212 



N E W ENGL A N D FAR M E R 



JAN.fi, <«41. 



THE GILLIFLOWER POTATOES. 



Thn now editor w ill not dii; up the buried hatrli- 

 et. Had !\'r Bii'ck and Mr Drew known e;icli 

 other as well as the editor knows each of them. 

 the warfare probably would have been less fierce. 

 The pen which writes our friend Breck an ignora- | 

 mns, in Botary, writes al.«o its own ignorance of 

 his attainments; while doubts of Mr Drew's good 

 sense and sag-acity will never ari>e in the mind of 

 any one who knows hiin. Each of them is too 

 good a man to be hewn down, and having our foot 

 over the hatchet, we will strive to keep it under 

 gronrid. 



Annexed we give an attempt to explain the phe- 

 nomenon which Mr Smiley supposes that he wit- 

 nessed. The suppositions pnisunie so much upon 

 Mr Smiloy's ignorance, that we apprehend the ex- 

 planation may not bo very satisfactory to liim. In 

 the reflections, particularly the last two paraijraphs, 

 is matter wliich wc would earnestly recommend to 

 the attention of farmers. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE GILLIFLOWER POTATO MYSTERY 

 EXPLAINED. 

 M:cessity of Book Learning among Fanners. 

 Mr Editor — I noticed in a late number of the 

 New England Farmer, an article in which a Mr 

 Smiley stated that he had had a Giltiflower which 

 produced knobs or bulbs, that made potatoes; and 

 accompanying this statement was a request, that 

 the phenomenon mifrht be explained ; and as the 

 curious statement of Mr Smiley seems to have giv- 

 en rise lo some excitement, I ofter you the follow- 

 ing sidulion of the mystery. 



I have in my garden a number of flowering 

 plants, which are known in this neighborliood by 

 the name of Ti^er Lilits. They are probably the 

 Liliuni superbum of the botanists. The habit of 

 these plants is curious. Tliey (irodnce stately 

 stalks, which grow to the height of from tliree to 

 six feet, and on these stalks grow large and beauti- 

 ful flowers; and the stallis not only produce flow- 

 ers, but thev are peculiar also for producing a mul- 

 titude of small liliaceous, or coriaceous, rffic^ brown 

 bulbs. A number of these bulbs are now lying be- 

 fore nie on the table. 



Those bulbs tall in great abundance around the 

 large stalks on which they grow, and if they hap- 

 pen to be wholly or only partially covered w th 

 dirt, they take root and produce flowering stalks, 

 while the root grows to a large liliaceous, or coria- 

 ceous bulb. Now I su-pose that there are thou- 

 sands of persons who do not know the difference 

 between the Lilium superbiim and a Giltifower — 

 and some of these persons would pnib.dily be dis- 

 posed to consider ;;o/o(o to be a generic m\ne for 

 every kind of vegetable bulb or tuber, whether that 

 bulb or tuber was liliaceous, alliaceous, coriaceous 

 or otherwise ; or whether it grew above ground, 

 like the onion and garlic, or whether it grew be- 

 low ground, like the Dahlia and the convolvus Bala- 



txi3. 



Thus, then, Mr Editor, by supposing that Mr 

 Smiley mistook the Liliuni superhiim for a Gilli- 

 flower, (and by the way I have just supposed that 

 some persons might easily and honestly do this,) 

 and by supposing that Mr S. also misloink the lilia- 

 ceous bulb of the root of the Lilium superbum for 

 a potato, wc may not only account fm- the strange 

 statement ol Mr Smiley; but we may do it without 

 chari'ing him with iuleutionai falsehood. 



This explanation, however, leads us to make re- 

 flections like the following. 



What sad mistakes a want of book knoicleilge, 

 among fiirmers, is liable to produce! 



The American editor of Sir Humphrey Davy's 

 lectures on .Agricultural Chemistry, says, (page 

 J5G, 2d American edition, JSI!),) "there are 215 

 proper grasses which are capable of being culti- 

 vated in this climate." Now how can a farmer 

 possibly identify any particular one of these grasses 

 or anv other plant, which is recommended lo him, 

 or which he wishes to cultivate? or how can he be 

 sure not to mistake a lily for a. gillijiowtr, without 

 he has some knowledge tjf Botany ? 



How can a farmer tusHy inform himself of the 

 nature of the subsoil, where he wishes lo make im- 

 provements, dig wells, make roads, &c., or accom- 

 modate the ditTerent kinds of plants, unless he 

 knnu'3 something of geology ? 



How can a farmer understand, how lo take the 



I greatest advantage of his manures, or how can he 



understand the best method ol nourishing those 



plants, which are to produce his crops, unless he 



has some knowledge of Chemistry? 



Most persons who manage even large estates, 

 get their clear gains, and consequently their sub- 

 sistence, from a small part of their ))ossessions. 



Now how can a farmer '• ciunt the cost " and be 

 sure to gain by his business, so as to render his 

 lile easy, or even so as to avoid bankruptcy, by 

 mismanaging his estate and his aflTjirs, unless he 

 ascertains the gain or loss produced by the man- 

 agement of each particular field and each particu- 

 lar crop ? And how can he keep accounts, not 

 only with his whole farm, but with each particular 

 field, and each particular crop, so that he may 

 know not only the whole amount of gain or loss, 

 which the management of his whole estate occasions 

 him, but may also undeistaud and see how much 

 each field, and each particular crop contributes to 

 that gain or loss, unless he understands something 

 of arithmetic and book-keeping? 



He then, who wishes to raise the standard of 

 agriculture amongst us, must not only encourage 

 manual labor amongst us, but without the fear of 

 making book farmers, he must encourage, also, the 

 habit of carefully observing and recording the ope- 

 rati<ms of nature, and he must encoura;;e the culti- 

 vation of those sciences (m which a knowledge of 

 agriculture so very much depends. 

 I remain, very respectfully, 



Your friend and humble servant, 



A. M. H. 

 East Haddam, Conn , Dec. Sih, 1840. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 

 WATER FOR STOCK. 



.\s a general thing, our farmers do not appear 

 to be sufticiently impressed with the importance of 

 furuishmg their cattle with a constant supply of 

 water during winter — a period usually of long con- 

 tinuance in our climate, and which from its sever- 

 ity, and the almost perpetual confinement of cattle 

 to the barn or yard, requires the utmo.st sedulity 

 and attention on the part of the farmer to retain 

 them in "health and heart." 



Domestic animals of all descriptions, require 

 water iniicli more frequently than those who are 

 not critically familiar with their habiis would be 

 led to siippiise. Even the sheep, which by our 

 worthy forefathers, was supposed to be capable 



not only of existing without water, for an indefinite 

 period, but to be so capacified by nature as to de- 

 rive an actual advantage from its privation, has 

 been ascertained to be no less benefited by a tiee 

 access to water tiian is the ox or cow ; and it is 

 presumable that, in situations favorable to its at- 

 tainment, the sheep would be a no less frequent 

 visitor to the trough than either, and that it would 

 derive advantages no loss essential from the free 

 indulgence of its bibaceous propensities, whether 

 in the yard or pasture. 



My own situation, the present season, has thus 

 far been such as to enable me accurately to examine 

 the habits, not only of the sheep, but of the ox, 

 cow, horse, and the other domestic animals usually 

 found upon the farm, and to test, by the ordeal of 

 critical experience, the trulh of the ''book farming 

 tlieoni," which assigns the former a place among 

 those quadrupeds in which nature has implanted a 

 "propensiiy for the running brooks" — a propensity 

 indeed, no less vehement in them than in their la- 

 bel iiig companions of the farm, and which, when- 

 ever they are debarred the requisite facilities for 

 its free and unrestricted gratification, is always a 

 pregnant source of the most painful discomfiture 

 and disease. 



It is true that the sheep will sometimes " winter 

 well " in situations in which no water is to be had ; 

 and I am acquainted with some farmers who, adhe- 

 ring rigidly to the old theory, are in the habit of 

 keeping their flocks in close and confined situationa 

 during the winter months, and supplying them only 

 with snow. Hut this is bad policy, and is n(,t only 

 a most serious drawback upon the comfort and well 

 being of its innocent victims, but an error involving 

 the most deplorable consequences, oftentimes boll 

 to the owner and his flock. 'I'he numerous mala- 

 dies to which the sheep is subject, during their coH' 

 finement to the barn, and by which such vast mul 

 titudes of them are annually destroyed, are indubi 

 tably attributable, in a great measure, to the dt le 

 riorating influences of this habit. Thousands o 

 these valuable animals are annually sacrificed ii 

 this way. The long privation which they are com 

 polled to endure, eniasculales and weakens th' 

 system by destroying the digestion, lo which wata 

 is a most essential adjuvant, and prepares the way 

 for those formidable diseases to which they are al 

 ways more or less liable in the spring, and which 

 when once seated, defy every effort at their removaji 

 and consummate their climax by a lingering am 

 painful death. 



There is also another serious disadvantage at 

 tending this practice: I allude to the difficult! 

 whiih is often experienced by most farmers, wli 

 thus manage iheir flocks, in raising lambs; the in 

 crease of the flock being usually weak and debih 

 tated, and presenting none of the energy and health 

 fulness of aspect which characterizes the otl'sprin 

 of healthy and well fed dams. The almost inv£ 

 riable conse(iuence of this fatal predisposition 1 

 disease, is an early and premature death, or a bri« 

 and lingerin? continuance in a stale of perpetui 

 siifi^eriug from cold and hunger, the consequenco ( 

 a lack of nourishment, and which inattention to th 

 mothers has rendered it impossible for then:, i 

 their physical weakness and debility, to supply. 

 More on this subject anon. H. D. W. 



Hindham, .Mc., Dec. 'i'Jth, 1840. 



It is easy to tell a good farmer by the appearam 

 of his premises. 



