1S4 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



OCT. as, IS4 0. 



AMI HIIHTICULTLKAr, K " Gl STK R. 



Do: 



VVeon 



Oc-i. i?, I.^lii 



Wi' li.ivf f\-<iriwnl .t i-<;iniiililiic.iln)!i h'.nii ,v ■ r ( <il in:ui 

 oil 'ilie trini iil pl..uo;hs at Worcosici, but im mc. nuiit nt 

 ils leiigili, sh.ill be (ililigi^d tu di-IVr it for tliK |)i. scnt- 



GRKAT PdTATO VINE. 



Mr T. I'. Mi-rriaiii, e.l CiiKlnisford, bus sc(H ij> ;i gi- 

 giintio jiotato vino, rni:asu;ing niiie left in trii^th, wiiicii 

 he ariftes grew from \\ic s«ft.i tliis season: he ftiridcf 

 states Ih.it llic [jtiLatoes f.irtixcet'dcd Ihe vine in gTovvlli- 

 If he misins to hn iin;li'r:.lood th.it llniy exf:i:ed thu vine 

 in length, iliey innsi lie onormous indccrl. We thiols 

 he is niisiiiUen about their Jiavinj; bfpn produoed from 

 seed the present ser;san, as the luhersare <ii'i.erally v( ry 

 small at first and do not attain their full growth or a 

 noniber ol'yetiis. This (;torv, however, is tiiuch innic 

 credible than one copied into the iiosinn Cultivator, a- 

 buiit a new v.'irieiy of poi.iloes rai.^ed by a Air Smiley, 

 of Augusta, Me , from the e.\c:esci:nce8 lie found -irow- 

 ing upon the stem rif a ^illifl'iwer. We copy a notice 

 oj the aceuuiit f oin tin! M.iine Farmi r ; 



" NevT AVAY TO M4KK POTATOES. I'Vii Uj IJreW of 



tile Maine Cultivalof, tells a lon^ and a ' uii"us stor}' ol' 

 some lulaioes ibiil were rai.sed by Mr .lohn Smiley, id 

 Aujusta, from some guniis or e.\c^e^cences-^llat lie found 

 projeeling from a .-talk of the gilliflower. Tins e.\cre- 

 fCeoee v\a8 planted by Mr fcjrniley, and some XQxy hue 

 ]nilatt.cs are the result 



ISrolher ))rew calls upi n us, among otlier>, to explain 

 the pfienoiiiciiuu. We may as well be honest and say 

 vvL ran't do it. 



'J'bis growing potatoes from the stem of n gilliflower, 

 is a Yanlseo triek we have never tried, nor seen tried, 

 aUli"U'iii we have long since learned to be cautious in 

 denying every thing iu vegetable physiology that we 

 can t understand." 



[11/ Since writing the above, the following couuiiu- 

 nicati'in has come to hand, together with one of the po- 

 tatoes said to be produced from the giilifiovver. 



We are astonished that any person of edinmrin sense 

 should loi a ni'iiiieut believe ilia! a risultof this kind 

 ccMiid lie produced, ftlr Smiley was undoubtedly de- 

 ceived. We publish Mr Drew's account of it, as after 

 vrhat has been ^ai'!, many of our readers niav lie desi- 

 rous to see it. We iiiigbt as well expect that an oak 

 would produce pumpkins, or an apple tree a squash, as 

 thai a gillillorter should produce a potato. . J. C 



For the New England Farmer. 



AucusT.4, Me., Oct. 26, 1840. 



Rkv. H. CotMAN — My Dear Sir — 1 herewith send you 

 a p<itato, the ciiii.p ity of \\'hicli consists in ils orii-in, 

 wliieh 1 vi^ould thank yon to cvpiain, if you eaii, on 

 Some principle ol natiiial sciincc. I eon{ei>8 J cannot 

 do this. 



The facts are these : Iviu years ago this HUtuinn, P,lr 

 Jidm yniilev, a very resjiectable fauner of tliis town, no- 

 ticed on the .stem of a cotumon gilliflower, which .some 

 of tile f.niale. memlieis of bis family bad cultivated lliai 

 sea-on in a flower pot, several excresci nces or " Wiiris," 

 as he called Ihi'ui. protruding from the jnnetionef each 

 lei;f with the main stalU. He: ilMiiight they iippeared (o 

 be perl" ct snbslani'B, having v. g, talile life, and eonjee- 

 tun d ili.i'. lliey miglil be a latent si iil of the plant, whii li 

 would \egi tatif. ■ ludei'd, he says he recollects to have 

 read in si;me old book, several 3 ears ago — a No. of ^ome l 



eiir-yefopje'lia, he tliinks — an aci ouiit of the iingin o! 

 the potato, which was atlriluiled t^'i some "lieaotilul 

 flower;" jinr! as ihese ex( re-scenees lesembled little siin- 

 biiint p. .taiiiis ah. ill lb.. M/e 1,1 peas, be was le 1 to in- 

 quire wiil.iri 'hiniself, whether this might not have been 

 the " fli,u .-r " from wbuh the potato first sprang. Ae- 

 c .rriingly h.- giilliered ilo- seeds and preserved Ibein 

 1! iiiiig the ihsuing winter. In the spring of last year 

 he prepared a bed iu his garden ,infl p'anted thewi out, 

 one seed iu a place, ihe [ireei.-e spot where each was in- 

 seried lipiiii; indicated by a small stick thrust into the 

 ea th. luij-atient to see whether the >eeds would ger- 

 iniiiate, he occasionally dug down to them and .watched 

 their prn|vress. Two of them he found sprmited. 'J'he 

 others he thinks were touched vvith frost in waiter. 

 He K'lllihed the spniiils till they a(i|eared above the 

 siil'fiice, ar.d then luilivaied Jbeni carefully through the 

 season, b.o-ening the em til and keeping them free of 

 wei»i'.s, cie. lie is perli'ctly sure, fioiii actual inspec- 

 tion, tlia; the sprouts which he cultivated came from the 

 seeds.pla' trd. In aniumn lie dug from these two plants 

 oveT half a pecU tS potatoes I tl^e average size of wliieli 

 was above that now sent you. And from both plants 

 they were all of oiip sort. He saved the potatoes du- 

 ring last u inter and pl.inted ihein all last spring. The 

 product was about ihiee b'jshels of potalo»s, one of 

 which I send for your examination. 'I'liey are exeeL- 

 Icnl. lully eipeil fur baking to the celebrali-d " llulmans. ' 

 liiitthisisof miu'sr c.msequence in the olrjecl ol this 

 lett.r. Can ji'U explain any natural relation between 

 the. ;rillffliiwef and Ihe potato ? Is the latter not an 

 original tuber; but is it the chance pri.iliieli..n of s.inie 

 fii-ak of iialore ? 



1 was at first as incied. ill, lis as you nnv he, as to the 

 /«ci of the potato being the progeny of lie ;;illiflower ; 

 anil tried all the tests of the accuracy of Kr Siiiiley's 

 knowledge of which 1 could lliink. iiiis ."sure the po. 

 taloes did not come from seeds accidentally dropped 

 from the balls ; first, because his bed was nut exposed 

 to such s.'cds ; none such cone lip eJsevvhere in it; he 

 ^njo tini .sprouts f from the gilliflower excrescences and 

 watched their proo-ress. Moreover, but one sort came 

 from them, wliich is not the case where jiotatues are 

 produced fiom the balls, and these tl e first year attained 

 their full sizi-. A neighbor of his, Mr Shaw, has tried 

 the same expeiiment i\illi the same results. A family 

 in Sidney, by the name of Howard, from whom Mr Smi- 

 hy's family leeei^cd the original seed from the pods o( 

 the gilliflower, have also raised poiatoes from the same 

 " warts." Und.T these circumstances I caMiiot willi- 

 h dil o.y belief in the statements of persons who are 

 eeijainly very honest and worthy citizens, and can have 

 no motive to deceive. 



Ill the hope that you may be able to explain this mat- 

 ter, I send you tine cominunieation accoinjianicd by one 

 c/f the poiatoes lor your 1 -xaminaiioii. 



Very trnly, yours in editorial labor, 



WII.LIA.M A. DUEVV. 



The urt of agriculture is to raise thefruitsof the earlli. 

 The science of agriculture is to understand the idiaractcr 

 and habits of jibitits and animals, the peciillantiis of 

 climates, the cmnposilion and qualities of soils and ma- 

 nines, the action of the 1 leuieiits, as they are cafe. I, or 

 "f air, heal and moisture, the eomlitions of the weather, 

 or the wh.'le sutje t of sunshine, winds, rain, anrl frost, 

 11. 1 the iirincip'cs, so f.-r is iliey are discoverable by 

 man, upon wliieh these liings act singly or in coinbina- 

 ileii liishnri, an uceempli^h d agrienliuialist must 

 understand, griierally. auat. my, phisiol-.gy, holniiy, 

 geology, ebenii«liy, niett.ur.dogy and geography. 



SETTING OUT IORi;ST AND FRUIT TRKES. 



j Now is Ihe time 10 tiausplaiii trei-R, and we hope 

 1 those who have the means, and the time to attend lo if, 

 will not iiigleel 10 do it If every man should set out 

 his tree, a .great deal would be done. We are inclined 

 to think that antuinn is the best lime, on the wlnde to 

 set out trees. Tin- ground gets settled about ibeui and 

 lliey are all ready lo profit by the first impulse of the 

 I spring and lo go forward with the rcsl of the vegeiable 

 kingdom. 



VVe weie •pleased with a plan vvhieh a friend adopted 

 lo insure the growth of some evergreens. He bad been 

 unsuccessful in transjilanting some fir tiees, He there- 

 fore went, about tin: this time of year, and dug a trench 

 around some of pretty good size — ihus making a circu- 

 lar ditch of* some three or four feel iu diameter. He 

 then dug holes at home, where he designed to set them. 

 Al'ter the cold weather had come, and the ground had 

 become frozen, lie went with a crowbar ,ind took n|) the 

 tiees. A iaige clump of earth adhered to the tools wliicli 

 nearly filled the holes that he bad made, and by putting 

 in a little more earth around them, completely fixed 

 them in the ground, and they started out in the sf ring 

 as if they had never been disturbed or moved from tliu 

 place of iheir birth. We want more apple trees gro'.ving. 

 For some reason, or other, we believe tliat apple trees 

 are not so longlivcd in this latitude as liivther south. 

 It mav be, because they bear more cnn.sjantly, or be- 

 cause the exlreines of heat and eoM are greater. But 

 it is not .so much matter what the cause is. if it be a 

 fiict that they are not so longlived, it is bo inncli the 

 more necessary tliat young trees shouldbe set out often- 

 er, in order to lake Ihe place cd' ibosc which may decay. 

 IJul even if they do not decay, there are not yet enough 

 grow'ing auKMig 41S. Ap;'les are just beginning to be 

 valued as green food for lings and sheep, iVc. Ac. We 

 know of some farmers wlio have kept ihi ir hogs in their 

 oicbards this fall, without giving them much if any- 

 thing else, to eat, and they are in complete order. 

 With a Jillle feeding on corn, or barley meal, they will 

 soon he excellent pork. We hope that the season will 

 not pass away without setting out one tiee at least, eith- 

 er for ornament or use. — Maina Farmer. 



MASS. HORTICULTURAL SOCIP.TY. 



KXHiaitlON OF FKUlT. 



Siitmduy, Oct. 2:,, 1840. 



From Hon. Chillies Jai kson, Brookline ; I'asse Col- 

 inar Fears, and a kind unknown, large, handsome, juicy, 

 and of fine flavor. 



From Samuel Fond, a fine exhibition of Dix Pears, 

 also Isabella Grapes from John Ilovey, Rnxbuiy ; Quin- 

 ces. 



From Samuel Walker. Burgomaster Pears of Boston. 



Fiom Edward Crult of Boston, Dulchess d' Angou- 

 leine, Saint Germain and Fiatls. Bergainot Pear.s, of 

 superior size and appearance. 



From B. V. Fr.'iiih. Illei ker's -Meadow, Wilkinson, 

 Beurre Van-Mamm and I'hillips Peais. 



From M. P. VVildei, liloul Jloreaux and P-leeker's 

 Meadow Pears, exeelleui. 



From H. J. Howe, S..ulh Boston, a fine specimen of 

 Isabella Grapes iu I'nui lies, clusters ihitk, berries full 

 and of line fl vor. 



For the Comi.iltee, 



B. V. FKENCH. 



Piiivl your Tools. — E\.iy liirtnei sliou'd be provnb'd 

 wilh a small qiiMi ity o! the ei.aiscr kind 01 ptiinls — a 

 few paint po.s andbrusl.is and jiaint oil. It is very 



