1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



233 



had read the account in the papers, and informed 

 me of it. For some time before I had paid a 

 good deal of attention to the subject of the po- 

 tato disease, but my inquiries had certainly not 

 gone in that direction. Immediately, however, 

 I set to work, to endeavor to find a solution to the 

 new problem. I submitted many samples of dis- 

 eased potatoes and of sound potatoes to careful 

 chemical analysis, and I invariably found that the 

 diseased potatoes, as compared with the healthy 

 ones, exhibited a marked deficiency of nitrogen 

 and of nitrogenised matter in every instance, and 

 also a great deficiency as compared with the pub- 

 lished analysis of the potato, by Liebig and oth- 

 ers, made some years before. From that result, 

 then, I inferred thai the potato was set inherently 

 deficient in nitrogen, being inoculated with a 

 substance intrinsically rich in that element, as 

 peas are during the mutual decomposition and 

 chemical change of the two substances in the 

 process of their germination and growth, sufficient 

 evolution of nitrogen from the pea would take 

 place, and being absorbed by combining with 

 and supplying the deficiency of that clement in 

 the potato, communicating, as it were, its equiv- 

 alent in that way, would counteract its tendency 

 to disease. I then tried the experiment practi- 

 callj\ I obtained potatoes of several kinds for 

 sets whole ; I then took peas (Bishop's dwarfs,) 

 and inserted four or five (according to the size of 

 the potato,) deep in the fleshy part of the set, 

 taking care to avoid the eyes. I then planted 

 them in my garden at Hunslet, in the usual way. 

 Mr. Bower, and several other gentlemen at Huns- 

 let, will well recollect watching with great inter- 

 est the growth and development of the compound 

 crop. The result was perfect success. I had a 

 very extraordinary yield of peas. When the po- 

 tatoes were taken up, they were a large yield, 

 with a very few small ones, and every potato was 

 healthy and free from every trace of disease. 

 Those potatoes were laid on a wooden floor in a 

 room in my dyehouse, where they remained all 

 winter until the following spring ; they were then 

 examined, and found to be all sound and healthy, 

 and were employed as sets again in the same 

 way, with the same result. I am, iS:c., 



John Jackson. 

 Knostroplane Ban!;, Leeds, Dec. 1, 1857. 



AMERICAN" POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



We learn that the Seventh Session of the Amer- 

 ican Pomological Society will be held in the city 

 of New York, and that Tuesday, the 14th of Sep- 

 tember next, has been fixed by the President, Hon. 

 Marshall P. Wilder, as the day for its com- 

 mencement. This society has already done much 

 good in fixing the nomenclature of fruits, in pro- 

 moting the growth of those that are woithy of 

 cultivation, and in rejecting those that are worth- 

 less. Through its agency, the individual farmer 

 may save the trouble, cost and vexation of test- 

 ing fruits for himself, which others have tested 

 and found good for nothing. Circulars will un- 

 doubtedly be issued in due time, giving particu- 

 lars 'A Lhe intended gathering. 



/■or the NeiD Englnnd Farmer. 



QUINCE ON" PASTURE LAND— ELMS- 

 BLUEBERRIES. 



Mr. Brown : — Am I right in the opinion that 

 the culture of the Quince may be as profitable, 

 and even more so, than that of the apple? (1.) 

 I know some quince bushes that have been sadly 

 neglected, yet have borne very fair crops in the 

 two last years, while apples in this vicinity have 

 been very scarce. I know the quince bush is a 

 favorite of the borer, but is the fruit as liable to 

 be attacked by the curculio as is the aj)plo ? The 

 latter is ruinous to the apple crop here, and, of 

 the two, seems to be a hundred times the worse. 



To fit a piece of pasture, never yet cultivated, 

 for a quince orchard, would the plowing in of 

 green crops and subsoiling three or four years 

 be a sufficient preparation without any other ma- 

 nure? (2.) 



Two years ago (like a dunce, and with plenty 

 of company, too,) I transplanted some large elm 

 trees, thinking to gain some years over small 

 ones in size. The tops I cut oflF to match the 

 roots unavoidably lost, and as these stumps were 

 not covered in any way, they are now rotting. 

 Will not this cause a lasting defect in the trees, 

 by the rot continuing down ? (3.) If one is. 

 planting shade trees for beauty, should they not 

 be as particular in the choice of handsome and 

 thrifty trees as in the selection of fruit trees? 

 (4.) For myself I would rather see a naked 

 door-yard and road-side than a homely tree. My 

 observations, in the two years since I set my 

 trees, have led me to think that it will be a last- 

 ing source of regret to me if I do not pull up my 

 trees without delay, and plant good ones. You 

 must have noticed this defect: and now your 

 opinion, if you please. 



Can the common blueberry be much improved 

 in size by cultivation ? Or can a superior fruit 

 be raised only by seedlings ? (5.) 



Benj. Chase, Jr. 



Manchester, N. II., March, 1858. 



Remarks — (1.) Where there is a demand for 

 the Quince, at a fair price, we have no doubt it 

 might be cultivated, even with more profit than 

 the apple afi'ords. Quinces, however, are used 

 only in quite limited quantities, and the supply 

 may easily be carried beyond the demand. 



(2.) The preparation of pasture land for the 

 quince as you suggest would be sufficient for a 

 time — but as the trees or bushes should increase, 

 spread their roots and produce fruit, they would 

 need dressing. 



(3.) If the elms you speak of should grow rap- 

 idly, the wound made might be covered with a 

 new growth, but a defect would always remain, 

 and one which might prove ruinous to the tree 

 after it had attained considerable size and assum- 

 ed a beautiful form. 



(4.) Certainly. It costs no more to take up and 

 transplant a handsome tree than it does a deform- 

 ed one. If we have committed an error, the 

 sooner it is corrected the better ; we believe that 

 rule holds good in physics as well as in ethics. 



