VOL. XIV. NO. 24. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



189 



tions of toiiip.'!rature iit evory change of the state 

 of the atmosphere. Rome of tiie means usually 

 employed against dampness in divelling houses 

 might bo adopted in the constriiclion of stables, so 

 as to prevent the walls from ab'iorbing the moisture 

 of the soil, such as a fonndatioii of whinstone to 

 the surface of the ground, covered with a coat of 

 Roman cement or a sheel of lead ; or the founda- 

 tion may be sunk so low as to admit of its being 

 laid in coal dust or other substance which does not 

 absorb water ; and, although precautions of this 

 kind may sometimes prove salutary, they ought not 

 to be trusted to where a dry, ; iry, healthy situa- 

 tion can be obtained ; frequently white-was'iing the 

 walls with lime seems to have an influence in re- 

 tnoving moisture and keeping them dry. The own- 

 er of a damp and uncoirifortabie stable often won- 

 ders why so many of his horses catch cold ; ' there 

 are always some of thorn coughing;' now, if he 

 were to make that stable his abode for four-and- 

 twenty hours, he would have but little to wonder 

 .at. Large stables are objectionable, and have noth- 

 ing to recommend them but cheapness \n the erec- 

 tion, so that when it is more important to have a 

 cheap than a healthy stable, a large one may be in- 

 dulged in ; the saving in the end, however, may 

 eventually prove a loss, if the builder of the stable 

 be the owner of the horses. A very large stable 

 cannot easily be ventilated ; it requires a lofty roof 

 to give any degree of purity, and contagious dis- 

 eases once introduced into such, spread rapidly 

 and do e.xtensive nnschief before they can be check- 

 ed," 



From the same. 



POTATO PLANTING. 



Mr Editor — I too, must bog permission to en- 

 dorse the account wliich follows. I havn proved 

 it, therefore I speak with confidence as to the re- 

 sults. In a visit to an excellent agriculturist, I 

 found him cutting his potatoes for seed, and pre- 

 vailed upon him to select the tops only for plant- 

 ing, reserving the remainder of the potatoes for 

 culinary purposes; he will by this time, have takon 

 up the crop, and would he — he is one ol'your sub- 

 scribers — inform us of the result. 



In my memorandum-book 1 find these entries: — 

 29th March, planted, this day, fifty pounds weight 

 of the tops of potatoes whicli had been reserved, 

 while preparing the bulbs for cooking for the use 

 of the household, by merely cutting off a thin slice 

 and throwing it by in a basket, during the winter, 

 which was placed out of the reach of the frost. — 

 ii4th September, dug up the potatoes which were 

 raised from the thin cuttings from the tops of the 

 roots while preparing them for the house ; they are 

 uniformly large and fine, particularly clean from 

 scab, and, without exception, the best crop I ever 

 grew; the quantity planted was just .'iO lbs., and 

 from them I have this day taken up one ton. But 

 Jiftw allow me to turn to the account spoken of 

 above, which is copied from the 'Agricultural Al- 

 iinanac' for 1823, and which is never the worse for 

 keeping. P. G. 



"The following improvement in the culture of 

 potatoes, is taken from the American Farmer, and 

 is extracted for the Almanac, not only under a con- 

 viction of the reasonableness of the practice, but 

 from actual experience of its verity. Whensoever 

 the writer has himself superintended the cutting 

 of his seed potatoes, he has uniformly succeeded 

 jn this mode of preparing the ieed, but when the 



persons employed we^e left to their own govern- 

 ment, all the parts of the potatoes were indiscrimi- 

 nately cut and planted : the difference in the crop 

 has evinced the necessity of thu farmer's attention 

 to the whole d'etail of the affair: this branch of thi! 

 culture is too generally committed to boys, or ig- 

 norant and careless laborers. The bottom of the 

 potato is no bcLtor than the starch of grain, intend- 

 ed by nature to nourish the tendrils thrown out in 

 the first efforts of vegetation ; the residue rots and 

 perishes in the ground ; therefore the practice of 

 preserving it for the use of the household is a .«av- 

 in-g instead of a waste. By .judiciously cutting 

 the bulb, there will be enough of the pabulum for 

 the tendril or young fibre thrown out by the eye, to 

 subsist upon ; indeed, if only the cut containing 

 the eyes were generally used in planting, it is clear 

 that the crop would be the most abundant: this 

 practice had been known to, and often proved by, 

 me, many years before the account of it in the fol- 

 lowing extract was seen. 



[Frum the Amfriiian Farmer of 12th April, 1822.] 

 "A correspondent has requested us to insert the 

 following. The first year, he says, I cut the po- 

 tatoes in three pieces, the top, the middle, and the 

 bottom parts, and planted them in three rows. The 

 top plant was ten days earlier than the middle 

 plant, and a much greater crop ; the middle plant 

 was earlier than the bottom, and a better crop, the 

 bottom producing but a very indifferent crop. 



For some seasons past, I have only planted the 

 top eyes, and I may safely say I have the best crop 

 and the driest potatoes in the country. None need 

 be deterred from this plan on the ground of waste, 

 for after the top is cut off, the remainder keeps 

 better and longer fit for use than if the potato were 

 preserved entire ; and as a proof of this, lay a 

 whole potato on the ground, or in any exposed 

 place, and it will show that the top ■ plants grow 

 and are many inches in length, before there is any 

 growth from the bottom." 



P. S. — If housekeepers in towns were to pre- 

 serve the cuttings of the tops of their potatoes dur- 

 ing winter, and preserve them as above, there 

 would be more than sufficient to plant all the coun- 

 try, without the cost of a single cent for seed ! 



Hold fa boil Irish Potittoes. — Good and indiffer- 

 ent potatoes depend very much upon the manner 

 in which they are prepared for the table. Some 

 cooks always have heavy, hard, watery potatoes ; 

 while others, for the most part, have them dry, 

 mealy, and excellent. This difference depends, 

 generally, upon the diffcVenee of cooking. The 

 first cook puts the potatoes into cold water, warms 

 them through by a slow fire, and cools them as 

 slowly; while the other puts them into boiling 

 water, stirs the fire till they are just dun, takes 

 them out immediately, throws a wet cloth round 

 them, and gently squeezes each with the hand till 

 il cracks open, f r the watery particles to escape 

 in the form of steam, then peals them and they are 

 exactly right. By this pl.in, almost any potatoe 

 will eat well. — JVashville Agricxdturist. 



Taste for Rending.— U I were to pray for a taste 

 which should stand me in a stead under every va- 

 riety of circumstances, and be a source of happi- 

 ness and cheerfulness to me through life, and a 

 shield against its ills, however things might go 

 amiss, it would be a taste for reading. — Sir J. Her- 

 schell. 



Massacbusetis Horticultural Society. 



KxniBiriuN OF FKUir. 



Snbndmj, JVov. 28, 1840. 



B. V. French, Esq. exhibited the following ap- 

 ples, viz: Winter Queen, Danvers Winter Sweet, 

 Pennock's Red Winter, Red Doctor, Been apple, 

 Pomme Gris, Cumberland Spice, Newark King, 

 Winter Spice, Dominiska, and four unnamed sorts. 

 .'\lso, Monsieur le Cure Pears. 



Mr Manning exhibited the following apples, viz: 

 Sam Youn!:, (Pomological Magazine, No. KJO,) 

 Bordie Tricolor, Victorious Reinette, Reinette 

 Coeurd' France, and a small apple taken from a 

 tree at Elsineur, in Denmark, by Capt. Wheatland, 

 of Salein, in Soptember last. Also, Bishop's 

 Thumb, (London Hort, Soc. Catalogue, No. 13,5,) 

 Pas-ie Colmar, and Beurre Diel Pears. 



The Reinette Coeur de France, is the produce 

 of a dwarf tree received from the Messrs Bauman, 

 of Bolwiller, Friince : it is of medium size, dark 

 red skin, yellow flesh, and extremely high flavored. 



The following description of one of the apples 

 exhibited, the Committee have- extracted from the 

 work of Mr Christ, a German Pomological author: 



"No. 13. Victorious Reinette, (Reinette Triom- 

 phante,) an uncommonly fine, large and well form- 

 ed apple, which on being deposited on the floor, 

 acquires a deep yellow tint, marked with starry 

 points, and frequently brown rough spots, or large 

 warts : its eye represents a regular star, its flesh 

 beneath the tender skin is yellow, firm though deli- 

 cate, yielding abundance of juice, tliat possesses a 

 pleasant aromatic flavor ; it ripens about Christ- 

 mas and may be kept till march. The tree grows 

 luxuriantly and becomes of consider&bie sizCi" 

 For the Committee, 



ROBERT MANNING. 



Agriculture. — He who has dominion over an 

 acre, and rescues it from barrenness, and covers it 

 with a smiling harvest, has more virtuous self-ap- 

 plause than the conqueror of large territories, waste 

 and desolate. The culture of the earth savors of 

 filial affection. It is our bounteous mother ; it af- 

 fords us nourishment, and shelter and shade — fer- 

 tile streams — fragrant flowers and refreshing fiuit. 

 We should love it for the sake of the living^for 

 the sake of the dead. A beautiful plant, or a luxu- 

 riant vine, may suggest to a poetical mind the spirit 

 of departed beauty, putting forth again from the 

 earth where its form was iniirned. 



Agriculturai.. Pursuits. — 1 tell those who 

 are entering upon a life, that they will find no pur- 

 suit which gives more satisfaction — I will .say the 

 will find no pursuit which will give so just an oc- 

 cupation of their time with less annoyance and less 

 disturbance to their tempers, than that of agricul- 

 ture : no other in which they will feel such satis- 

 faction that they are doing good in pursuing their 

 own pleasures at the same time that they are im- 

 proving the soil. It is a pursuit to which one and 

 all of us should wish success. It is one of those 

 pursuits which is most delightful to follow : it is a 

 pursuit which may be carried on without time ever 

 hanging heavily ; an occupation interesting in the 

 highest degree : and while the agriculturist is pro- 

 moting his own interest, he also promotes the inte- 

 rest of every one of his neighbors. I have found 

 no employment in the coarse of my life which af- 

 forded me so much real pleasure, as the promoting 

 of agriculture by my own ondeavois and by assist- 

 ing the endeavors of others. — Ea-i Spencer. 



