EXPERIMENTS IN GROWING POTATOES. 



CoNEWANGO (near Warren), Pa. I 

 March 18, 1846. 3 

 John S. Skinner, Esq. 



Editor of the Farmers' Libraiy : 



In the December Number of the Farmers' 

 Library, you remark that yea have never 

 known a period when two subjects engrossed 

 aa much of the public attention as did the potato 

 disease and the railroad mania in England. — 

 You seem to think, however, that the potato 

 disease does not prevail with us to an extent 

 sufficient to justify the appropriation of much 

 space (where space is so precious), but that it 

 may be well to keep inquiry alive, &c. 



With this view of " keeping inquiry alive," I 

 communicate some experiments which I made 

 last season. I think, from your long experi- 

 ence, you will agree with me that an ounce of 

 prevention is worth a pound of cnj-e — that one 

 perch of fair experiment is worth an acre of the- 

 ory. The first appearance of the disease in po- 

 tatoes in this region was in 1843. Some fields 

 on low, moist land were infected a good deal in 

 that season. In 1844 it increased considerably; 

 probably one-fifth of our crops were injured or 

 lost. In 1845 it still increased ; I think the loss 

 in our crops may be safely put down at one- 

 third. Knowing, as I did, the progress of the 

 disease, before I planted last spring I availed 

 myself of all the information on the subject vith- 

 in my reach ; among the most valuable was con- 

 tained ill a series of articles, from different au- 

 thors and sources, in Ayelworth's Reports for 

 1844. Lime and plaster, particularly the for- 

 mer, were reported as the best preventives. I 

 adopted both. 



May 10th — plowed 120 sijuare rods sandy 

 loam, in good tilth, but not rich. A crop of corn 

 and one of rye had been raised on it since ma- 

 nuring. Dragged it well, and struck it out into 

 furrows 3^ feet apart: cut my seed (a middling- 

 sized potato) into three parts ; wet it ; put on as 

 much lime and plaster, in equal parts, as would 

 adhere to the seed ; dropped in the furrows 16 

 inches apart ; covered them with rye stravs-, and 

 turned a furrow each side on to the rows. — 

 When they were 6 inches high, sprinkled plas- 

 ter on the tops, say a peck on the patch ; hoed 

 twice ; and harvested on the 10th of October. — 

 Yield, 8.) bushels of as fine potatoes as I ever 

 raised or saw — not a rotten one among them. I 

 planted three varieties — the Irish Gray, Me- 

 chanic, and PinkEye — all were equally good. 



May 20th — Planted 35 square rods on one end 

 ■(11271 



of my corn-field, where an old fence had been 

 removed ; soil similar to the first, but less worn. 

 Prepared the seed by wetting, and rolling in 

 plaster only. Yield, 25 bushels. Found at har- 

 vest some few rotten, say half a bu.sliel iu all. 



July 1st — Broke up one-quarter of an acre of 

 old meadow land on a small run of water ; soil 

 somewhat clayey. Planted without any prepar- 

 ation of the seed ; hoed once ; dug them 1st of 

 November. Yield, 30 bushels — small, and about 

 one-fifth rotten. 



This la.st experiment was in pursuance of a 

 suggestion, in the report referred to, that pota- 

 toes not fully ripe were better for seed — being 

 more vigorous to send forth the shoots, &c. I 

 have saved the best of this last crop for seed, 

 and shall plant tliem the coming season. 

 Respectfully, 



LANSING WETMORE. 



Last season was unusually dry. The first- 

 mentioned patch was covered deeper than is 

 usual to cover potatoes. ^Vhether this, or the 

 rye straw, or the lime and plaster, had a ten- 

 dency to increase the crop, or whether all com- 

 bined, those who are ver.sed in the chemistry of 

 Agriculture may best determine. L. W. 



HOW TO OBTAIN THE BEST POTATOES FOR 

 PLANTING. 

 At a Farmers' Club in England, Mr. Stephens 

 read a communication from Mr. A. Tod, market 

 gardener, Easter-road, near Edinburgh, on a 

 successful mode, which he had practiced for 

 several years past, of raising Potatoes for seed, 

 and which Mr. Tod' considered might also be 

 practiced by farmers who wished to raise good 

 seed Potatoes. After referring to the observa- 

 tion he had frequently made of Potatoes which 

 had grown deep in the soil being mealy and fit 

 for the table, while those which were formed 

 near the surface of the ground were waxy, and 

 consequently unfit forthe table, yet made good 

 seed — he alluded to the conviction which this 

 circumstance brought to his mind of the propri- 

 ety of always rai.sing Potatoes for seed, and those 

 for food in different ways, and he was the more 

 anxious to treat the Potato differently for these 

 different purposes, that he had suffered largely 

 by failures in his early Potatoes. His sugges- 

 tions for raising seed Potatoes are therefore de- 

 rived from his own experience, and we believe 

 they will be best understood in his own words. 

 " The remedy I venture to suirgest," says Mr. 

 Tod, "is simple and practical, and within the 

 reach of almo.st every farmer, and of a character 

 that it may be easily tried to a greater or less 

 extent, according to circumstances. I propo.se 

 that a portion of land most suitable for the rais- 



