264 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Junp: 



years ago, there was a species of potatoes generally 

 cultivated, of a blue color, very excellent, but not 

 large, though they yielded pretty well in the great 

 number in a hill of small ones. Of course the lar- 

 ger ones were picked out through the winter for 

 family use, leaving small potatoes for seed. For 

 that, or some other reason, the crops became hght, 

 and but few produced large enough to cook. My 

 brother, who occupied the farm on which I was 

 brought up, commenced selecting his seed in the 

 fall, when harvesting his potatoes, and other farm 

 productions. He selected the largest of the blue 

 potatoes for a series of years for seed, and planted 

 no small ones. The result was, that in the course 

 of fifteen years or more, these blue potatoes pro- 

 duced much Inrger crops, and much larger potatoes, 

 instead of having the variety run down, as it is be- 

 lieved by many, all varieties will in that time. But 

 another unexpected result followed. We all know 

 that the over large potatoes of any variety are not 

 of so good quality as those of a medium size. By 

 selecting the largest, my brother necessarily select- 

 ed those of inferior quality, and by raising from 

 them, he not only got tubers of improved size, but 

 of superior quality, and thus materially changed the 

 variety, both for quahty and productiveness. I 

 have known the productiveness of com materially 

 changed in the same way ; not in a single year, but 

 in a long series of years, though the change in a 

 single year was scarcely perceptible. 



RuFUS McIntire. 



For the New England Farmer. 



EOAD-SIDE SHADE TREES. 



Friend Bkown : — Ai-e you not often forcibly 

 struck at seeing or experiencing the comfort of 

 some old shade tree on the road-side in your pe- 

 destrian walks or drives through the country ? 

 What, but a good old elm, ash, walnut or chesnut, 

 gives grace and beauty to a farmer's dwelling? 

 To the stranger, it attracts the eye and leaves plea- 

 sant recollections. To the scattered family in far 

 off climes, what clustering reminiscences, identified 

 with every leaf that unfolds itself. The music of 

 the oriole, its ingeniously wrought nest hanging on 

 the waving limb, lOce a reticule upon a ladj-'s arm ; 

 the old swing, that chilled with fear, and dizzied 

 the brain of innocent childhood ; how like magic 

 the mind rushes back to the old shade tree that 

 waves its branches over the maternal, the ancestral 

 home. Nature's knife cuts away no such revered 

 tie. Time enshrines it, as the back-ground and 

 picture of pleasant memories. 



But I am forgetting my task. Farmers, land- 

 holders, all, — trees by the roadside add value to 

 your property ; to this you will not object. They 

 add beauty to your home, and comfort to the trav- 

 eller. The time and cost in planting, how insigni- 

 ficant on this small portion of your premises. Your 

 own forest will furnish them all. The cherry is a 

 rapid grower, almost sure to live. In a few years 

 this would furnish fruit for the ])oor, and food for 

 birds. Opposite your fruit orchards, to avoid shade, 

 put out the maple, ash or walnut. We notice some 

 have an idea of the ornamental, by misplacing for- 

 est trees inside of the orchard fence. This is the 

 proper place for fruit trees, which should be set ten 

 feet from the wall. Shade trees have a more be- 

 coming appearance outside the wall, and at such 

 distance from it as to give shade to the road. 



How charming the prospect in passing through 

 the towns lying along the Connecticut river, with 

 their lofty, shading elms. Two men and two days' 

 work upon every farm, in planting forest trees, 

 would add much to the rural beauty of the farm, 

 the pleasure of the traveller, and very little ex- 

 pense for so praiseworthy an object. Friend B., 

 can you not propose some plan of association for 

 this object? You wield an efficient pen ; allow us 

 the pleasure to hear from you. 



Yours trulv, H. P. 



J^ew York, April 2\. 



Rem.\rks. — There — if that appeal, Avith all the 

 delightful associations it has awakened, will not 

 arouse every man, woman and child, to plant a 

 tree, Ave know not what will. We are not all idle, 

 friend P., nor forgetful of the comforts and charms 

 of an old tree. Associations, as well as individuals, 

 all over Massachusetts, and we hope. New England, 

 are engaged in the good work of planting. 



MONEY AND MATRIMONY! 



Every week, we are iuA-ited to publish advertise- 

 ments of one sort and another, to raise money, or 

 obtain a wife, in a manner not consistent with the 

 principles upon which this paper is conducted. — 

 Sometimes an important mechanical secret is to be 

 divulged, at others medicinal, and now, with the 

 cash enclosed, it is to help a disconsolate Might to 

 obtain a wife ! In this way we cannot do it. But 

 privately, we would inform our unfortunate friend, 

 he may, perhaps, get a little courting done by proxy, 

 if all that he sets forth in his bill is correct. We 

 want money, and we like matrimony, and are al- 

 ways willing to help an honest man to either in an 

 honest way, provided he will put his own shoulders 

 to the wheel and try to help himself. But, as we 

 have often done before, we return the letter and 

 money to L., and advise the writer to put on his 

 "go-to-meeting-suit," and make a desperate adven- 

 ture among the fair ones in his own proper person. 



"There swims no goose so gray, but soon or late 

 'Twill find some honest gander for lier mate." 



The sentiment is just as good reversed, friend, 

 so take courage, and "make an effort." 



For the New England Farmer. 



HORSES AT CATTLE SHOWS. 



Mr. Editor: — Unwilling to train in borrowed 

 plumes, and having been charged with writing the 

 article in your paper of the 12th inst., on "Horses 

 at Cattle Shows," — I beg leave to disclaim entirely 

 all knowledge of, or connection with said article. _ 



Although I am an admirer of fine horses, in their 

 proper places, I am not in favor of exhibiting 

 fast horses, at our shows, or of trying their speed, 

 either on the public ways, or in adjoining enclosures, 

 on these occasions. The experience of the last 

 year in Essex in this matter, should operate as a 

 veto on all such movements. I forbear to say more, 

 hoping that our exhibitions will continue to prosper, 

 in the use of their sober and legitimate purposes. 



Essex, Senior. 



