294 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



MARCH 2G, 1«34. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH a;. 1834. 



FARMER'S AND GARDENER'S WORK. 

 Early Potatoes. It is an object often worth the 

 nttention of Fanners and Gardeners, especially 

 those who live in populous places, or near large 

 cities; who wish to make the most of their means, 

 and are willing to take extra pains for extra pay, 

 to raise potatoes for market as early in the season 

 as possible. They thus obtain, perhaps, two or 

 three times as much for the crop as they would, 

 had it been brought forward a few weeks later, 

 and confer a benefit on the public by supplying 

 the market, the fore part of summer, with an ex- 

 cellent article of diet, which is as wholesome in 

 June as in January. Besides very early potatoes 

 are less liable to be injured or destroyed by- 

 drought or insects than those which are of late 

 growth ; and the land on which they grew may be 

 cleared in season for some other useful product. 

 We will, therefore, endeavor to point out some 

 tried and approved methods of forwarding the 

 growth of this important article of sustenance for 

 man and beast. 



An English writer observes, that "It is well 

 kuowu in Lancashire to some, though I believe to 

 very few cultivators of the potato, that different 

 eyes germinate and give their produce, or become 

 ripe at times varying very materially, say several 

 weeks, from each other, some being ripe or fit for 

 use as early as May, and others not till June or 

 July. 



" The sets [cuts or pieces], nearest the extrem- 

 ity of the potato [the end fartherest from the stem 

 which connects it with the vine] are soonest lipe, 

 and in Lancashire are planted as hereafter men- 

 tioned, in warm places in March or the beginning 

 of April, and are ready for market about the 12th 

 or 15th of May. The produce of the next sets, 

 [or the middle cuts between the root ends and top 

 ends] aro ready in about a fortnight after, and 

 those from the root [or stem] are still later. 

 These roots and sets are usually put together, and 

 the extremity of the root end is thrown aside for 

 the pigs. The eye of the set should be near the 

 middle of the cut, and a moderate portion of the 

 tuber round each bud is sufficient. In certain 

 parts of Lancashire the potato is cultivated with 

 peculiar care, and some growers shelter the young 

 plants with hurdles and hedges of furze [a thick 

 prickly shrub] here and there to protect them from 

 cold winds, and sometimes even cover them with 

 mats during the night. The sets are there planted 

 in the month of March or beginning of April in 

 drills of twenty-four drills in twenty yards and of 

 sixteen inches to the top of the drill in the follow- 

 ing manner. Alter the drills are formed, loose 

 earth is brushed with a spade, or harrowed down, 

 to the depth of six inches in the interval between 

 them ; dung is then placed over this loose earth, 

 to the depth of four or live inches; the potato sets 

 of the earliest degree are then laid on this manure 

 at four or five inches apart for the early crop, ami 

 sets of the second degree [cuts from the middle of 

 the potato], at from six to eight inches apart, for 

 later crops, and so on. 



" The sets for the early crop are then covered 

 with a spade to the depth of two inches, and sub- 

 sequently covered at two or three different times 

 to tho depth of about five inches. The second 

 and third crops are usually covered with the 

 plough. 



" Some lay the potatoes intended for plants 

 early in the year before they are wanted to be cut 

 for planting, loose and separate on straw, or on 

 warm hoarded floors, and others put them on 

 frames in warm situations near the fire for the 

 same purpose, in order that they may sprout, and 

 when so sprouted to the length of half an inch or 

 an inch they are then carefully cut as described, as- 

 sorted and planted. 



" Some of the growers, who take great pains in 

 the early production of this potatoe, [called the 

 Lady's Finger, or Early Rufford Kidney Potato] 

 obtain in Manchester market two or three shillings 

 per pound, and from their delicacy they are worth 

 the money. 



" That part of the potato near the root end is 

 of no use whatever for seed or plants, yielding only 

 steins, and small sets not worth cultivating. In 

 cutting the sets this part is usually thrown into a 

 fourth vessel and given to the pigs." 



R. W. Gard. Mag. vol. 1. p. 405. 

 M. Saul, another writer for the same work on 

 the same subject directs to " put the potatoes in a 

 room or other convenient warm place about the 

 end of February, [March or fore part of April] 

 cover them with a woollen cloth, for about four 

 weeks, then take it off, and by so doing you will 

 make the sprouts much stronger. Towards the 

 latter end of March, [April] set them, covering 

 the sprouts about two inches deep. If the sprouts 

 be about two inches long when set, the potatoes 

 will be ready in seven or eight weeks afterwards. 

 " Another friend of mine, who has a green 

 house, adopts the following plan. He places the 

 potatoes in the green house, in turf mould, or peat 

 earth in the beginning of February, and keeps 

 them well moistened with water; he plants them 

 in the open air about the end of March on a warm 

 border, leaving about half an inch of the point of 

 the sprouts above the ground, and protects them 

 during nights by coverings of mats. By this plan 

 he is able to have new potatoes about the begin- 

 ning of May. It is considered a very material 

 thing to get the potatoes well sprouted before they 

 are covered." 



The Conductor of the Gardener's Magazine ob- 

 serves that " In some parts of Scotland, it is cus- 

 tomary in preparing the sets both of early and late 

 potatoes to begin by cutting off and throwing aside 

 for the pigs the^ two extremities of the potato : 

 that full of buds as being apt to run too much to 

 haulm, and the root end, or that in which there 

 are none." This method of preparing potatoes 

 for planting has likewise been recommended by 

 Judge Buel, and other American Cultivators. 



In Denbighshire (Eng.) the potatoes intended 

 for seed for the following year are taken up before 

 they are ripe, just when the outer skin peels off, 

 and before the stem or vine begins to wither ; they 

 are then laid on a gravel walk, fully exposed to the 

 sun, for a month or six weeks, when they become 

 quite green and soft as if they were roasted, and 

 often much shrivelled; they are then put away, 

 and protected as other potatoes are. In February 

 llirv an- examined, when every eye is generally 

 found full of long sprouts fit to be planted. Only 

 two sets are made of each potato, the eye or top 

 part, and the roots or bottom part. They are sc- 

 parated as in Lancashire, and then planted in the 

 common potato-ground ; the top sets are earlier 

 by a fortnight than the others. — Card. Mag. vol. 

 ii. p. 172. 



A writer for the Edinburgh Scotsman observes 



that he has " ascertained by frequent experiment 

 not only that sets cut from the top end of the pa- 

 rent potato were fit for the table about a fortnight 

 earlier than those cut from near the root, though 

 both were planted the same day, and had the same 

 management," but " when the root end of the 

 potatoe is planted with the others, in the course of 

 a few years a very considerable degeneracy en- 

 sues." This if correct is important, as we know 

 our best kind of potatoes have gr< atlv deteriorated, 

 and by finding the cause of course we may pro- 

 bably remedy the evil. It can hardly he necessary 

 to remind the intelligent cultivator that if hi' wishes 

 for early potatoes, his seed must be selected from 

 the earliest varieties. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE 



— Is expected to close its session shortly, and we 

 shall thereby be deprived of a beneficial intercourse 

 which we have had the happiness to enjoy, since 

 the commencement of the present term, vt ith many 

 of its members. The number of our papers taken 

 by members of both Houses during this session 

 has been greater than at any previous period of the 

 same length, since the establishment of the New 

 England Farmer. We hope an acquaintance so 

 auspiciously commenced will not have a speedy 

 termination ; and beg leave to suggest a method 

 for its continuance. If the gentlemen alluded to 

 will he so kind as to step or send into our office, 

 No. 52 North Market street and leave each a 

 small deposit of $2,50, we will forward to their 

 respective places of residence the N. E. Farmer 

 for one year therefrom. In this way according to 

 our calculation, they will soon receive again not 

 only the value of their said deposits, hut at least 

 cent per cent per annum, in weekly payments on 

 the capital sum thus expended. They will more- 

 over benefit their constituents, by being instrumen- 

 tal in the diffusion of that knowledge, which is 

 wealth as well as power. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



A gentleman whom we highly respect writes 

 that he has " the prospect of being able to obtain 

 a small parcel of Gama Grass seed. If you are 

 possessed of any information which would enable 

 me to turn to the best account the small quantity 

 of seed which 1 may be able to obtain, I should 

 esteem it a special favor if you would communi- 

 cate it." 



The most full and apparently accurate notice 

 of the grass which we recollect to have seen was 

 from the Fayetteville, (N. C.) Observer, republish- 

 ed in the New England Farmer, vol. xii, p. 34. 

 The writer observes as follows : 



" I have ascertained the following facts with 

 certainty. That it grows spontaneously and lux- 

 uriantly in our country on alluvial bottom, and 

 rotten lime-stone lands. I have planted it in a 

 poor sandy loam on a clay foundation, (such as is 

 the general quality of the stiff pine lands of our 

 country,) and in a sand hill originally as barren and 

 as arid as the deserts of Arabia. These soils well 

 manured produce it abundantly. Even the long 

 drought of 1822 '(which with me continued from 

 the 23d of May to 1st of August, with the excep- 

 tion of one slight rain on the 9th of July, did not 

 materially affect its growth. It may be cut as 

 early as the 15th of May, and the cutting repeat- 

 ed every thirty days until frost. It ought to 6e 

 planted in drills three feet apart and two feet space 



