414 REPORT OP THE COMMISSIONER OP AaRICULTURE. 



Mr. Noah W. Hardy, in a paper on potato-cultnre, states that he has 

 been in the habit of experimenting with many different varieties, with 

 the view of discovering those best adapted to the soil and climate of New 

 Hampshire, Last year he planted 27 different varieties. He thinks 

 that the earlier tlie variety the quicker the potato loses its good eat- 

 ing qualities, or, in other words, the longer it is maturing the longer it 

 will remain good for the table. The late varieties are not so liable as 

 the early ones to be cut off by drought. Varieties will not mix when 

 planted together. He gives the following with respect to the connec- 

 tion between seed and product : 



For the past twenty years my practice has beentoplantthelargeetof the small ones 

 cutting two eyes on a piece and putting three pieces in a hill ; and, as every eye will 

 not come, I intend to have three or four stalks to a hill. If you get twelve or fifteen 

 stalks to a hill, you will surely have small potatoes, for there is just as much impro- 

 priety in overseeding potatoes as corn. If seeded light, the vines will grow strong and 

 erect, admit the sun and air to the ground, thus tending to prevent disease and blight. 

 When overseeded, the vines grow slender, are liable to break down, retain the moist- 

 ure of the ground, mildew, and prematurely decay. I believe the only advantage de- 

 rived from planting large potatoes is the extra amount of starch secreted, and that, ou 

 the other hand, is more than made up by the gain in seed and the slight cost of the 

 small ones. In other words, if you plant a potato the size of a marble, that produces 

 but one sprout ; and cut a piece of the same size from one weighing two pounds, what 

 advantage has one over the other ? None. As an exiieriment I once planted in my 

 garden a potato the size of a pea. It produced one sprout, with a vine three-fourth, 

 of an inch through, and several potatoes, one weighing a pound. 



Mr. Hardy reports that he has been successful in planting potatoes 

 with a plow, and describes the process as follows : 



First, spread your manure broadcast on the grass or sward land ; a piece a little 

 sloping is preferable. Begin by turning a straight furrow up the hill on the lower side 

 of the field ; let the team pass back without plowing, and turn another furrow 40 

 inches from and parallel with the first. If the plow turns a 10-inch slice — the most 

 convenient size for the purpose — there will be left a strip of grass 20 inches wide be- 

 tween the two furrows. On this plat of grass, along the edges of the overturned sod, 

 the potatoes should now be dropped, one or more sets in a place. Let the team pass 

 back now, one of the team in the first furrow, the other one ou the strip of grass between 

 the furrows, and turn the upper half of this strip of grass upon the other part, leaving 

 two furrows lying close together, inverted, covering an equal space of unplowed sod. 

 The plow would naturally turn back the first furrow, but you must bear hard on the 

 haudles, and allow long traces^r chains. Care should also bo taken to plow a good 

 deep furrow ou the upper side, that enough soil is raised to cover the potatoes, and if 

 the lower furrow-slice should break or fall back, it must be replaced by hand before 

 the upper furrow is turned. Forty inches from the second the third furrow is turned, 

 and the second row of potatoes dropped and covered like the first, and so on till the 

 piece is finished. Then take abroad hoe, level the top of the ridges, filling the crevices, 

 and leaving the rows smooth, like a bed. If necessary, some earth can bo drawn from 

 the furrow-bottoms. Thus the seed-potatoes are lying on a level with the top of the 

 ground, as they should, planted the usual way. A light sward is preferable to a heavy 

 one, as the latter would be liable to lie too heavy on th« potatoes. The advantages 

 derived from planting in this way are, first, a great saving of labor, .as they need no 

 hoeing; second, you can plant either late or early in the season, for the grass is readily 

 killed, the inverted sod retaining the moisture in a dry time; third, you cun haul the 

 manure on at your leisure, using the long manure, or the highly fermented, like horse 

 or sheep, as it will not lie in bodies sufficiently large to heat; fourth, all the vegetable 

 matter is turned in and decays, becoming accessible to the roots ; fifth, you get a better 

 quality of potatoes, as they grow smooth and handsome between .the grass, cracking 

 the sod, leaving it quite open and porous : sixth, your ground is thus well prepared 

 for future use with as little labor as would have been required in breaking it up. 



OHIO. 



The twenty-eighth annual report of the State Board, for 1873, consti- 

 tutes a volume of over 600 pages. Its table of contents, if it had one, 

 (and it ought to have,) would, at first glance, by its attractive variety, 

 encourage the agricultural reader to go forward, and guide him to points 



