260 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



and moist is found most preferable to any oilier. 

 Of course the root succeeds much beiler in iho 

 iiorlliern slates and in ihe adjoining: 13iili$h 

 provinces than in the souiliern parts of our couti- 

 iry. In the north, parts of J\laine and New- 

 Hampshire, and ihe Province of Nevv-i3runswick 

 are celebrated for the excellence of their [lotatoes. 

 In Nevv-Yoik, the tract lying east of Lake 

 Ontario, between that and the Mohawk and 

 I31ack rivers, produces good potatoes ; and the 

 elevated lands in Ihe south of New-York and the 

 north of Pennsylvania are noted not only for tiie 

 quality of their potatoes but the large crops lliey 

 annually [)rodnce. The potato will succeed well 

 on almost any kind of land provided it is rich, an<l is 

 not wet and clayey ; but for this, as for most other 

 crops a lrial)le loam of sutllcient consistence to 

 prevent drought will be found superior lo any other. 

 Swamps containing large quantities of vegetable 

 mailer, when sufliciently drained, have produced 

 great crops, and what in new countries is termed 

 muck land, is also favorable to their growth. Two 

 things in a potato soil seem lobe indispensable; 

 it must be rich, or a crop cannot be expected ; and 

 it must be sufliciently loose to allow the shoots 

 that form the tubers to spread and enlarge iicely. 

 In Europe the Eriiish islands are justly famed lor 

 their root culture, and the introduction of the 

 [)olato into Ireland has enabled that country to 

 double its population ; if it has not banished want 

 and distress, these evils are not of as frequent 

 recurrence now as formeily, notwithstanding the 

 increase of consumers. Cobbetf, iniieed, charged 

 upon the potato all the evils of Ireland ; and Dr. 

 'i'issoi has demonstrated to iiis own salisliiciion, 

 thai no potato-eating nation has ever produced a 

 great man. 



Tlie greatest crops of potatoes on record are those 

 grown by General Earniim of Vermonr, vvliich 

 reached liom 1,500 lo 1,800 bushels per acre ; and 

 he gives it as his opinion^ that in a good soil, and 

 with his mode ofculluie, from 800 lo 1000 bushels 

 per acre may be safely calculaied upon. 'J'he 

 leporls of the agricultural societies of our country 

 show that liom 500 to 700 bushels per acre are not 

 uncommon. Mr. Bache, of Wellsborough, Pa. 

 in 1839, raised 600 bushels to the acre, and the 

 crop of Mr. Morris, of Cattaraugus, in this stale, 

 leil but little short. The average crop in the 

 country cannot we think be estimated at more 

 than (ioni 175 lo 250 bushels, the influence of 

 the seasons being more felt on this crop than many 

 others. 



The methods of planting are vaiious. Gen. 

 Barnum's mode, alter a careful and thorough 

 j)reparation of his land, is lo plant in drills 22 inches 

 apart, and tlie sets in Ihe drills 10 inches from 

 each other. The drills are kept clean, but the 

 earth is hilled around the plants only once in Ihe 

 season ; as he considers there is nm'ch danger of 

 disturbing the young tubers by renioving the earth 

 or causing the Ibrniatioti of view shoots lor tubers 

 by repeated hoeings or hillings. The secret of 

 his great crops appears to consist in his bringing 

 rich It-esh earths, the scraping of ihe ditches o'r 

 streets, or earth from the barn-yard, or the mould 

 deposited in swamps, and giving each hill a shovel 

 full, as a top dressing. He does this with the aid 

 of a horse and cart, the horse and ihe wheels 

 passing between ihe rows. 



We have seen very good potatoes grown by 



siaiply dropping the eeed on a clean turf, and 

 spreading over them a covering of straw six or 

 eight inches in ihickness. The straw must be 

 evenly placed, and ii' moved by the wind befiire 

 it gels settled together, which it wiil soon do, ir. 

 must be carefully replaced. This covering of 

 straw Keeps the surface moist, the grass can not 

 spring up thrcugh it, and in the fall the potatoes 

 are Ibund on ihe surface of the turf, and [lerfedly 

 clean when the straw is removed. The danger 

 in this mode of planting would seem to Ho in a 

 dry season which is frequently final lo the crop; 

 and a heavy crop is rarely in this way produced. 



In the Monthly Visitor, for February, 1S'40, it? 

 an account of an experiment with polaioes, which 

 was eminently successliil, and deserving of notice. 

 In ihe spring ol' 1S39, Mr. \Vhilne3' of Cralishury 

 Vt. " broke up a [)iece of green sward, harrowed 

 it thoroughly, caned upon it manure from the yard 

 at the rate of 32 loads loilie acre, cross jjloughed it, 

 harrowed it again, and planted it in tlie usuaf 

 manner in hills. At the proper ploughing between 

 the rows, t!ie piece was well hoed, and at the 

 proper time was repeated. In the fall lie dug 

 from this piece at the rale of 300 bushels to ihe 

 acre, which for this year, on aicouin of the rust, 

 was considered a good yielil. By the side of this 

 piece, on precisely lire same quality of soil, ma- 

 nure was carted and spread at tlie rate of 32 loaila 

 lo the acre; the sward was then carefully turned 

 over, and the furrows laid'flat with a roller. Ee- 

 iween every other furrov/, where they came to- 

 gether, (that is between the first and second, and 

 belvv^een the third and fourth and so on,) holes iwo 

 feet apart weie made wi'h a sharpened stick, 

 about three inches deep, large enough to receive 

 ihe seed. Into each hole one piece of potato was 

 put, and the holes filled up vvilh mellow soil, even 

 witli the general surface of the field. There was' 

 no further labor beslowed upon the crop till the 

 diggintr, when the quantity produced was a little 

 over 400 busliels per acre, Although never hoed 

 not a weed was seen in if. Before difrginir, the 

 field had the appearance of having been well lioed, 

 the potatoes having raised up the ground above 

 them." 



The Rohan potato is an instance of the fortu- 

 nate production of a new and valuable variety 

 from seeds. This root which, wherever it has 

 been tried in our country, seems to have satisfieil 

 all reasonable expeclalions that had been formed, 

 is destined doubtless lo add much to ihe value of 

 the potato crop : and no good reason can be given 

 why other, and still more productive kinds may 

 not be produced by the same methods. A com- 

 parison of a crop of Rohans with one of the 

 original wild potato, would seem to justify expec- 

 tations of still further improvement, from the 

 combined agencies of cultivation and reproduction 

 from the true seeds. 



1)1 all cases ihe value of early polaloesis great; 

 and particularly so in the vicinity of cities, where 

 a constant demand, and ready market lor such 

 vetretabies always exists. Experience has tausht 

 the growers of potatoes lor the London market 

 that ripe potatoes can be Ibund from ten to fourteen 

 days earlier in hills or drills planted with sets 

 from the top end (Ihe one that has the most eyes) 

 than in those planted from theroot end oflhe tuber, 

 The Lancashire gardeners therefore assort their 

 6ets, so as to have thera ripen at the same time, 



