NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



387 



gardening, and furnishes the "region round about" 

 here Avith sweet potato plants, at twenty-five cents 

 per hundred. My experience on the subject is 

 this : Last spring, about the 20th of May, I se- 

 lected a corner of ray garden, lying considerably 

 inclined towards the south-west, the soil of which is 

 a dry and somewhat sandy loam, and threw it up in 

 nills ten inches in height, and three feet apart each 

 way. I procured two hundred plants, and set them 

 out, two plants, six or eight inches apart, on each 

 hill. There was a gentle rain about the time of set- 

 ting them out, so that not more than a half dozen of 

 them died. I hoed them twice, taking care to keep 

 the hills perfect by replacing as much earth as was 

 drawn away in hoeing up the weeds. This was all 

 the care I bestowed on them, except going through 

 them once in the month of August, and lifting the 

 vines, to prevent their attachment to the ground, 

 forming potatoes in other places than the hills. 



We have been digging and using the potatoes for 

 more than a month past, so that I have not measured 

 the whole product ; but by counting some of the 

 hills, and measuring the potatoes obtained from them, 

 I found ten to twelve hills would yield a bushel ; 

 consequently at a fair estimate, the product of one 

 hundred hills, set out -with two hundred plants, 

 would be eight or ten bushels of good, dry, and 

 mealy sweet potatoes, as large and as good as any 

 that have for years past been brought to our market 

 from the south, and sold for $1 to $1 25 per bushel. 

 A great proportion of those I raised will exceed a 

 foot in length, and several measure ten or twelve 

 inches in circumference. 



FRANKLIN. 

 Will Co., III., 1850. 

 — Dollar Newspaper. 



COAL ASHES AS A MANURE. 



I noticed in No. 50, vol. v., of the Scientific 

 American, an article headed "Hard Coal Ashes," 

 which goes strongly against the use of that article 

 as a manure, which, in my opinion, is not well 

 founded, as a general thing, as I know by experi- 

 ence, and also from observation, that it is beneficial 

 on some kinds of soil. In the spring of 1849, I ap- 

 plied hity bushels of hard coal ashes to a lot of 

 ground tifty by one hundred and fifty feet, my neigh- 

 bors tolling me at the time that I would burn it up, 

 particularly if it was a dry season, which it proved 

 to be ; but instead of burning it up, my trees and 

 vegetables grew most luxuriantly, and at the same 

 time their gardens were mostly dried up. Last 

 spring I i)lauted apricot, peach, and other fruit-trees 

 i» the same lot, some of which have grown shoots 

 from four to five feet already, and are still growing 

 very fast — one of the peach-trees producing ripe 

 fruit of first-rate (juality. In 1847, I saw hard coal 

 ashes applictl to a part of a field of corn, which was 

 at least a third better than that on which there was 

 none used ; and again, on the first of August, I hap- 

 pened to see a large heap of hard coal ashes in my 

 brother's garden, in Reading, Pa., on which there 

 were corn and cucumbers growing as thrift)' as I have 

 ever seen them, and that too where there was nothing 

 but the ashes. The lots referred to above were of a 

 gravelly nature 



GEORGE W. LEE. 



EitcuiLuow.vf, Chester Co., Pa.., 1850. 



The article to which friend I-ee refers states a pos- 

 itive fact ; but there might bo some other cause of the 

 failure of the crop, than the coal ashes, although 

 none could be adduced. Here, however, we have 

 Mr. Lee's experience, and it is just such experience 

 as Mc like to publish, because it is useful, and can be 



depended on. As there are hundreds of thousands 

 of tons of coal ashes thrown away every year, we 

 hope Mr. Lee and others will give us the results of 

 their future experience with them, for this is some- 

 thing which concerns the whole country. — Scientific 

 American, 



ETRURIAN WHEAT. 



The superiority of Etrurian wheat i.s so well es- 

 tablished by six years' culture here, that I deem it 

 proper to give some little account of its history. Its 

 history, so far as I am acquainted with it, is as fol- 

 lows : — 



Six years ago, I was at Washington, and Mr. Ells- 

 worth, then commissioner of patents, called my 

 attention to a new variety of wheat from abroad, 

 that he had for distribution. Its appearance was so 

 attractive, that I obtained about one large spoonful 

 of it, that I sent home and had carefully cultivated, 

 from which I have obtained my present supply. — 

 Each crop has been equally successful. It has grown 

 entirely free from chess, smut, rust, and weevil. The 

 straw is stiff, and not subject to crinkle. Just pre- 

 vious to ripening, the straw assumes a beautiful pur- 

 ple color, which changes in ripening to a golden yel- 

 low. It is the bald variety, with a white or very 

 light yellow berry, enclosed sufficiently firm by the 

 husk to prevent waste in harvesting, and not so 

 tightly set as to thresh hard. It is very hardy to 

 stand the winter, and grows as well in the wet and 

 low lands, apparently, as on the more elevated and 

 drier grounds. 



For flouring, this wheat is unsurpassed by any 

 variety. It j'ields more pounds per bushel, meas- 

 ured, than any variety I know of, and the yield of 

 flour is proportionably large. It promises fair to 

 prove the most valuable variety of wheat that we 

 ever had in this section of the country. 



E. CORNELL. 



Ithaca, July, 1850. 

 — American Agriculturist. 



FOWL EXHIBITION. 



There was quite a fine show of fowls at this place 

 on Thursday last, there being nearly two hundred 

 choice birds exhibited. The most prominent of these 

 were the Shanghaes, of which there were a number 

 of very large size, and young ones, which bid fair to 

 become a good deal larger. This breed of fowls, 

 though ungainly in appearance, are excellent layers, 

 hardy, and particularly desirable for the quietness of 

 their disposition and their early maturity. There 

 were also present some good specimens of the Cochin 

 Chuias, Dorkings, Polands, Pheasants, Javas, Chitta- 

 gongs, Malays, Eoltons, Bantams, and other vari- 

 eties. There were also several cages of beautiful 

 doves, such as the Dutch Tumblers, liuffs, Fan-tails, 

 Blowers, Turbans, Bald-head Tumblers, &c. These 

 were in great variety, and most beautiful varie- 

 gated colors ; some with neck dresses and head orna- 

 ments that any lady might envy, desire to vie with, 

 and imitate, but could not excel. 



According to the accounts given of these various 

 fowls by tiieir owners, they arc, some of them at 

 least, very great layers and eaters, and gave satisfao- 

 tory evidence of being very noLsy birds. This exhi- 

 bition has showni what improvement this department 

 is 8U.«'optible of, both as to beauty and utility. — 

 Whether the benefit or profit of the new breeds over 

 tlie "old natives" is more than the additional ex- 

 pense of procuring them, we have our- doubts ; but to 



