1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



SO 



those cities, in sugar, molasses, bacon, lard, &c. 

 and give the purchasers their supphes as they 

 want them ; requiring thereby, less capital to do 

 the same business with, than if bought at the 

 north, in anticipation of the trading seasons. 



J. H. D. LowNES. 

 Richmond, Feb. S, 1839. 



PREPARATIONS FOR SILK-CULTURE IifEAR 

 GEORGETOWN. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Georgetoivn, 1st Feb., 1839. 

 I shall have, if my roots and cuttings succeed 

 as well this year as the last, /rom 300,000 to 500- 

 000 Chinese mulberry trees next fall, from six to 

 eight feet high, and abundantly supplied with 

 branches, as 1 shall give them room enough. I 

 am novv building a laboratory for the worms to 

 do their work in, 50 feet by 20, 2 stories. This 

 for a beginning, to feed one million of worms next 

 summer. I shall enlarge it next year to the ex- 

 tent required to feed all the leaves I can grow. 1 

 have taken measures to procure silk-worm's eggs 

 from France, which I expect to arrive about the 

 1st April. I have ordered them of the best de- 

 scription, and shall probably have some pounds to 

 dispose of. Your obedient servant, 



J. Mason, Jr. 



For tlie Farmers' Register. 

 FAILURE OF EXPERIMENTS. MODES OF 

 KEEPING SWEET POTATOES. 



Ills as useful to the agricultural reader, to learn 

 the failure of any experiment, produced by the 

 suggestions of reported success, as it is to hear of 

 its having liilly performed all that was ascribed to 

 it. I am induced to make this observation, in con- 

 sequence of seeing it stated, some short time 

 back, in the Register, that if twigs from an apple 

 tree be inserted in an Irish potato, and pieced in 

 the ground, that the i wig would grow and flourish, 

 and become a living tree. A friend of mine per- 

 formed this experiment. He carefully, as direct- 

 ed, inserted a number of fine twigs in an equal 

 number of Irish potatoes, and watered them, 

 whenever it was necessary. But, lo ! the twigs 

 all died, whilst tiie potatoes grew and flourished^' 



I have met with another failure in a highly re- 

 commended species of corn, the " Baden or twin- 

 corn." I have cultivated this corn for 2 or 3 years, 

 being induced to do so from the many panegyrics 

 bestowed on it; but I am led to the conclusion" that 

 it Avill not answer, except on very rich land, and 

 in such land any species will produce well. The 

 objection I have to the Baden corn, is, that it 

 sends out a great number of shoots, or as our 

 farmers term it, -'over-shoots itself," and conse- 

 quently, not one of them attains perfection and 

 makes a good ear, unless the land be uncommon- 

 ly good ; and even then, not over two ears fill out, 

 whilst the remainder amount to little or nolhinff. 



A correspondent in the Register desired To 



* Out correspondent might have seen in the same 



No., by our comments on the piece referred to, that 



it was not selected for republication, for its supposed 



truth, but to expose its worthlessness.— Ed. F. Reg. 



Vol. VII— 11 



know how sweet potatoes can be kept through 

 the winter months. This is a secret, I can assm-e 

 him, well worth knowing. I can inform him of 

 the method adopted in the lower section of Vir- 

 ginia, most famous too for its sweet potatoes. 

 This winter, many persons have already lost their 

 potatoes, in consequence of having heavy rains 

 about the time they were dug, which, by being 

 saturated with water, brought on the rot after they 

 were put up. 



There are two methods used for putting away 

 sweet potatoes. One plan is to build a small 

 house of brick, sunk one or two feet in the ground. 

 The size of the house to be in proportion to the 

 wants of the farmer ; they are generally 7 or 8 

 feet square, with a small door opening to the south, 

 and a brick \e{\ out in the north end, to be stopped 

 or opened as it may be necessary to give them 

 air. When the potatoes are put into this house, 

 some clean dry pine leaves are put over them, as 

 well as under them. 



The other plan, which is much the most com- 

 mon, is to put them up in hills out of doors, as 

 follows. A bed of pine-leaves is laid down on 

 the ground about a foot deep, the potatoes are 

 then placed upon it in a pile of a conical form; a 

 covering of dry pine leaves is then put all over 

 them a foot thick, and then dry earth thrown over 

 the whole about 6 or 8 inches thick and carefully 

 patted down with a spade. Some leave an ajjer- 

 ture at top, and insert an oblong box, 4 inches 

 square, down to the potatoes, and lay a piece of 

 plank over the outer orifice, which is to be re- 

 moved in warm days to admit air, as it is consi- 

 dered that much heat is injurious. If these hills 

 be not made with much care, the frost will reach 

 the potatoes and destroy them. To prevent this, 

 I have, for several years, put up my potatoes in 

 such a hill as I have described, made in my cellar 

 instead of the open air; and so lar have never 

 failed to keep them, as it is impossible for them to 

 freeze. A heavy rain has lately fallen, and some 

 water got into my cellar, and 1 fear it may injure 

 them. Peter De Quir. 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 MARL. MARL INDICATOR. PROLIFIC CORN. 

 SUCKERS. SEKD. DEEP CULTURE THE SE- 

 COND TI3IE, PARTICULARLY IN DRY SEA- 

 SONS. NINi:-LOT SYSTEM. 



While I make a remittance to the editor, I will 

 also take occasion to offer a few ideas to the read- 

 ers of the Reirister. I think it highly probable, 

 that they will not be considered very valuable ; 

 and many will think that they had 'as well not 

 have been published. But this opinion should be 

 resisted in this, our day of small things, with due 

 fortitude. It is a sort of " besetting sin" of the 

 eastern Virginian, (and of the southerners general- 

 ly,) that if he cannot exhibit, or do that which is 

 "first rate," he will do nothing. And while the 

 Register is waiting for its contents to be made up 

 of all the necessary exhibitions of p^r/ed/on in the 

 art and science of agriculture, its editor is put to 

 his " wit's end," in writing, copying and extract- 

 ing, for the edification and pleasure of its numer- 

 ous readers, ail expectmg him to form, for their 

 hungry appetites, a least of fliU variety. And 



