushels ; of gypsum, an increase of eight bushels ; and a handful 

 of charcoal, an increase of twenty-six bushels per acre. The experiment of early, medium, 

 and late planting was again tried in 1853, and resulted, as before, in favor of early planting. 

 Variety, Irish lunkers ; whole tubers, planted in hills three feet apart. Those planted May 

 9th gave one hundred and four bushels ; May 30th, seventy bushels ; and June 18th, only 

 forty-five bushels, per acre. — Country Gentleman. 



On the manures best suited for the potato. — Repeated experiments have confirmed the cor- 

 rectness of the common opinion that nothing equals hog-manure for potatoes. The cold na- 

 ture of this manure has, perhaps, something to do with this ; but we apprehend that it is due 

 principally to the fact that, hogs eating much grain, the manure is especially rich in ammonia. 

 At all events, it is pretty well ascertained that ammonia is largely required by the potato 

 crop. Hence, for the production of a large crop, rich nitrogenous manures and Peruvian 

 guano are the best. 



Potatoes generally command a higher relative price than most other crops. Peruvian guano 

 is an admirable manure for wheat ; but at ordinary prices, say $1 per bushel, it is ques- 

 tionable whether its application pays. On potatoes, at average prices, Peruvian guano is a 

 highly profitable fertilizer. In 1853, H. C. Ives, Esq., of Rochester, planted four acres of 

 potatoes: two without manure, and two dressed broadcast with six hundred pounds of Peru- 

 vian guano. The former produced two hundred and thirty-eight bushels ; the latter, four 

 hundred and ten bushels ; that is to say, for three hundred pounds of guano an increase of 

 eighty-six bushels per acre was obtained. 



The experiments on potatoes on the State Farm of Massachusetts last year resulted as 

 follows : 



Barn-yard manure 86J bushels per acre. 



Mapes's superphospate 84| " " 



De Burg's " 77i " " 



Guano 92£ " " 



Twelve dollars' worth of manure was used in each case. It is to be regretted that the 

 yield of the land without manure was not ascertained. The crop, owing to the drought, was 

 small. The guanoed acre yields the best, though it is well known that dry weather is more 

 hurtful to the action of guano than to that of superphosphate. In another case on this 

 farm, on land that had not been manured for four years, having been mown three years, and 

 the last year cultivated with corn cut for fodder, " four hundred pounds of guano gave one 

 hundred and eighty-nine and a half bushels of superior potatoes per acre." 



From what we have seen of the effects of good Peruvian guano on potatoes, we feel great 

 confidence in recommending it as a profitable fertilizer for this crop. We would sow from 

 three hundred to four hundred pounds per acre broadcast, and thoroughly incorporate it 

 with the soil before planting the potatoes. A somewhat better effect would be obtained by 

 applying the guano in the hill, covering it with two inches or so of soil, and planting the 

 potato on the top of it. Unless great care is used, however, there is danger of the plant 

 being injured by coming in contact with the guano. It should be scattered over at least a 

 square foot. — Albany Cultivator. 



Potato-Seed. 



A curious fact, not generally known, connected with the production of potatoes from seed- 

 balls, is, that no two stems will possess precisely the same qualities, yet many of the tubers 

 will appear so much alike that, when mixed together, they cannot be distinguished by the 

 eye, though it may happen that one variety will be four times as prolific as the other, or may 

 be much better in other respects. The tubers raised from the seeds of the same ball are 

 also prodigiously diversified in regard to color, being pink, black, red, white, green, yellow, 

 &c; and, as to shape, are round, nobbed, and varied in all proportions; as to size, some of 

 them being no larger the first year than peas, while others exceed the size of a pullet's egg ; 

 as to " earliness," some of them completing their growth in July, while others will not put 

 forth their blossoms until October; as to productiveness, some yield more than two hundred 



19 



