AGRICULTURA.L ftlUSKUM S'ir'D 



the Maryland line, in 1781 : I found the potatoe much 

 d<?preciaLed in that time; and raising it became gradual- 

 ly uuproStable, until we got new seed from below the 

 mountains ; these in some years depreciate and are sup- 

 plied by new seed, always with e%'idcnt advantage. 



I have found the potatoe the best in Philadelphia of 

 any city where I have had occasion to spend the winter; 

 but they very frequently import a change of seed from 

 i*-e!and. In Lancaster, Vvlicre I spent several succe*' 

 sive winters, I found- tljat root much inferior, tho* the 

 soil is superior, and the climate nearly t!ie same. Thoy 

 did not change their seed.! In the District of Columbia, 

 where 1 have pa^ssed eight winters, I found that root of 

 such an inferior kind that I seldom eat of it, though 

 there were some exceptions. On remarking this cir- 

 eumstance to some well informed Agriculturists of Vir- 

 ginia, they informed me, that that root did not succeed 

 in the Columbia District, nor in Virginia, nor ge- 

 nerally in a Southern lati taiie. That this observation is 

 at least in a good degree correct, is probable, for I aril 

 assured that it succeeds better in the Eastern than in the 

 middle States, and better in tb.e province of Moine, 

 our most northern boundary, than even in Massaehu- 

 setts. There are, hov/evcr, exceptions to this rule. — 

 INIentioning the circumstance to the Honourable Edwin 

 Gray, of Virginia, he informed me that he raised as 

 good jjotatocs on his own farm as ever he had met with 

 in Philadelphia ; but that he frequently changed the 

 seed, and paid due attention to its culture. Further 

 instances are not necessary, and a change of seed may 

 be now easily procured from different soils andclimates. 

 We have been lately informed, in your Magazine, No. 

 21, by a reverend gentleman of Worcester county, Mas 

 sachusetts, that the potatoe is excellent feed not ordy for 

 cows, gheep, and hogs, but for horses. I wish he had in- 

 formed us how they are to be given to horses. Cows, 

 sheep, and hogs, will eat them raw, and even fatten on 

 them, when at large, but hogs will not fatten on them 

 nor cat them freely in the pen ; we however then gi-vq 



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