222 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



them to compete successfully, with the market 

 gardeners, in the immediate vicinity of Boston. 

 There need be no fear of over-stocking the mar- 

 ket, especially with those articles that are ma- 

 tured in the early part of the season, as radishes, 

 asparagus, rhubarb, early peas, cucumbers, &c., 

 as these are now sent to Pirtland, Bangor, Hal- 

 ifax, and other places, north and east, and the 

 demand is annually increasing. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ST. HELENA POTATOES. 



Mr. Editor: — In ISuG, I purchased six or 

 seven potatoes of this variety, at Worcester, 

 Mass. At the close of the Horticultural Fair, 

 the productions were sold at auction, and seeing 

 a plate of very nice looking potatoes, I secured 

 them, at a high price apparently, at least it would 

 be so considered in Vermont. 



We have used them freely in our family this 

 year, having raised over one hundred bushels, 

 and find them a good potato for use. They grow 

 large, and are not liable to rot, very smooth, as 

 tht eyes are directly upon the surface ; very com- 

 pact in the hills. 



Messrs. Drew & French, in the New York Tri- 

 bune of March olh, describe the potato exactly, 

 under the name of "Prince Albert." Upon tht 

 card attached to the plate of those I brought 

 from Worcester, was the name of the producer, 

 and also of the variety, and by that name we 

 have called them. Are they the same, or not ? 



E. P. MUDGETT. 



Cambridge, Vt., March 9, 1859. 



Remarks. — It is quite likely they are identi- 

 cal, for the same potato is often known by differ- 

 ent names. The finest potato that we are ac- 

 quainted with, or, at the least, one equally as 

 good as any, is that called the "Riley," or "Do- 

 ver," from the fact that a cargo of them was 

 brought into the city of Dover, N. H., by one 

 Capt. Riley. They are the true "Irish Cup Po- 

 tato," and will at once be recognized as such by 

 many of your friends from the Emerald Isle. 

 There are two objections to them ; they do not 

 yield largely, and their eye cups are so deeply 

 set that it requires much care to prepare them 

 for the oven or the pot. But upon the plate, with 

 a little sweet butter, the Irish Cup is a potato 

 that will commend itself any vifhere. 



Rutland County Agricultural Society. 

 — President, Daniel Kimball, of Rutland ; Vice 

 Presidents, Chauncey S. Rumsey, of Hubbard- 

 ton. Alpha H. Post, of Rutland ; Recording Sec- 

 retary, Henry Clark, of Poultley ; Correspond- 

 ing Secretary, Orel Cook, Jr., of Rutland ; Treas- 

 urer, Hon. Zimri Howe, of Castleton ; Auditor, 

 Ward M. Lincoln, of Brandon, and a Board of 

 Managers consisting of twenty-five persons. 



For the New Englanti Farmer. 

 LETTER FHOM CONCOBD, MASS. 



A California Picture — River Meadow — Horse Powers. 



A gentleman in this town who returned from 

 California an invalid, last summer, lately received 

 from his partners there a very interesting am- 

 b'-otype picture of their store at the mines, around 

 which were quite a company of his old friends, 

 and the train of mules which he had often jour- 

 nied with from their head-quarters at Marysville 

 to this depot, among the mountains. 



The picture was large, and exceedingly well 

 taken. The express charges on it were nine 

 dollars. 



RIVER MEADOWS. 



I am looking on, with a good deal of interest, 

 to see what progress is m;rde in getting down 

 that ruinous dam on the Concord River. There 

 has been no movement of a like importance ag- 

 itated for years. It will take money to make it 

 successful. Mr. Talbot bought and built in good 

 faith. At that time the purchase, if necessary, 

 of the privilege of flowing such an extent of 

 country could have been most advantageously 

 made. Now, it stems, Mr. Talbot has expended 

 in buildings and peculiar machinery some eighty 

 thousand dollars. 



Now, what can you do unless you have about 

 one hundred thousand dollars with which to com- 

 mence negotiations ? No amount of words or 

 complaining will ever start a stone from that 

 dam. The lever must be made of gold. 



When one thinks for a moment of the rich al- 

 luvial lands that could so soon be made to yield 

 the hay and corn to crowd a thousand barns, it 

 seems a burning shame that the urtforiunate bar- 

 rier which stupid legislators allowed to be erect- 

 ed, should not be allowed to come down by their 

 wiser successors, 



HORSE POWERS. 



While the horses stand idle in their stalls, their 

 owners sweat at the wood pil-s ! Every farm of 

 considerable size should have some sort of a 

 horse-power. It should be located in the ample 

 barn, where, on rainy days, the horse could drive 

 a saw which would cut a cord every hour, easily. 

 Then, how a horse can make a grindstone go 

 around ! I like to have a grindstone perfectly 

 true, exactly round, and then go so that fire will 

 occasionally start out. W^here grindstones are 

 turned by hand, they are very seldom burst by 

 going too fast ! The fact is, it is tedious work — 

 the most so of all summer. Where a water pow- 

 er is not convenient it is a great relief to have 

 the grindstone go by horse-power. The tools 

 will always be kept sharper, and can be ground 

 in less time. It is the height of felly to smash 

 away with dull tools. It will pay to provide 

 convenient means to keep them in order. 



Hay cutters are made to attach to a power so 

 that the hay, for a large stock, can be most ex- 

 peditiously prepared. If one has a taste for the 

 thing, the horse can saw the wood, wash the 

 clothes, churn, turn the grindstone, cut the hay, 

 shell the corn, drive the small circular bench saw, 

 and pump the water. 



Are not farmers less interested than other 

 classes, in ingenious contrivances which expedite 

 their business and save their strength? 



March 1, 1859. w. D. B. 



