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Puhlished by John B. Russell, at Mi. 52 M>rth Market Street, (at the Agricvltxiral Warehouse). — Thomas G. Fessenden, Editor. 



VOL. YII. 



BOSTON, FllIDAY, MARCH 6, 1829. 



No. 33. 



AGRICULTURE. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



MR TIDD'S EXPERIMENTS OF RAISING 



NEW VARIETIES OF POTATOES 



FROM SEED. 



Mr Tidd deserves the thanks of the friends of 

 agriculture, for tlie care, accuracy, and extent of 

 his experiment in producing nowvarieties of pota- 

 toes from seed — and t'.ie i^ublic are not less deep- 

 ly indebted to him for the clear, and satisfactory 

 account which he has given of his experiment. I 

 think that he may dismiss a great portion of his 

 fears, and embarrassments as to the future course 

 of carrying his experiments into full effcxt. He 

 may be assured, that there is not the great dan- 

 ger whicli he seems to apprehend in the confusion 

 of the new varieties which he lias introduced by 

 seed. If the potato ever degenerates by intermix- 

 ture of the tubers, which is doubtful, he may rely 

 upon it that it is an exception, and not a general 

 law. 



I was sorry to find that the discovery of a single 

 mixed potato should have led him to add the 

 weight of his opinion to a doctrine, which it is be- 

 lieved is entirely unfounded. 



No man has a greater contempt for mere theory 

 than I have on subjects of natural history, njion 

 which, we have so many op|)ortunities of trying 

 theory by its only true standard, experience. If 

 the potato is subject to intermixtures by being 

 planted near together, then the laws of nature 

 have been always suspended on my estate for ti.e 

 last twenty years. I never planted a single field 

 of potatoes without two or more distinct varieties 

 — the rows of course have interlaced each other 

 — in some cases I have planted two varieties pro- 

 miscuou.sly — two early varieties have been thus 

 planted for ten or tweWe successive years, with- 

 out producing a single mule or mongrel. If it be 

 asked how this fact is ascertained .-' I reply, by the 

 roots, and by the foliage flowers. The two vari- 

 eties referred to difier in the shape and in th(' color 

 of the roots, but the diflierence in the foliago and 

 flowers is equally great. I determined the last year 

 to separate them and I marked one variety when 

 in flower. When the roots vyere taken up sepa- 

 rately I had the two varieties as pure as they were 

 ten ynrs before. It is not now recol'ected that 

 any European writers have believed in this ten- 

 dency of the potato to degenerate hy intermix- 

 ture, but tho iact may be otherwise. 



One of the benefits to be derived from a horti- 

 cultural association will I hope he the settling 

 some of those doubts which have a mischievous 

 efteet on cultivation. So confident do I feel that 

 the potato does not hybridize by planting dif- 

 ferent sorts contiguously, that I propose that -50 

 hills of potatoes shall be planted under the direc- 

 tion of a committee of the proposed society, and 

 the product gathered under their inspection — that 

 each bill shall contain four potatoes most distinct 

 in color and shape, and if there shall be one hy- 

 brid or mule produced, I will give 50 dolhirs to 

 the smtioty to be distributed in premiums. But it 

 .should be understood that the supposed mongrel, 

 mule, or hybrid, shall be replanted, and shall be 



jby the same committee, at the end of tne second I In Cook's book we have the following descrip- 

 ycar, pronounced to be a new variety, or, in i tion of " A Witch-Elm in Sir Walter iiaggots' 

 other words that its change is constant, and materi- 

 al. Sports in color occur in every sort of natural 



production, and I have often seen a white stripe 

 in a red potato without any apparent cause — and 

 without any permanent change. 



Roxbury, Feb. 24. A FARMER. 



FOR THE MEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ANCIENT GARDENING. 



Mr Fessenden — I have had the curiosity late- 

 ly to peruse a work entitled The Art of Garden- 

 ing, by J. Woolridge, printed in London in 16S8, 

 and another on Forest Trees, by Moses Cook, 

 London 1675. I wished to coinpare the old 

 method of cultivation with the improved systems 

 of t'.ie present day. As might be expected all the 

 advantage is in favor of the very valuable system 

 puhlished by you the last year, which I hope and 

 trust is in general circulation. Woolridge thus 

 eulogises the art of gardening. 



"Since gardeuing was the first and best vocation, 

 And Adam (whose all are by procreation) 

 Was the first Gard'ner of the world, and ye 

 Are the green shoots of hiin the original tree : 

 Encourage then this innocent old trade, 

 Ye uoblc souls that were from Adam made ; 

 So shall the Gard'ner's labor better bring 

 To his country profit, pleasure to his king." 

 I searched with the hope of finding something 

 relative to the subject of my favorite insects, the 

 bees, but at that period, our fathers were uiiae- 

 quainted with any method by which they could 

 ODtain the honey vvithput deijtroying the be>s. — 

 Their irietliod was to suffocate the industrious in- 

 sects, by the fumes of burning brimstone, which 

 differs but little from that of skinning a favorite 

 horse for his liide. The author noticed one in- 

 stance of culpable selfishness in a man who pois- 

 oned all the flowers in bis garden, lest his neigh- 

 bor's bees should extract honey from them. I was 

 amused with a paragraph designated, " an ingen- 

 ious method of destroying caterpillars." It is first 

 to apply a ring of tar round the trunk of the tree, 

 then suspend among the branches a bag full of 

 ants, having an aperture for their escape. As thej' 

 are prevented from coming down the tree by the 

 ring of tar, the unhappy inserts will in a few days 



Park. 

 " Two men five days in felling it. 

 It lay forty yards in length. 

 The stool five yards two feet over. 

 Fourteen loads of wood brake in the fall. 

 Forty-eight loads in the top. 

 Eighty thousand six hundred and sixty feet of boardi 



and plank. 

 Eighty pair of naves were made from it. 

 It cost ten pounds seventeen shillings for sawing. 

 The whole substance was conceived to be ninety-seven 



tons. 

 It was felled in the year 1674. 



" Reader, if thy faith hold out, read on ; 

 But if you find you can 't believe, be gone: 

 For with more case a man might undertake 

 To bring brute bear unto the fatal stake, ' 



Than him to teach, whose inlidelily 

 Does demonstraUon, reason, truth defy." 



Cook. 



The author closes his long chapter on the Oak, 

 with the following eulogium. 



" O stately tree ! who right can speak thy praise. 

 Doth well deserve the laurel or t'.ie bays. 

 Ask but our Thames what burdens thou hast bore 

 Of gold and silver fine, aod in their ore. 

 Of Rubies, Diamonds, and Pearles most rare. 

 With others, v.bich past valuation are : 

 Of silks anil sattins fine to clothe the back ; 

 Of wines, Italian, French, and Spanish Sack : 

 Of spices, fruits, and many a rich dye, 

 Tosausfy and feas* the cuiest eye : 

 Of ma^ticlV,' myrrh, auJ i.iai.y a rich gum ; 

 Aloes, and drugs which from the Indies come. 

 Ho who loves this thy burden, and not thee. 

 He deserves never to be worth one tree." 

 Plymouth, Feb. 1829. ME DICUS. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



QUERIES ON FRUIT, &.c. 

 Mr EniToii — I wish for information on several 

 subjects through the medium of your useful paper. 

 First ; as I have several thrifty, handsome bodied 

 pear trees, which now jjioduce very poor fruit, I 

 wish to know whether they can be engrafied or 

 inoculated with good success. I have thought of 

 cutting off the tops of the trees, and engrafting 

 The trees are about 25 or 30 years 



be com])elled bv the want of food, to feast upon i 

 the caterpillar^^ and thus annihilate the whole | the limbs. 

 tribe. Now, Mr Editor, which should be our 'old, and eight or ten inches m diameter at the 

 choice, to spend a few days in the early part of trunk. 



the season in our orchard, and destroy the cater- i Secondly. I wish to know whether quince 

 pillars with Pickering's brush, and hy crushing I scions will grow and come to maturity on apple 

 them and their eggs, or to tar our trees, and then ; tree stocks. If they will, I wish to know the best 

 spend some weeks in catching bags of ants, for a 

 large orchard would require at least a bushel, and 

 several yards of canvas for bags, and then compel 

 the ])0or creatures by starvation to wage an ex- 

 terminating warfare with the caterpillars ? Yon 

 have imiformly recommended to your readers to bo made to flourish or not, as mme at present are 



time for cutting tiie scions ; also the best time to 

 engraft them. 



Thirdly. I transplanted in the spring of 1824, 

 an orchard on the same ground where an old one 

 had decayed. I wish to know whether they can 



practise the former method, and assured them of 

 success. By that method I have within a few 

 years past almost entirely exterminated the eater- 

 pillar tribe from a large orchard, and at the ex- 

 (jense of very little time or trouble. 



not in a very thrifty comlition. 1 want to know, 

 likewise, the best manner to cultivate the orchard, 

 and the best kind of manure to put round the 

 f any at all. If any person will take the 



trees. 



trouble to give me information on either of the 



