iTHE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



The bone manure anil compost were harrowed 

 in with a heavy iwo-horse harrow, ami the ground 

 80 rested until ilie appearance of rain, tlie 8ih of 

 August, when, immediarely preceding a shower, 

 the seed were sown and ivell harrowed in. The rain 

 which (ell was not a soaking one, hut a transient 

 summer shower, much of which ran off, especial- 

 ly Irom that portion ol' the ground to which the 

 bone manure had been applied ; the part manured 

 from the (arm-yard, presented a rather more un- 

 even surlace, one consequently more favorable for 

 the reception and reten'ion of rain, which fact was 

 well eslatilished by an examination of the ground 

 the next morning, when 1 foimd thai the moisture 

 had penei rated at least two inches deeper in the 

 one rase than in the other, and which circumstance 

 gave to thut portion of the trround manured li-om 

 the farm-yard a very decided advantage over the 

 bone manure for the first two weeks, or until am- 

 ple rain supplied sufficient moisture. The ground 

 upon which this experiment was made is high 

 and dry, and was, at the time, exceedingly poor 

 Btiff clay land, upon which I had in vain, two 

 years in succession, tried to produce black-eyed 

 peas. 



The growth of turnips on such parts of the 

 ground as had received not less than sixty bush- 

 els of crushed bone, was quite equal in liie end to 

 the best growih when the farm manure was used 

 ni the rate of 81 carl loads to the acre ; whilst the 

 growih on all smaller allowances of bone, was 

 interior, and most so where the least quantity 

 was used. But on that portion of the ground 

 which was dressed with the bone compost, as 

 above slated, the growth throughout was decidedly 

 euperior to any other part, and the product, at ma- 

 turity, was at least one third triore than was produ- 

 ced on an equal quantity of the jrround manured 

 from the stables. The succeeding yei.r, 1S39, the 

 entire acre was planted with sugar beets, and eve- 

 ry part treated precisely alike, viz. : the seed drill- 

 ed and covered by hand witli a light compost Irom 

 baskets ; the crop, owinij to an unfavorable sea- 

 Bon and neglect oi early weeding, was nothing ex- 

 traordinary, though decidedly best where the hone 

 manure had been applied. The heel crop was 

 Ibl lowed, this year, (1840, ) by Italian spring wheat. 

 The growth of straw was most splendid, but hke 

 our Winter sown wheat and rye, this season, was 

 almost ruined by the rust; but in this, the third 

 crop in two years from one manuring, the supe- 

 riority of the bone manure was more apparent 

 than ever, and as helore, on that portion of the 

 ground to which the compost was applied was 

 greatly euperior to everj' other part, aiul even on 

 ihose |ians of the ground where the smaller por- 

 lions of bone had been applied, the straw was as 

 heavy as it was on the ground which had received 

 manure from the farm at the rate of 81 loads per 

 Here. The wheal siubhle was not grazed aller 

 harvest, and although the season was very dry, 

 the volunteer red-clover and crab grass, yb/Zowmg 

 a spring crop, was so rank as to make it exceeU- 

 ingly difficult lo turn it under, wiih a first-rnte 

 two-horse plough, witli the usual appendage of a 

 heavy chain ! Thus aflordiiig inconiesiable proof 

 of ihe, as yet, undiminished effect of the bone ma- 

 nure under most severe croppinL". 



Of the "-ompost above describe!, I applied, at 

 the rale of 100 bushels per acre, to a poor piece of 

 newiy mowed meadow, (in 1838;) the eucreeding 



crop was more than doubled by the application; 

 the crop of the present year (1840) was still better 

 than ihe last, and Irora the af er-growih this year, 

 I have little doubt of further and progressive im- 

 provement for several years lo come; as the coarser 

 particles of the bone are not yet entirely decom- 

 posed. A r>iei!e of wheat on which a like propor- 

 tion of the bone compost was applied, and harrow- 

 ed in with the seed, wat^ greatiy benefited by ihs 

 applicaiion; and the clover which followed the 

 wheat was 100 per cent, better than that on either 

 side of the bone compost belt, which ran through 

 the fie'd, although the other pans of the field were 

 similarly treated, exceptintr only the addition, of 

 not more than at the rate of 24 hus-hels of bone 

 manure to the acre. The conclusions, then, to 

 which my mind is brought by the foregoing ex- 

 periments are, 



First, That when applied at the rale of from 50 

 to 80 bushels per acre, on the exhausted lands of 

 Virginia, one bushel of criishcd bone, is more than 

 equal to one ciirt-load of 25 bushels ol" jjood farm- 

 yard manure, in its eflii^ct upon the first crop. Se- 

 condly, That the eifect of bone manure is more du- 

 rable than that of any putrescent manure usually 

 [)roduced on a faim. Third, That when applied to 

 land wliich is in goodheart, Ihe eflectis much more 

 powerful than it is on ren/ poor land. Fourth, 'I'hat 

 when combined wiih mnnure and applied in the 

 form of compost, the efl^ct, both instant and re- 

 mote, far exceeds any other applicaiion of the 

 components when spparated with which I am ac- 

 quainted or ever witnessed. And lastly, if stable 

 manure has to be purchased or even hauled more 

 than half a mile from yovr oivn stables, bone ma- 

 nure at fifty cents per bushel, the price it cost me 

 delivered on the farm, is the cheappsi manure of 

 the two. Yours, Thobias Ap C. Jonks. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE AFRICAN POTATO; 

 READ BEFORE THE BAUNV/ELL AGRICUL- 

 TURAL SOCIRTY. 



From the Carolina Planter. 

 The yam viassicot, or potato of St. Domingo, 

 and siipfiosed to be a na'ive of Africa, is raised in 

 the garden of Mr. John Michel, of Charleston, 

 from cutiirigs of Ihe Iruit. It does not produce in 

 the earih. but grows upon a vine which runs upon 

 trees to llie height of twenty or thirty feet. Jilach 

 vine bears, more or le.^s numerously, from twenty 

 lo lliiriy potatoes of the kind here shown. Many 

 of tfiem are twice or thrice the size of these, 

 while others are smaller. The vine is rich and 

 luxuriant ; the fruit issues from the several joints, 

 probably, for 10 inches apart. The leaf, which 

 seems to grow also at the joints, is large and 

 beautifully shaped like a heart. The plant readily 

 grows in the open air, and, it is thought, would be 



£articu!a''Iy fruitful in a warm, sandy region, like 

 larnwell, if planted with a southern open expo- 

 sure, against woods upon ihe north. The woods 

 would serve for the vine to run upon, whicj^ in the 

 garden of Mr. Michel, is planted within a foot of 

 the tree which supports iis fruit. This potato is 

 described as being superior in flavor lo the Irish 

 potato. It is not sweet. It is cooked in the same 

 way with all other potatoes — may be boiled, baked 

 or roasted, and when cooked is said to be of a 

 bright gamboge color. S. 



