FARMERS' REGISTER 



259 



in his lifetime. ACier tlie diggers liad progressed 

 between filteen ami twenty feel into the earih, 

 Ihey came (o llie iiead of an Indian cypress cr.- 

 noe, wliich iiad been lied lo a cypress knee with a 

 rope — the rope wiien exposed to tiie air, crumbled 

 and fell down into a fine pulverized substance 

 iike ashes. Gen. Hatch had the head of the ca- 

 noe cut off and kept it many years as a curiosity. 

 As BufTon seems lo think that this continent was 

 formed by the rotatory motion given to the sands, 

 &c., by liio ocean around some mountain, &c., 

 and was gradually enlarged, &c., here is a well 

 established fact, which would give emploympnt 

 to some antiquary Cor year.', particularly when 

 connected with the marine and organic remains 

 which surround it. At Mr. Becton's, in the north- 

 western part of this county, there occurs "a depo- 

 site of a hard, dark-colored limestone, containing 

 small oyster shells indjedded together with an 

 abundance of sliarks' teeth, sometimes penetrat- 

 ing the rock, and sometimes scattered loosely 

 among the seams." Tliis is a very pure lime- 

 stone, containing ninety-three per cent, of lime, 

 and extends into Lenoir county, and may be 

 traced to the farm of Col. Blount Coleman, in 

 that county, where it appears in very great abun- 

 dance. I neglected to mention a formation o( 

 stone marl near Mr. Becton's, of the richest kind 

 yet discovered in this country ; but as I have, I 

 fear, wearied you with this dull detail of our in- 

 terna! agricultural re.?ourccp, I will not trouble you 

 Willi an}' liiriher descriptions of them. Enough 

 has been said, I trust, lo induce you lo come 

 among us, for if there be any country that afTords 

 a rich and boundless field lor investigation, &c., it 

 is ours — and we venture to affirm, that not one 

 can be found where the lavish gifts of nature have 

 been so eharaefully neglected and rejected. 

 Respectfully yours, 



Jabies W. Bhyan. 



CULTUr.K OF THE POTATO. 



From the Cultivator. 



By common conpe.n1 the potato has been placed 

 at the head ol'all the edible, roots, wherever it has 

 been introduced, and the climate would admit of 

 its cultivalioti. Originating from an obscure and 

 worthless root among ihe Cordilleras of South 

 America, in spite of prejudice and opposition, it 

 has spread with a rapidity unknown to any other 

 vegetable, and is doubtless destined to make the 

 circuit of the globe, adding in an incalculable 

 degree lo the means of subsistence. There are 

 lew if any vegetables grown in the temperate 

 zone that yield so great an amount of food per 

 acre as the potato. Wheat, according to Sir H. 

 Davy, contains 950 parts of nutritious matter in 

 1000; and the potato 250 ; but when it is remem- 

 bered that the yield of the potato on an average is 

 from ten to filieen limes as much per acre as 

 wheat, the advantage in favor of the potato is 

 manifest. Besides such is the human organization 

 that pure nutritive matter is injurious to its heahhy 

 functions, and the stomach requires to be more 

 or less distended with other matter before ihe 

 excitement necessary to nutrition takes place. 

 We are, therefore, juBtified in supposing that good 

 potatoes used exclusively as an article of food, 



would be less injurious than pure wheat flour. Be 

 this as it may, the potato in most civilized coun- 

 tries now ranks next as an mticic of food to the 

 rice of the tropics; and the wfieat and maize of 

 the more temperate regions. To Europe is 

 America indebted for the gramina^, and liad we 

 relumed them nothing more than the potato and 

 maize, the debt must have been considered as can- 

 celled. 



The potato is usually propagated by the tubers 

 or roots, but new varieties are obtained or old 

 ones that have partially degenerated restored, by 

 cultiva'inglhem from seed. There are few plants 

 that show more decisively the improvement that 

 may be made by culiivaiion than the potato. In 

 1838, a quantity of the original roots were brought 

 from Soudi America to England, and carefially 

 planted. The result was a small inlerior root, 

 more resembling the ground nut than the polalo, 

 and not widely difl'cring in appearance from those 

 of the first year's growth li-orn seeds. There is 

 an idea p'-evalent among many farmers that 

 potatoes are rnixed, or what by the breeder of 

 animals would be called crossed, by having seve- 

 ral kinds planted in the, vicinity of each other. 

 This is an erroneous opinion. Tiie crossing takes 

 place in the flowers or seeds and noi in the roots ; 

 and hence there is the same uncertainty that 

 theeeeds of any given variety of this.root. will 

 produce potatoes of the parent kuid, that there 

 is that the apple seeds will give apples like those 

 from which they are taken, a thing of very rare 

 occurrence. 



Every farmer who has paid attention to the 

 manner of growth in the potato is aware ihat 

 the tubers are not produced from the roots proper, 

 these being, as in other plants, used solely for the 

 purpose of nutrition, but on shoots thrown out 

 above these, and nearer the surface of the earth. 

 It was the opinion of Decandollethat by repeated 

 coverings of the stem such shoots, and of course 

 potatoes could be produced the whole length of 

 the stalk, and some experiments that he made 

 seemed tc fivor such a supposiiion ; still we must 

 be permitted to say, that having in part repeated 

 his experiments, we have found nothing lo justify 

 the opinion that such a result would be effected by 

 this treatment of the stem. 



'I'he pro[)riely of cutting the tubers or planting 

 them whole has been much discussed, and the 

 multitude ofexperiments on record would seem to 

 show by their conflicting results, that at least as 

 much is depending on other circumstances, as on 

 Ihe root being planted in a whole or cut state. If 

 an acre of ground be planted in hills or drills with 

 whole potatoes, and another acre be planted wilh 

 sets or cuilings at equal distances wilh the other, 

 the experiments made by the London Horticultu- 

 ral Society would go to prove that the acre planted 

 with whole potatoes would yield the most, but not 

 much if any more than the additional quantity of 

 seed required in planting. If whole potatoes are 

 used, from twenty-five to thirty bushels will be 

 used ; if cut, not more than half that quantity will 

 be required. In both cases, however, much will 

 be depending on the size of the whole potatoes, 

 and the number ofeyes in those cut. The distance 

 between the rows must be determined by the 

 length of stem produced by the potato, and the 

 several varieties vary much in this respect. 



In cultivating the potato a elimate rather cool 



