18 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Jan. 





ELM-WOOD COTTAGE. 



THE RESIDENCE OF TliOMAS II. IITATT, Esq., NEAR ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



Eim-Wood Cottage. 



The proprietor of this beautiful Cottage Resi- 

 dence promised us a description to accompany 

 the above engraving — but we .did not receive it 

 in time for this number. It will be given in 

 our next. 



Preservation of Potatoes. 



There is reason to believe that, if potatoes 

 are covered some three feet in depth, so as to 

 wholly exclude the air and keep the tubers at a 

 uniform temperature below that at which their 

 germs will grow in the least, they may, like the 

 seeds and germs of other plants, be kept years, 

 quite free from decomposition. We wish to im- 

 press on the minds of our agricultural friends 

 this important fact, that when a vegetable is sur- 

 rounded with a low temperature, having the air 

 wholly excluded, it will lastj^for ages, like logs 

 deep under ground, like the seeds of white and 

 red clover, and the germs of peas and found en- 

 closed in the coverings of mummies 3,000 years 

 old. To prevent the pressure of too much earth 

 a deep cellar or hole might be dug in dry earth, 

 seven feet deep, and half tilled with potatoes, hav- 

 ing a frame of scantling with cross pieces, so that 

 slabs or boards might rest on them close to the 

 potatoes, but not in contact with them. Over 

 this earth could be packed hard for three feet in 

 thickness. 



We make these suggestions, because we have 

 often seen very fine 7iew potatoes in the Buffalo 

 market, in June and the first of July, which had 

 been placed in such pits so soon in autumn as 

 they were ripe, and there kept till the middle of 

 the next summer, precisely as they were when 

 buried. Garden vegetables may be preserved in 

 a similai' manner. We shall recur to this sub- 

 ject, that my young readers may know whij it is 

 that the germs of plants, like those of white clo- 

 ver and wheat, may be Isuried in the earth for 

 indefinite ages, and then grow, by the Joint as- 

 sistance of light, warmth, moisture, and probably 

 electricity. 



Two New Facts relative to the Potatoe 

 Disease. — We are informed by Mr. T. C. Pe- 

 ters, of Darien, that he has lost by rot sometliing 

 like 1000 bushels of potatoes this season, and has 

 observed^the iinpoj-tant fact that a field of })otatoes, 

 whose stems and leaves were evidently affected 

 with the blight, had had its tuhevs preserved from 

 all injury by the action of a frost that killed the 

 potatoe tops dead. This crop grew on a low 

 piece of ground, and subject to frost. Another 

 field hard by, similarly affected, escaped the 

 frost, and most of the potatoes rotted in the hill. 

 His early potatoes all escaped the malady. 



The other fact is this : Mr. Pearce, of Ham- 

 burg, who is an excellent and observing farmer, 

 saw that his potatoe vines were atTccted, and pul- 

 led several hills to examine the roots. They 

 were sound, and left separated from the stems 

 or tops. By this separation these hills wholly 

 escaped the rot, while the potatoes in all the ad- 

 joining hills were rotten at the time of harvest. 



Speaking of Mr. P's, potatoe crop, reminds us, 

 (as we examined his field last summer for the 

 potatoe insect, which was described in the August 

 number of this paper,) — that we have neglected 

 to inform our readers that said insects, when ful- 

 ly developed, proved to be large white millers. 



Cortland Agricultural Society. 



Mr. Editor : — Our County Agricultural Socfe- 

 ty held its Annual Meeting on the 4th instant. — 

 The meeting was large and spirited. The fol- 

 lowing gentlemen were elected officers for the 

 ensuing year: 



IIF'.MIV S. RANDALL, of Cortlandville, PresideiU. 



Thomas IIarkop, ] 



Chaki-es Mc'Knight, f 



SquiKK .Tones, ( Vice Presidents. 



Hjkam Hopkins, J 



Amos Rick, Treasurer. 



.Jamks I\I. Lkacii, Cortlandville, "jRec. Sei-retary. 



F'akis Baurf.k, Homer, Cor. Secretary. 



Wii.i.iAM F. Rartlet, Marslml. 

 ExKCDiivK Hoard— Henry Stephens, David Matthews, 

 Harnel Thomjison, Andrew Dickson, O. M. She(i<l, Henry 

 Hrewcr, Oren Bowen, Martin Sanders, Morris Miller. 



Yours, H. S. R. 



