44 



N K \V RNGLA N I) V ARMER 



AUG. 31, 1S33. 



.Extracts from *' Transactioris of the Essex Agricultural So- 



cMyfor 1832." 



PAUL KENT'S STATEMENTS. 



Gentlemen, 



I offer for your inspection the following state- 

 ments, being tlie result of experiment on seve- 

 ral kinds of potatoes and the liest method ofculti- 

 vation, for three successive years. 



In 1830, I planted one-third of an acre of stiff' 

 loam with potatoes; the year previous it was ma- 

 nured well and produced a good crop of onions. 

 I put on no manure in 1830. After ploughing 

 and harrowing the ground, I furrowed it hoth 

 ways, so as to have five rows to a rod each way, 

 giving 25 hills on a roil of land. I was very exact 

 in laying out the ground. The 27th of May I 

 planted it with seven different kinds of potatoes — 

 1. the Chenango ; 2. a round white potato which 

 I have cultivated for ten years ; 3. a potato raised 

 by Mr. Burnham from the seed a few years since; 

 4. a potato brought from the eastward that was 

 called the rareripe potato. I have never heard 

 any names given to the other three kinds, nor is it 

 important that they should have any, for they are 

 worthless. 



The second day of October I dug the whole 

 piece and measured them accurately. No. 1 pro- 

 duced 2.1 bushels to the rod, and is a very good 

 potato, but not very sightly. No. 2 produced 2| 

 bushels to the rod, a round white potato, very 

 saleable for shipping, hut not quite equal to No. 1 

 for eating. No. 3 produced 2 bushels to the rod, 

 about equal in quality to No. 2. No. 4, 3 bushels 

 to the rod, a fair potato, but inferior to either of 

 (he other kinds for eating. 



In 1831 I planted a hundred rods of land with 

 potatoes. The soil was a light loam; the condi- 

 tion as it respects manure, crop, ploughing and 

 harrowing, the same as in 1S30. I planted it on 

 the 16th of May with the several kinds from No. 1 

 to No. 4 of the previous year's experiment, putting 

 40 hills on the square rod. On the 15th of Octo- 

 ber I gathered them. Numbers 1, 2 and 4 pro. 

 duced 2^ bushels to the rod ; No. 3 only 2 bushels. 



Thus far my object has been to determine the 

 relative quality and productiveness of the several 

 kinds. To ascertain the best method of cultivating 

 potatoes I planted two acres with No. 2. On the 

 first part 1 put 8 cords of manure to the acre, and 

 after ploughing two furrows, one on each side of 

 the lot, 1 dropped the potatoes which 1 had select- 

 ad for seed in the bottom of the furrow, two and 

 a half feet apart, then spread the manure along 

 the furrow on the top of the potatoes. I then 

 ploughed three furrows, and in the fourth dropped 

 tho potatoes ; manured and ploughed as before 

 until the whole was finished. On the second part 

 I ploughed the land in ridges or back furrow, put 

 on the same quantity of manure as on the fiist, 

 dropped tho potatoes in the hollows between the 

 ridges at the same distance as the first, spread the 

 manure on the potatoes and covered it by turning 

 the ridges hack into the furrows. 



The third part 1 ploughed, furrowed and holed 

 at the same distance as the first and second parts, 

 and put the manure into the holes, dropped the 

 potatoes on the top of the manure, and covered 

 with the hoe. In October I gathered the whole ; 

 my product was from 200 to 250 bushels per acre. 

 The first and second lots, where the potatoes were 

 under tho manure, produced about equally, and I 

 should think ten per cent, more than when they 

 were over the manure, but the first being deeper 

 in the ground cost more labor iu digging. 



The present year 1 have planted about three 

 acres, three-fourths of them by first ridging the 

 ground, then dropping the potatoes, then manuring 

 anil covering by a furrow on each tide as in the 

 second lot of last year's experiment. The remain- 

 der I planted in the same manner as third lot. 1 

 have gathered hut a small part of my present year's 

 crop, but as far as I can judge the result will be 

 b int the same as the preceding years. 

 From the above experiments I have come to 

 the conclusion that as a general rule it is better to 

 plant poiatoes under, than over the manure, an.' 

 ihat there is no better way of cultivating (hem, 

 taking labor into consideration, than by first 

 ploughing the land in ridges 3^ feet distant from 

 each other, dropping the potatoes at 24 feet dis- 

 tance and pulling the manure over them, and 

 covering by furrows one on each side. 



In 1830 I sowed four rods of land in my garden 

 with potato seed, in rows fourteen inches distant 

 from each other. At the first weeding I thinned 

 them to about ihree inches by pulling out the least 

 promising; at the second and third weeding I 

 continued to thin them out as before, and finally 

 left them about twelve inches .".part in the rows, 

 which gave me about 900 plants. The last of Oc- 

 tober I gathered them, ami from the 900 plants 

 selected 90 of the best. In 1S31 I planted the 90 

 kinds in hills three feet by two and a half distant 

 from each oilier. In October I harvested them, 

 reserving 20 kinds. Thus far I paid attention to 

 ihe shape, color and productiveness of the pota- 

 toes. The present season I planted the 20 kinds 

 on about 100 rods of land ; after ploughing, har- 

 rowing and furrowing the land, I dropped the 

 potatoes and put on four cords of manure, cover- 

 ing by two furrows. In June and July I ploughed 

 between the rows and hoed in the usual manner. 

 They are now in the ground and several of the 

 kinds appear to be growing. We have only cook- 

 ed of the seven kinds here exhibited. Numbers 3 

 and 4 are dry and mealy ; the produce middling. 

 Numbers 1 and 6 are not ripe; } think they will 

 be very productive ; as to quality I can say little 

 with confidence until they are all ripe and gather- 

 ed. Yours with respect, 



Paul Kent. 



LOADED FRUIT TREES. 



In looking about among Fruit Trees, we notice 

 an almost unprecedented burthen of fruit upon 

 then). We have seen a number of healthy, large 

 Apple trees broken to the ground by its surplus 

 weight. Writers on Horticulture uniformly urge 

 the necessity of taking off the superfluous fruit 

 rather than prop up the trees to retain an unnatu- 

 ral quantity of it. Where there is such an excess 

 it all must deteriorate and be diminutive and half 

 grown, without nutriment or suitable flavor. II 

 there is only a proper proportion of fruit retained 

 on the tree, it will acquire full size and richness, 

 and when matured be worthy of preservation. A 

 bushel of good apples is of more value than twenty 

 of poor ones. So to a discriminating taste, a 

 peach is better than a pumpkin. There is a pre- 

 vailing principle in vegetable as well as animal 

 life, that to ovcrburthen is to injure the strength 

 and impair the constitution. Some trees have an 

 excess of fruit one season and are barren the next. 

 May not this arise from exhaustion of the resources 

 of the tree ratiier than from any eccentricity in 

 nature ? — Northavipton Courier. 



SIMPLE METHOD OF DESTROYING THE 

 HESSIAN FLY. 



As the Wheat crop this season has, in some 

 places suffered considerable damage from the de- 

 structive effects of this insect, we are happy to be 

 enabled, by a valuable and obliging correspondent, 

 to publish the following directions for destroying it. 



The Hessian fly deposits its eggs on the wheat 

 ear before it is reaped ; the egg is so small as to 

 be invisible to the naked eye, but may be very dis- 

 tinctly seen with a microscope ; sometimes one 

 grain of wheat will be observed to have several of 

 these eggs on it. They are attached to the wheat 

 by a glutinous substance, deposited around them 

 by the parent fly, by which they are held so firmly 

 on Ihe surface, as not to be easily removed by the 

 motion of reaping, threshing, &c. Shortly after 

 the seeds begin to germinate in the soil, ihe genial 

 beat of the season brings the young fly from its 

 egg in ihe form of a very small maggot (as is the 

 ease with all insects): these lillle maggots deposit 

 themselves at the root of the stalk to the seed of 

 which the egg has been attached ; between the 

 Stem and the lowest blade or leaf, where they may 

 be discovered during the month of May and begin- 

 ning of June quietly reposing : here they remain 

 until the warmth of the season brings them to ma- 

 turity, when they commence eating the substance 

 to which they have been attached. It is not until 

 ibis period that those destructive effects are visible, 

 by the wheat becoming withered and blighted. 

 This accounts for the fact that wheat, which is 

 attacked by this destructive insect, presents a 

 healthy appearance in the mouth of June, the pe- 

 riod at which the embryo-fly begins to use food. 



Now it is evident that if the eggs of this fly can 

 he destroyed on the seed wheat, by any process 

 that will not also destroy the vegetative quality of 

 the grain, the ruinous effi cts will be avoided. 

 This can be done by the following very simple 

 process : — 



" Soak the seed wheat in water for twelve 

 hours ; spread it out on the barn floor, so as to 

 allow the superabundant water to escape : then 

 lake fresh slacked lime and mix it among the 

 wheat in quantity sufficient to have every grain, 

 covered with the lime, taking care to stir the 

 wheat well with a shovel, so that no particle may 

 escape coming in full contact with the lime, which, 

 when thus applied will in a short time destroy the 

 eggs, and consequently preserve the grain from 

 destruction." 



Our correspondent assures us that the egg, 

 which before the application of the lime appears 

 clear and transparent, afterwards becomes opaque, 

 and puts on the appearance of an addled egg. 

 The efficacy of the above remedy has been estab- 

 lished by several experiments, one of which we 

 will here relate. Wheat supposed to be infested 

 by the Hessian fly, was taken, one half of the 

 quantity treated with lime, and the other half was 

 sown in the same soil with the prepared, in alter- 

 nate drills; the result was that every stalk from the 

 prepared seed came to maturity and was produc- 

 live, whilst the alternate drills which had been 

 sown with unprepared seed, were almost totally 

 destroyed. 



The above remedy for so serious an evil cannot 

 he too widely circulated — we would recommend 

 its translation into tho French papers, and we 

 would thank the Cures of the country parishioners, 

 to have it made known at their respective church 

 doors, after divine service. — Canadian Courant. 



