THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



71 



direct from Berkshire, and of being the only pure 

 blood, ahhou<rh Ihey have never imported, by 

 any chance, any ol" the (iriijinal red and black 

 color; and they brand all iliose with conicnipl 

 that are not blacK and while, with the given 

 number of white It-et and while hairs in the tail. 



Uut JMr. Marlin says, aiiiiougli red and black 

 Tvas the oiiirinal, and lias always been the pre- 

 vailing color, of I he real iJerkshire hog, yet, 

 thirty years ago, there were while and black ones 

 amongst thetn, (he must then mean, I presume, 

 among.-^t the ori!.'iual breed,) and that lie considers 

 it, iherelbre. peitccily idle to saj', that in an ani- 

 mal that is while and black, a lew hairs of the 

 one or the other color, in this or that place, con- 

 etitule a genuine or a counterfeit — and so say I — 

 but ihis is robbing ilie mi k of all the cream, (or, 

 38 I have ofien seen, much more importance has 

 been attached to their coljr, than to any other 

 qualificaiion. 



So ih(^n, it appears that ovpry one has been 

 breeding his own improved Berkshires ! And 

 that, in short, Berkshires are no longer Berk- 

 shires ! I sha'l, therefore, iw longer expect to 

 Fee people shellmii out iheir dollars lor very infe- 

 rior pigs, merely because they have been bred by 

 puch and such <zenilemen, wiihout regard tomucli 

 besides the color of ihe leet and tail! And it 

 comes at last to this — a good hog, any more than 

 a good cow, cannot be of a bad color. 



Let it not, however, lor a moment be supposed 

 that I wish to detract an iota from the value of 

 the Berkshires — they are most excellent as a 

 cross wiih our own swine-eiock, and have clone, 

 and will do, infiniie ijood ; but, really, the non- 

 sense which is bandied aboul in all sons of ways 

 and all about thinirsof ihe most triHinrr import- 

 ance, is perfectly suiieiting, and reminds one of 

 the old couplet, 



" Strange, that such difTeretire there should be 

 'Twixt tvveedlc-aum and tvveedie-dee !"' 



JoHX Dillon. 



ROHAN POTATOES. 



Fromtlio Boston Cultivator. 

 Dracut, Nov. 18, 1840. 



RTr. Editor — Havin<; heard much said respect- 

 ing the Rohan pitatoes, their extraordinary pro- 

 ducing, &c., I will endeavor to stale some facts, 

 from vvhat experience I have had the past season. 

 And should you deem them worthy of notice, 

 have no objection to their beinff published in ihe 

 Cultivator. And i should like to hear from others 

 who have fairly tried the experiment. The 

 Rohan potatoes unquestionably excel all others in 

 size, as it is not uncommon forthem to weigh two 

 and a half, and even ihree pounds each. But 

 this is no very great encouragement to raise them 

 if they will not produce any more in weight or 

 measure from a given quanniy of land. I have 

 tried the experiment fairly, without prejudice, and 

 am well satisfied that ihey will not produce so 

 much from the same ground, as the long reds. 

 And no one, I think, will deny that thev are 

 sufficiently large for convenience; and I think 

 their quality much belter. 



In the first place, I prepared the ground in the 



best possible manner, for a large crop, manuring 

 it very higlily. The potatoes were planted in 

 drills, at a distance of aboul three and a half leet 

 apart. The piece of ground measured something 

 more than one (burih of an acre, and was plant- 

 ed with Rohans, with the exception of ten rows, 

 lor the experiment. 'I'hese rows were short, only 

 a little over five rods in length. 'I'he two first 

 rows next the Rohans were planted wilh long 

 reds, precisely the same as the Rohans; that is, 

 the potatoes cut into as many pieces as there were 

 eyes in them, Ihe pieces being planted at a dis- 

 tance ol about one loot from each oiher. 



When they were dug, I found the Rohana 

 produced three and one (ourth bushels to a row, 

 and the long reds three and one hallj as near as 

 ihey could be measured. The next two rows 

 were long reds, planted as we usually plant them, 

 that is, a common sized potato cut into lour pieces, 

 but planted ihc same distance apart as the Rohans. 

 These, when dug, produced a little over lour 

 bushels to a row. The nex', two rows wero 

 planted with the common blues, as the Rohans. 

 These produced aboul two and one half bushels 

 to a row. The rest of the rovvs were planted 

 wilh blues, as we usually plant them; they pro- 

 duced a liitlc over two and three fburih bushels to 

 a row ; not so much as the reds or Rohans. Last 

 year many tried ihe experiment, to see how many 

 they could raise from a email quantity, and were 

 surprised at ihe enormous quantity thus obtained ; 

 but when we take into consideration the attention 

 we generally pay to any new tiling that we get 

 it is not very wonderful. When we get any thing 

 r.ew, we are very sure to plant it on ihe very best 

 land, and lake the best care of it. Last year I 

 planted one pound of Rohans, and raised from 

 that pound two and one fourth bushels. To be 

 sure it took but a very small piece of ground to 

 plant ihern, but ihey actually occupied a much 

 larger piece ol ground ; the stalks growing from 

 six to seven feet in length. Thus we see the cx- 

 [jerimeiit cannot fairly be tried in this way. 

 What is your ot^inion. Mr. Editor? 



Yours, &c., J. B. Y. C. 



We have long entertained doubts about the 

 great stories which have been told of ihe Rohan 

 potato, and we have Ireely published ihe opinions 

 of other farmers, since they have given it a trial. 

 Some soils may suit the Rohan belter than the 

 long red, and we may well suppose that in these 

 soils the Rohan will produce most ; but we seldom 

 see a fair trial of a new vegetable. 



In regard to potatoes, the question is, not how 

 many pounds may be raised (i-om one, but how 

 many pounds or bushels vve can raise on the acre. 

 One kernel of corn will often produce several 

 hundreds — but vve choose to inquire how much 

 can he produced on a certain quantity of ground. 



There are many good kinds of potato in the 

 country, bul !br ourselves we prefer the long reds, 

 sometimes called long Johns. When these are 

 planted in good season, and allowed to remain in 

 the ground till they are ripe, they are excellent 

 even in the fall; and in the spring they retain iheir 

 goodness longer than any we have tried. — E>D. 

 Boston Cultivator. 



