VOL. XIX. NO. 3J. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



consulted, fcirsootli, wlifin a calf is to be weaned, to 

 see if the siyiis are riglit. Thus a mere arbitrary 

 division of the month is made the great regulator 

 of a subject, with whii'.li tliat division lias nothing 

 more to do than with the man in the moon. Some 

 will contend that they have tried the operation of 

 weaning when the signs are right and also nhen 

 they are not right, and know by experience that in 

 the former case the calf doea well, and in the lat- 

 ter, does not. Now it is true that facts are facts, 

 but before they are made the ground-work of prac- 

 tice, they should be well tested. A single fact 

 proves nothing, in cases like this: it may be a 

 mere coincidence, which may not again oscur. 

 Besides, when the mind is bent on supporting a 

 particular theory, it is exceedingly apt to look only 

 for facts, and at facts which go to support that the- 

 ory, and to shut its eyes to those of the opposite 

 character. If the mind were open to conviction 

 from every quarter, and not biassed by preconceiv- 

 ed opinions, the result of its observations would be 

 more entitled to confidence. And it is the duty 

 and the interest of every farmer to preserve his 

 mind from aU bias and prejudice, either for or 

 against any theory— to keep the mind free to fol- 

 low in that pathway in which a series of incontes- 

 table facts clearly points. By long and patient 

 observation and careful discrimination, it is in the 

 power of the humblest farmer to render the great- 

 est service to the agricultural interest; but by 

 adopting indiscriminately all the whimsical signs 

 floating through the community, he only perpet- 

 nates error and ignorance, and obstructs the pro- 

 gress of improvement. 



In my next, I will, with your leave, continue my 

 remarks by considering the kindred subject of 

 omens. A PLAIN FARMER. 



•25 f 



turkey, and such like !"— though I believe the high- 

 est class of hog feeding would not make our mis- 

 named Berkshires fat well. I say misnamed, be- 

 cause I cannot hut believe from such respectable 

 evidence as we get from York State, that the Berk- 

 shires are a better hog ; but they are black, and I 

 should like to have the pleasure of breeding while 

 hogs, and think, could I get a white China °boar, I 

 could breed up some of our best native hogs to my 

 mark. My course would be to go into lirighton 

 market often, and select the best white sows that 

 came there, cover them with the China boar, and 

 then breed back to the China, taking but one cross; 

 should not that one give sufficient size and hardi- 

 hood, after I had bred up sufficiently I would take 

 another, and if this failed, should stop, not having 

 wit or wisdom enough to know what next to da 

 Would this course give me good pigs ? Will you 

 or your correspondents answer me and oblio-e 



A BEGlNiNER. 

 Bostoti, Feb. 2, 1841. 



From the Albany Cultivator. 



EXPERIMENT WITH POTATOES. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



BERKSHIRE AND CHINA SWINE. 

 Mr Editor — I have lately become a subscriber 

 to the Albany Cultivator, (having taken the New 

 England Farmer before,) and in the former I find 

 80 much of breeding in-and-in, grades, crosses, &c., 

 that I feel cross at my own ignorance, and know. 

 ing no better way to remedy the evil than to try 

 snd gather some little experimental knowledge, I 

 would solicit your good offices in finding me a true 

 white China hoar, at a moderate price, and not be- 

 ing willing to pay for moonshine, I would stipulate 

 that he must be of the true blood, and not like our 

 Berkshires that we have in this vicinity, a cross 

 between a black hog and an alligator, decent in 

 form but miserable feeders, gaining less than half 



1 pound a day on good food, and withal black a 



thing that I abominate. I never wish to see a hog 

 3ver three hundred in weight, (nt twelve months, 

 ;wo hundred and fifty,) and if agreeable to his piir- 

 ihip, I should be pleased to have him take on fat 

 tindly and eat what I give him, with some decent 

 •elish, from respect to the giver, if for no other 

 •eason, and not, when I throw to him a good mess 

 if cooked carrots and corn, root it over a moment 

 md then look up in my face and squeal, reminding 

 me of the apprentice in Baltimore, who complained 

 if his master for '• starving " him. "Why," said 

 he magistrate, " what does he give you to eat .-" 

 'Why— why— " lisped the scamp, " nothing but 

 )read, and potatoes, and beef, and mutton, and 

 luch like !" " Well, what would you have ?"— 

 < Why— why— plum pudding, and cake, and roast 



Before closing this communication, I would be<r 

 leave to give you some of my Irish potato experi- 

 ments, for since I had the good luck to fall in with 

 your valuable paper, I have seen a number of ex- 

 periments and theories in relation to the cultivation 

 of this valuable root, some of which I believed, 

 others which I doubted, and others which I wholly 

 disbelieved; and as our country (American Bottom 

 near St. Louis,) is not only destined to be, but now 

 actually is, one of the greatest potato growing sec- 

 tions in the west, 1 thought that any information on 

 the culture of this root would be necessary to my- 

 self and perhaps useful to others. 



And first, I will say the potaties were all plant- 

 ed the same distance apart both ways; the only 

 difference is in the quantity in the hill, and the 

 preparation and quality of the seed. The question 

 aiuong polato growers here is on these points — not 

 oil the quality of the ground, the neiver it is the 

 better — not on the variety of the article; the large 

 blue taking the decided preference of all others, 

 the Rohans not excepted — not on the kind or man- 

 ner of manuring; for we scarcely manure our o-ar- 

 dens here — not on the mode of culture; all plant 

 and plough them like their corn, only nearer both 

 ways. 



I planted five rows side by side, and the hills I 

 experimented on side by side ; and 



1st row, cut the common size, that is one large 

 potato cut into 4 or G pieces, 4 pieces in a hill. 

 2d row, 4 pieces in a hill, cut a ssmall again 

 3d ' 2 " " smallest round ones. 



4th ' I " " largest, without cutting. 



5th ' 2 " " of same size potato. 



I proceeded to dig two hills in each row, and 

 count the number of potatoes in each two hills, and 

 also to weigh them. The result was as follows: 

 1st row counted 53 potatoes, weighing 10 3-4 lbs 

 2d ' ' 62 ' ' 10 3-4 ' 



3d ' ' 36 ' • 8 1-4' 



4th ' ' 37 « '12 .3-4 ' 



5th ' ' 31 ' ' 8 1-4' 



I observed that those in row 2, had the most 



small ones and the fewest large ones the laro-e 



whole seed certainly furnished the largest potatoes, 

 without any small ones — the balance were pretty 

 much alike in point of quality. What is the most i 



surprising is that rows 1 and 2, should yield pre- 

 cisely the same weight of potatoes, when only half 

 the quantity of seed was used in the second row, 

 and the only difference is being cut again, having' 

 the same number of pieces in a'hill, they being ont 

 ly half as large; thus itseems that they oughr not 

 to be crowded in the hill. Row 3 with about the 

 same quantity, produced but 8 1-4 pounds which 

 IS a bad yield. Row 5 a good yield for the quan- 

 tity of .seed — one fourth the quantity of seed and 

 two thirds the quantity of potatoes compared with 

 the best row 4, (the large whole seed.) 'I'here- 

 fore if we want a large yield of potatoes, plant the 

 large ones whole, although they will not go as far 

 as to cut them. 



Wo have cultivated the famous Rohans for the 

 last two years, but they will not begin to compare 

 with our Illinois blues, neither in quality or yield ; 

 the blues will, I am satisfied, beat them twentyfive 

 per cent in both these respects. 



THOMAS G. LOFTON. 



From the same. 



MANY CROP EXPERIMENTS. 



I have before made known in the columns of the 

 Cultivator, my entire success in a double crop, as 

 to Irish potatoes and pumpkins; or that by plant- 

 ing pumpkins among potatoes after the vines of the 

 iatter were of some size, a fine crop of the former 

 overspread the ground, rather to the healthfjl shad- 

 ing than to the detriment of the potatoes matured 

 underneath. 



Of late years I have sowed buckwheat and rye 

 at the same time and on the same ground ; and 

 success attended. The buckwheat was cut in the 

 fall, and rye the following harvest. Again, in our 

 hot climate, [North Carolina] and on our light 

 sandy soil, I have hit upon a plan that renders red 

 clover of as certain growth and success as in the 

 Northern States, if not more so. It is by covering 

 the ground with pine leaves after the wheat and 

 clover are sowed ; or cover the wheat in the win- 

 ter and sow the clover in the spring. Last Sep- 

 tember a year, I sowed a piece of ground with 

 wheat, and clover on the fresh earth immediately 

 after the wheat was harrowed in, and soon after put 

 over most of the surface pine leaves. The wheat 

 and clover were both essentially benefited by the 

 covering, and a remarkable contrast to that left un- 

 covered to test the utility of the plan. 



The fifth of August last, I resolved upon a four- 

 fold operation on a piece of ground, and after sow- 

 ing thereon buckwheat and rye, and then clover, 

 I covered most of it with pine leaves, straw, and 

 green pine boughs, or with the different materials 

 in different places, coated over about an inch thick. 

 The result promises to be very satisfactory ; and a 

 most decided difference in favor of the around thus 

 covered. I had the curiosity, the 5th of October, 

 to measure the buckwheat from a corner of the 

 piece, less than a quarter of an acre, and the pro- 

 duce was five and a half bushels. Both the rye 

 and clover look very promising for next year's 

 crops. Very resp?ctfully, yours, 



SIDNEY WELLER. 



The most honorable, the most useful, the most 

 independent of men, is the well-informed farmer, 

 who cultivates his own soil, and enjoys the advan- 

 tages that health, competence, and intelligence are 

 sure to bestow. 



