262 



NEW ENGLAOT) FAKIMER. 



June 



border flower in gardens. Cut on the 17th of 

 October, three months after it was sown, it 

 has yielded at the rate of two and a half tons 

 per imperial acre. But we have no further 

 information as to its success in this country. 



The plant from which we had the above cut 

 drawn and engraved, was selected from a spe- 

 cimen of the Crimson Clover grown in the 

 garden of J. Mason Everett, of Canton, Mass. 

 The artists have succeeded in producing a 

 good representation, — lacking only the color 

 and fragrance of the flower. 



If any of our readers have experimented 

 with this clover and can make a more satisfac- 

 tory reply to the questions of "J. M. P." they 

 are respectfully requested to do so. 



For the Xeio England Farmer, 

 CONCEKNINQ POTATOES. 



BY W. WALBKIDGE, ESQ. 



" Who shall decide when doctors disagree ?" 



In spite of the trenchant arguments of Wm. 

 Cobbet, M. P., against the solanum tubero- 

 sum, it still continues to flourish and to fur- 

 nish an essential part of the pabulum of our 

 countrymen. In spite of the reasoning of the 

 aforesaid member of parliament, the "dis- 

 ease," the "rust," and the "worm," the po- 

 tato still lives and comes a welcome guest to 

 all our tables, though it tastes a little more of 

 greenbacks than it used to do. 



I have just been reading a little book enti- 

 tled "one hundred ways to cook potatoes." 

 This is well enough for those who have spoiled 

 their appetites ; but for me, I would much 

 rather be told the right way of raising the 

 aforesaid article. "First catch the rabbit," 

 says the old recipe ; and this is what I really 

 desire to know how to do. I cannot, with 

 my family, afford to pay thirty-three cents per 

 peck for the esculent in question. I have a 

 litde nook of indifferent land and so I think I 

 must attempt to raise it. I am, I confess with 

 shame, but a kind of an amateur soil cultttrist, 

 nor Lave I much time or money to expend in 

 testing things experimentally. 



Now potatoes we must have, and so I have 

 deliberately come, as I have just now inti- 

 mated, to the full determination that I will try 

 to grow them. But how? Yesterday I spent 

 entire, — may Heaven forgive me ! — and pushed 

 my work almost into the noon of night, con- 

 sulting the "authorities," and then, with "po- 

 tato on the brain," retired to bed to dream 

 till break of day of the resolution of the sun, 

 moon, planets, asteroids, fixed stars, comets, 

 and nebulic into Early Rose potatoes. To- 

 day I have continued the pursuit, and now this 

 evening, Mi.rch 19, 18G9, will sum up the 

 knowledge I have gained for the benefit of 

 amateur potato growers through the world. 



Authority No. 1 says : ' 'Plant your pota- 

 loes under the manure to ensure a peifect 

 crop." No. 2 tells me to plant them above 

 It. No. 3 advises me to use plaster. No. 4 

 says, "plaster does no good." No. 5 thinks 

 we should plant quite deep. No, 6 informs 

 me that his do best when planted shallow. 

 No. 7 directs me to use by all means "short 

 manure." No. 8 says "long manure." No. 



9 writes : "do not hill them up at all." No. 



10 rejoins, "the hills should be quite large." 

 Ko. 11 aflirms that potatoes will not grow in 

 dry land. No. 12 is positive they never can 

 be raised in moist land. No. 13 goes for 

 hills. No. 14 goes for drills. No. 15 re- 

 commends planting very early; No. 1(> very 

 late. No. 17 maintains that they must be two 

 ft'ct apart ; No. 18 that they must be three. 

 No. 19 holds that the potato patch should 

 slope southward, and No. 20 wants a western 

 inclination. No. 21 avers that the potatoes 

 should be cut. No. 22 that they should be 

 planted whole. No. 23 Is of the opinion that 

 they should be inserted large end down. No. 

 24 cries "small end down." No. 25 insists 

 on planting two tubers in a hill, and No. 26 

 Insists on one. No. 27 is quite sure the "Da- 

 vis seedling" is the best to plant; No. 28 in- 

 clines to the "Sebec." No. 29 is loud in praise 

 of the Jackson white ; No. 30 knows that It 

 Is sure to rot. No. 31 speaks highly of the 

 "Early Rose." No. 32 says it is a "humbug." 

 No. 33, — but here I am at the end of two 

 days' labor, — spring advancing, seed time has- 

 tening, — my brain reeling. As soon as I get 

 one potato fact fairly fixed in it, a new au- 

 thority knocks It out. Though I have studied 

 patiently, as a lawyer, after precedents, there 

 now stands, horrcsco referens, unexamined on 

 the shelves before me, many huge tomes of 

 the National and State agricultural reports, 

 treatises on tuber-culture, the bound volumes 

 of horticultural magazines, and several works 

 In French and German on the subject of gar- 

 dening generally, and I am beginning to fear 

 that my "one hundred ways of cooking the 

 potato" will be of no service to me at all, un- 

 less the New England Fai;mer can tell me 

 some sensible way of planting my small nook 

 at the southeast corner of my dwelling with 

 the solanum tuberosum. 



BrigUside, 3Iarch 19, 18G9. 



Remarks. — These thirty-three articles, 

 which seem to have confused your brain and 

 unsettled your nerves so seriously, are all har- 

 monious enough to us. What do potatoes care 

 whether you call them tuberosums or murphys ? 

 Whether you put them under or over the ma- 

 nure, long or short, provided they have about 

 what they need ? Whether planted in hills or 

 drills ? Whether put in early or late, so that 

 they have time to grow ? Whether the tuber 



