Vol. 6. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



91 



among' a few mechanics, what they should do with 

 their sons, we should repeat, give them a good edu- 

 cation, and then bring them up as mechanics or farm- 

 ers, if you wish to insure them a comfortable, hon- 

 orable, and independent living and station in society. 



FOUNTAIN OF VICE. 



Mothers, if you would train up your children to 

 be useful members of society, keep them from run- 

 ning about the street. The great school of juvenile 

 vice is the street. — There the urchin learns the vul- 

 gar oath, or the putrid obscenity. For one lesson 

 at the fireside, he has a dozen in the kennel. Thus 

 are scattered the seeds of falsehood, gambling, theft 

 and violence. Mothers, as you love your own flesh 

 and blood, make your children cling to the hearth- 

 stone. Love home yourself ; sink the roots deep 

 among your domestic treasures ; set an example in 

 this, as in all things, which your offspring may fol- 

 low. It is a great error, that children may bt left to 

 run wild in every sort of street temptation, for sev- 

 eral years, and that it will then be time enough to 

 break them in. — This horrid mistake makes half our 

 spendthrifts, gamblers, thieves and drunkards. No 

 man would raise a colt or an ox on such a principle ; 

 no man would suffer the-iveeds to grow, in his gar- 

 den for any length of time,'saying he could erad- 

 icate them at any time. Look to this matter, 

 parents : see, more especially, that your children are 

 not out at night loitering around some coffee-house. 

 Mothers, make your children love home, and by all 

 means encourage them to love you better than all 

 other human beings. — (^uincy Herald. 



Remedy against the Curculio. — A correspon- 

 dent writes as follows : 



" The Curculio, or green moth, which commences 

 its ravages on the plum about the first week in 

 June, by depositing its eggs in plums, while the fruit 

 is yet in an infant state, can be easily exterminated 

 by preparing a mixture in the proportion of a bushel 

 of wood ashes to a quart of soot and half a pound 

 of sulphur, applied in the morning, while the dew is 

 yet on the fruit, in sufllcicnt quantity to coat the 

 tree." 



The remedy presented is a very easy one, and, if 

 eftectual, will be of great value. The curculio has 

 long and justly been considered one of the most trou- 

 blesome depredators on the fruit orchard, and its de- 

 struction is a " consummation devoutly to be wish- 

 ed." — Maine Cultivator. 



Time of Sowing Seed, — Parsnips, carrot, beet, 

 and ruta baga seed, for stock, should not be sown 

 early. Our readers will bear in mind that we have 

 often warned them of the advantage of sowing 

 these late ; they grow more thriftily and it requires 

 not half so much labor to weed them. Prepare the 

 grounp in May, have fine manure well mixed in the 

 soil, and let the surface be stirred with a harrow or 

 hoe at several differnt times before sowing the seed, 

 that all the foul seeds in the soil may vegetate and 

 die before the young plants are up. 



The fore part of June answers well for these seeds, 

 except the ruta baga ; this should not be sown be- 

 fore the 20th of June. — Ploioman. 



Stale urine, in which a little copperas has been 

 disBolved to fix the ammonia, has been used for 

 steeping seeds with signal success. 



For the Genesee Farmer. 



THE GENERAL SUBJECT OF THE 

 POTATOE. 



The following article, in substance, I contributed to 

 the Albany Cultivator for March, 1844, which I 

 have re-written, and do now offer for more ex- 

 tended circulation : 



A very pleasant and obliging friend, an eminent 

 physician, once said ti me, "Give me a plenty of 

 good potatoes, and I will never starve." A gentle- 

 man of talents and education, an extensive traveler 

 on both sides of the Atlantic, while sitting at my 

 table, April 1836, and feasting on my well-baked and 

 delicious long reds, denominated them "bounties." 

 Once, a little boy, while digging potatoes with me, 

 exclaimed, " Good cracked open potatoes in the 

 morning, O how good !" 



The potatoe is indeed a noble and generous root, — 

 a great dietetic blessing, — and, like the Indian corn, 

 the boast, as well as the native, of this continent. — 

 Though so excellent and valuable now, it was, so 

 late as near the close of the 16th century, by Sir 

 Walter Raleigh, who introduced it into Ireland, 

 found in South America, a wild, unpleasant, and poi- 

 sonous root, wholly unused by the aboriginal inhab- 

 itants ; of course, it has, by cultivation, about a 

 hundred years in Europe, and a hundred and fifty 

 more in the northern parts of the United States, 

 been brought to its present state of perfection.— 

 There was, however, much prejudice against it, as 

 against almost every new thing, and especially new 

 kinds of food, causing a very scanty cultivation of 

 it, even so late as the war of the revolution, which 

 prejudice is not yet, in some parts, entirely eradi- 

 cated. 



For recommendation of this root, and encourage- 

 ment in its cultivation, I will now state some of its 

 more observable qualities : 



1. It does not too highly excite the human appe- 

 tite and thus render it, like many other ^hings, out 

 of due proportion with the powers of digestion.— 

 This is indeed a grand affair in the province of tern 

 perance and health. Even the best varieties are not 

 liable to be eaten to excess. I have known some, 

 even Cicero, the prince of r?oman orators, at the 

 vegetable feast of his friend Lentulus, made sick by 

 partaking too freely of beets ; but, not of potatoes. 



2. There is probably no kind of food that has a 

 more just and healthful proportion of bulk and nutri- 

 ment. Its soluble and nutritious matter is said to 

 be 25 per cent ; whereas that of barley is 83, wheat 

 85, rice 90, beans and peas from 89 to 93. This 

 fact renders it easy of digestion, and unlikely to 

 surcharge the system, and produce dyspepsy ; a 

 matter by no means unworthy of notice and sober 

 reflection. 



3. The potato, like milk, contains such a just pro- 

 portion of aqueous substance, combined with its 

 nutriment, that it is, for both man and beast, both 

 food and drink. This is a great convenience, espe- 

 cially for those who labor abroad, — for those who 

 would fatten cattle without water, — and for people 

 at sea, where this root can be preserved. 



4. It is very easily grown and cooked ; of course 

 it is a very cheap article of food. Hence it goes 

 towards supporting a denser population, and is a 

 great blessing to- the poor. 



5. It does not exhaust the soil like most other 

 vegetables, especially oats and turnips, and leaves 



, it in a good state for the succeeding crop. This ia 



