172 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



what modern times have gained by the introduction of the 

 potato, and by the extent to which it is cultivated. And I ask 

 the question for another reason — because the potato, as an article 

 of food, is so little used in Southern Europe, compared with the 

 use to which it is put among the Anglo-Saxon race. My ques- 

 tion looks, therefore, to ascertaining what is the absolute value 

 of the potato crop in all its different aspects ; because the answer 

 to that may induce one-half of Europe to cultivate it more than 

 they do. You never see a potato upon a French table. 



Mr. Ware. We consider the value of the potato just what 

 money it will bring. We raise it to sell, and we are careful to 

 have it in the market when it will bring the most money. If it 

 were not for selling potatoes, I should not think of raising a 

 potato crop to feed it to stock. I should be careful to raise 

 enough for my own use ; but for stock I should raise other root 

 crops. 



Mr. Dodge. To what extent do you and the Marblehead 

 farmers use kelp in the cultivation of roots ? 



Mr. Ware. We collect large quantities of kelp — get all we 

 can. We spare no pains to save all we can get, and commonly 

 use it in composting. It is one of the most valuable manures 

 to add to the compost heap that I know of. Take, for instance, 

 meadow mud. The way I make my heaps, I put at the bottom 

 a foot or fifteen inches of meadow mud ; then about as much 

 kelp ; then a layer of mud, about the same, and then a layer of 

 kelp, and so on, until I get my heap five or six feet high — as 

 high as is convenient. The kelp will generate heat in the 

 coldest weather in winter. In our kelp heaps, when we haul 

 them up in the middle of winter, we find maggots and flies at 

 all times. This kelp, put up in the compost heap, as I have 

 said, will produce heat, and work upon that meadow mud 

 through the winter ; and in the spring, pitch it over twice, 

 certainly, before using, and the mass is a valuable manure ; 

 equal in value, I think, cord per cord, to stable manure. That 

 is the most profitable way of using kelp, in my opinion, though 

 we oftentimes use it clear. I have seen as handsome potatoes 

 as I ever saw in my life, growing from kelp taken directly from 

 the beach, late in the season, and put right into the ground. It 

 is long and coarse, and very difficult to cover at that time. I 

 have planted potatoes upon it green, and have had a most excel- 



