THE i-ARMERS' REGISTER. 



187 



one half of them. 1 must have had a kind of 

 presentiment that I waa writing for just such a 

 person as JVIr. Nicol implies himself to be, one 

 who finds it difficult to comprehend. For to show 

 what 1 meant by manure fully made, I uncon- 

 sciously used nok less than /bur different epithets 

 all pointing to the same thing. Hitherto I have 

 taken to myself no credit for any thing except 

 nay hog-management. Now, I begin to think, 

 1 deserve some credit for my ingenuity in avoiding 

 the figure of speech called tautology, which is so 

 offensive to every correct writer; for the terms 

 thoroughly, properly, fairly, llilly, though they 

 point to the same thing, do not mean precisely the 

 same thing. Now 1 will venture to say, that 

 there is no larmer, great or small, young or old, 

 who honored my essay with a perusal, but fully, 

 thoroughly, fairly, properly understood its mean- 

 ing—Mr. Nicol always excepted. But I really 

 wish to enlighten him also. 1 ehall begin to 

 think much less favorably of myself as a writer 

 if there be a single reader who does not fully 

 ([ beg pardon for using this word) understand 

 me. 1 will again look over his piece, and see if 

 I can find an easier term. I see he uses frequent- 

 ly the word " decompose." I will employ this, 

 and see if I cnn make my meaning clear. By 

 manure fully, &c., made, I mean vegetable mat- 

 ter which when mixed with animal excrement 

 has undergone decomposition, so that the vege- 

 table fibre is destroyed, and is reduced to a slate 

 of rottenness. When I find vegetable matter ol 

 any kind, leaves from the woods, wheat *raw, 

 corn stalks, weeds from the field, or any thing else 

 in this stale, ( call it manure ; and ( consider it 

 60 valuable that I wish i had thousands of it on 

 ray little farm at this time. 



But I am again incurring my common fault, 

 making my paper too long. There is however 

 one more point or which ! must pay my respects 

 to Mr. Nicol. At the close of his strictures, he 

 eaye, " 1 have seen finely rotted manure, dry straw 

 from the stack, and dry and recent leaves from 

 the woods, applied to clover side by side, and the 

 best results were from the covering of dry straw. 

 I have also seen young wheat top-dressed with 

 pine leaves (on marled land) with benefiis, 

 though of course less in degree, as distinctly 

 marked as I have ever seen from the applica- 

 tion of rotted stable and farm-pen manure." Now, 

 let it be understood, that in commenting on and 

 objecting to the above passage, 1 do not call in 

 question a single fact there expressed ; nor do I 

 doubt that the writer firmly believes all he states. 

 But does he mean that "dry straw from the stack 

 and dry and recent leaves irom the woods," re- 

 maining and continuing dry, will have a better 

 eflfecton clover, than will rotted manure? I do 

 not wish to do the writer the slightest injustice, 

 but this really seems to be his meaning. The 

 straw and leaves, it is true, were dry when ap- 

 plied, but they soon became wet, and the young 

 clover having itself a great attraction lor moisture, 

 soon covered them, so as to screen them from the 

 evaporation of the sun, and thus, being in a state 

 of continual moisture, they underwent a rapid 

 decomposition. In thi? process the gases were 

 evolved just in the position and at the time to 

 benefit the clover. Whilst this was the case, 

 the rotted manure, made on the wasteful plan of 

 Mr. Nicol, deprived of its valuable properties, 



remained there almost in an inert state ; and this 

 is the real reason why his straw and leaves pro- 

 duced a more beneficial result than his rotted 

 manure. 



There are some other matters on which I in- 

 tended to comment, but this must do for the pre- 

 sent. Whether I shall take them up hereafter 

 depends on circumstances. J. H. Turner. 



ANOTHEU MODE OF KEEPIKQ SWEET POTA- 

 TOES. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Prir.ce George county. Fa., April 8, 1842. 

 Having made an experiment in keeping sweet 

 potatoes which has proved highly satisfactory, J 

 think it might be advantageous to many of your 

 numerous readers it' they would adopt my plan, 

 which is this, viz.: I selected a dry spot, around 

 which no water would remain, and had the sills of 

 my house (ten feet square) placed flat on the 

 ground. I then had the earth dug out to the 

 depth of 2^ feet, and as the earth was thrown out 

 1 had it thrown around the sills eo as to raise it to 

 a level with the top of them, and sloped off gra- 

 dually, to turn the rain water falling from the 

 eaves entirely away from the house. I then had 

 the rafters, 2 by 6, nailed to the sills, and the gable 

 end studs, also 2 by 6, fitted from the sills to the 

 raliers; and the whole closely planked on the in- 

 side, and as the outside planks were nailed on I 

 had the space between (which of course was six 

 inches) filled in with earth, so that the air was en- 

 tirely excluded, except at the door. I had two 

 doors made, one to hang on the inside, and the 

 other on the outside, so as to fill in between them 

 with straw or pine leaves, if the wifiter should be 

 very severe ; but I used only the outside door, the 

 winter having been so mild. 



When I put my potatoes away, I had some old 

 slabs placed at the bottom of the house, and then 

 a layer of pine leaves, on which I put the potatoes, 

 and after they were all put in, I had them covered 

 thickly with pine leaves. 



The eating roots were separated from tbe plant-- 

 ings, so that we might go in at any time, and get 

 such as were wanted. They were put away on 

 the day they were dug, and we got out such as 

 vyere put away lor eating, every day until some 

 time in February, at which time the eating rootg 

 were all used, and I do not think one peck had 

 rotted, out of about 30 or 35 bushels. 



The plantings (which 1 took out a few days 

 ago) also kept remarkably well. The only rotten 

 ones which 1 saw seemed to be around the edges, 

 where the mice had burrowed under the sills, and 

 caused the dirt to fall in upon them. The mice 

 were quite destructive to them in consequence of 

 having no underpinning and floor, by which they 

 may be effecliially excluded. 



I had one barrel filled with a particular kind, 

 which I wished to keep separate from the others, 

 and in this barrel I saw scarcely one rotten potato, 

 although the mice had eaten nearly one third of 

 them. 



As this was only an experiment, I would not in- 

 cur the expense of underpinning, &c.; but as the 

 result has proved eo satisfactory, I intend to havo 

 the house underpinned, and a brick floor laid in 



