THE FARMERS' REGISTER- 



131 



Immediatety from thence and sown in the field ; 

 but my scpils-man scattered it too plentifully at 

 first, and the consequence was, the clean seed 

 was all exhausted and the square which you see 

 was left unsown ; but not tieinir willing lo leave 

 this portion of ihe fitW wiihoui a crop, and hav- 

 ing no seed at hand, I took llie clover-chaii liom 

 the barn and scattered it very thickly over die 

 unsown portion of land, ihiukiiig there mij^ht l)e 

 a lew seeds coiiiained ainoiigest ii ; and you now 

 see the result, alter two crops of lar lieavier bulk 

 have been removed Iron) the spot before us." 



THE POTATO. 



From Uie same. 



Mr. Editor — It is perhaps not generally known 

 to the subscribers of the Farmers' Cabinet, that 

 in the potato there are two parts, which, if sepa- 

 rated and planted at the same time, one will pro- 

 duce tubers fit lor the table eight or ten days ear- 

 her than the other. This liact has fallen under my 

 own observation, and is the plan I now pursue in 

 order to obtain an early supply for my table, fine 

 and very mealy. The apex or small end of the 

 potato, which is generally full of eyes, is that 

 part which produces the earliest — the middle or 

 body of the potato produces later, and always 

 large ones. The butt or navel end is worthless, 

 except for feeding eiock, and if planted produces 

 very indifTeient small ones, and often none at ail, 

 the eyes, if any, being imperlectly lormed. The 

 potato being cut two weeks before planted, and 

 spread on a floor, that the wounds may heal, se- 

 parating the small end from the middle, then cut- 

 ting off the navel or butt, the body or middle of 

 the potato is then divided into two pieces length- 

 wise, taking care to have always the largest and 

 finest selected, being convinced that if none but 

 large potatoes are planted, large ones will be 

 again produced ; small things produce small things 

 again, and iherelbre no small potatoes should be 

 planted ; this practice is too prevalent, and may 

 account lor the many varieties and small potatoes 

 met with in our markets. Who would not preler 

 a large mealy potato to a small one, that will take 

 hours to boil soft, and then may only be fit to feed 

 the cattle with 7 



For several years past I have adopted the phm 

 of putting potatoes into the ground late in the fall, 

 covering them with manure, sometimes with tan- 

 ners' waste bark, and always have succeeded in 

 raising a fine early crop. Last lall I had taken 

 up some as fine and large Mercer potatoes as any 

 one could wish ; they were covered v/ith tan six 

 inches thick the preceding fall ; many weiglied 

 sixteen ounces. No particular care or atteirion 

 was bestowed upon them through the summer, 

 the tan not permitting any weeds to trouble them, 

 or to draw out the nourishment from the earth, 

 they had therefore all the benefit of the soil, kept 

 moist and clean by the tan, for tan will keep the 

 ground moist and clean, and in an improved 

 state, in the driest season. 1 have found the 

 great advantage of it to my asparagus and straw- 

 berry beds, which are annually covered with it. 



The potato I consider so valuable and indispen- 

 eable a vegetable, and having never seen a sug- 

 gestion in print of separating the potato and 



planting each by itself,* that I have been induced 

 to send you this imjierlect and hastilj' drawn up 

 communication. Perhaps you may think it worthy 

 a place in the Farmers' Cabinet, and if so, should 

 be pleased to liear that some of its patrons will 

 try the experiment of planting separately each 

 part of the tuber,'believing (hat the potato may 

 tie much improved by a due regard to the above 

 suggestions. J. F. H. 



Lancaster, February 26, 1842. 



MAGNESIAN LIMK. 



From the Bame. 



At page 276 of vol, v, of the Farmers' Cabinet, 

 in a short extract from the "GSeneral Report of 

 Scotland," it is stated that " it had been long 

 known lo farmers in the neighborhood of Doncaa- 

 ter, England, that lime made from a certain stone, 

 and applied to land, often injured the crops con- 

 siderably. Mr. Tenant, in making a set of ex- 

 periments upon this peculiar calcareous substance, 

 found that it contained magnesia, and on mixing 

 some calcined magnesia with soil, in which he 

 sowed difi'erent seeds, he found that they either 

 died or vegetated in a very imperfect manner, and 

 the plants were never healthy ; and with great 

 justice and ingenuity he referred the bad etlects 

 of this peculiar limestone to the magnesian earih 

 it contained. Yet it is advantageously employed 

 in small quantities, seldom more than 25 or 30 

 bushels per acre,'' 



Mr. Tenant's account of hia experiments first 

 appeared, we believe, in the Philosophical Trans- 

 actions of England, and we know not that it 

 ever appeared in any other Ibrm. It is certainly 

 not in very general circulation. We cannot say, 

 therelbre, how extensive, varied and accurate the 

 experiments may have been. But it is from such 

 vague, loose and indefinite accounts as the above, 

 that we are called upon to swallow the whole 

 doctrine and all its consequences — head, horns 

 and all, without making a wry face, and that too 

 in opposition to a host of proofs of its utter fijilacy, 

 derived from one of the most extensive and deci- 

 sive experiments ever made in agriculture. 



Bui leaving Mr. Tenant's account of the mat- 

 ter out of view for the present, let us examine 

 that which the advocates of the doctrine it was 

 intended to support have vouchsafed to give us. 

 They tell us that he mixed some calcined magne- 

 sia wiih the soil, (but they do not tell us how 

 much,) and found that seeds sown in it either did 

 not come up at all, or if they did, did not grow 

 vigorously. Well, we grant that they did not. 

 What then"? Does it necessarily follow that 

 magnesia is destructive to vegetation"? Suppose 

 he had mixed pure lime, or even pounded chalk, 

 with his earth, every body knows, or may easily 

 ascertain, that if an undue proportion of either 

 were used, his plants would have withered and 

 died, the same as they did in the magnesian mix- 

 ture. Would it not then be just as philosophical 

 to assert that lime was in the latter case injurious 

 to vegetation, as that magnesia was in the former 7 



Here then appears but a single unvaried expe- 



• At p. 1.32 of the Cabinet, vol. v. our correspondent 

 will find this subject particularly treated. — Ed. Cab. 



