62 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JVEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1824. 



FARMER'S CALENDAR. 

 Gathering and Securing Potatoes. A variety 

 of conflicting opinions have been and we believe 

 still are entertained relative to the topic of dig- 

 ging and preserving Potatoes. Formerly it was 

 the fashion among farmers to dig them early, 

 while the tops were entirely green and the po- 

 tatoes not ripe, nor indeed fully grown. They 

 then took care to dry them in the sun till the 

 bulbs were almost as green as the balls or npples, 

 and nearly as strong as so many ryiaJs of tobacco. 

 Potatoes treated in this way become poison for 

 p'igs,* and very unwholesome for all other ani- 

 mals, including the great rutional biped, whose 

 sagacity is as apt to go astray in this as in other 

 matters of importance to his welfare. It was 

 probably this and other injudicious modes of 

 cultivating, managing, and using this crop, that 

 caused those violent prejudices against the plant, 

 which prevailed for a long time among the bulk 

 of mankind, after the potatoe was first introduc- 

 ed and recommended as an article worthy of the 

 attention of the rural economist. Even in this 

 enlightened age and nation, we have known 

 farmers nearly spoil their crop of potatoes by 



growth. From this fact it seems obvious, that 

 nature has not accomplished its maturation at 

 the period when the vines decay, and the far- 

 mer believes it to be ripe. It seems probable 

 that the earth, by some unknown process, per- 

 fects its qualities after it has attained its growth. 

 That potatoes which have remained the whole 

 season in the earth are more farinaceous and 

 pleasant, has been ascertained. A farmer in 

 this town, who was in the practice of planting a 

 larffc quantity, took his family supply from a 

 large field early in autumn. As the residue 

 were intended for his stock, he deferred har- 

 vesting them until a late and more convenieni 

 period. During their consumption, his table 

 was furnished with some which had been des- 

 tined for the barn. The quality was so obvious- 

 ly superior as to lead to an investigation of tae 

 cause. From that time the two parcels received 

 an exchange of destination.— Another i'act illus- 

 trative of this position, was stated to me by sn 

 eminent farmer in the vicinity of Boston. A 

 distinguished agriculturist, from Scotland, wbo 

 had dined at the best tables in the city and 'ts 

 neighbourhood, remarked at the hospitable 

 board of my informant, that he had not seen in 

 this country what, in Scotland, would be consid- 

 ered a good potatoe. He imputed their differ- 

 ence to the different mode of cultivation. There 

 they plant early and dig late.— Surely the sci- 

 ence of Agriculture must be in its infancy, when 

 the cultivation of our most common and staple 

 vegetables is in dispute." 



The following paper from the Transactions 

 of the Society of .^rts in London, may be of use 

 to those who wish to preserve potatoes in the 

 best possible condition, cither for sea stores, 

 foreign consumption, or domestic use. 



"The usual mode at present practised for 



endeavouring to preserve potatoes, is to leave 



them, after digging, exposed to the sun and air 



But, of late years, more correct systems rela- until they are dry. This exposure generally 



' .... causes them to have a bitter taste; and it may 



be remarked, that potatoes are never so sweet 

 to the palate, as when cooked immediately after 

 digging. I find that when potatoes are left in 

 large heaps or pits in the ground, that a fer- 

 mentation takes jilaee which destroys the sweet 

 flavour of the potatoes. In order to prevent 

 that fermentation, and to preserve them from 



mismanagement in digging and securing ther 

 Some of those wise cultivators who know too 

 much to be taught, either by the lessons of ex- 

 perience or the dictates of reason, let lliein lay 

 after they are dug, for several days, perhaps 

 weeks, in the field, as if on purpose to spoil 

 them. 



live to this and other branches of husbandry are 

 introduced and becoming prevalent. Men who 

 unite science, good sense, and experience afTord 

 such lights that none but those whose mental 

 optics are, as it were, hermetically sealed by 

 obstinacy and prejudice, persevere in the use of 



bad means, to attain good ends. Among others , , 



■ , j„ J ii„r,u„:„, „( 1 „f losing the original fine and pleasant flavour, mv 



who have deserved well of their country and ol I ,=,,=,. , . ^ t . 



,.,,.,,.. , ,-11 plan IS (and ivhicli experience proves to me to 



mankind, by illuminating the path ot the hus-|,,.,^.g „,q jgg;,,gj ^jy^^;^ ^^ ^^^^ „j^^^ j,^^,.^^ 



Landman, the Hon. Mr Fiskc, of Worcester, has i„ casks as they are digging from the ground, 



directed his attention to the subject under con- 'and to have the casks, when the potatoes are 



sideration. The remarks to which we allude 



tation, nor in the slightest degree atlected by 

 the bilge or close air of the ship. Some barrels 

 of the potatoes I sold there, and at the neigh- 

 bouring islands, -for four dollars per bushel, and 

 at the same time potatoes carried out in bulk, 

 without packing, and others that were brought 

 there packed in casks which had not been filled 

 up with earth, sold only for a dollar per bushel, 

 they being injured in the passage by the bilged 

 air and fermentation, being bitter &. bad, whilst 

 mine were as perfectly sweet and drv as when 

 first dug. What remained I shipped from St. 

 Bartholomews to Jamaica, where they arrived 

 in equally good condition, and sold at a higher 

 price than they had brought at the former isl- 

 and ; some of these casks of potatoes were put 

 in a coal cellar by the purchaser at Jamaica, 

 and on examining them when I was leaving the 

 island, two months after, 1 found that they had 

 in a very small degree sprouted, but that all 

 their original flavour was preserved." 



Charles Whitlaw. 

 In order to preserve potatoes in sand or soil 

 it is not necessary to pack them in casks or 

 other vessels. They may be mixed with a due 

 quantity of the earth of the field in which they 

 have grown, and put into bins in cellars, or bu- 

 ried in holes dug in the ground. The earth 

 should be in such quantity as to keep them from 

 the air and from general contact with each oth- 

 er. Placed in this manner, they will not 

 sutfer from heat nor frost, if deposited in a 

 cellar which freezes. If surrounded by earth 

 tley will receive little or no injury from frost. 

 It is wrong to supjiose that the earth or sand in 

 which they are embedded, should be perfectly 

 dry. Some degree of moisture is necessary, in 

 order to preserve the litis of the root. If the 

 vital or vegetative principle is destroyed, they 

 will soon decay, by a sort of dry rot. They may, 

 however, it is said, be cut into slices, and dried 

 in an oven or kiln, and will then remain sweet 

 and sound for years. We suppose that either 

 the native juice of the potatoe should be ex- 

 pelled by heat, or the vegetative principle-pre- 

 served by moisture, and a seclusion from the aip. 



are contained in his Address to the Worcester 

 Agricultural Society, delivered October 3, 1823 

 We have published them in our paper, vol. ii- 

 page 1 t5, but will here repeat them, to accom- 

 modate such of our readers as may not be in 

 possession of that volume, or the Address there- 

 in contained. 



" While on the subject of the potatoe," says 

 Mr FiSKE, " it may be worthy of remark, that 

 it possesses one peculiarity distinct from any 

 other germinating vegetable. /( is nut suscepti- 

 ble of vegetation until the season succecdino- its 



* See Xew EnglaoJ Farmer, vol. ii. page 187. 



' piled in them, filled up with sand or earth, t;ik 

 ing care that it is done as speedily as possible, 



and that all vacant places in the cask are tilled 

 up by the earth or sand; the cask thus packed, 

 holds as many potatoes as it would were no 

 earth or sand used in the packing; and as the 

 vacant spaces in the cask of potatoes are filled, 

 the air is totally excluded and cannot act on 

 the potatoes, and consequently no fermentation 

 can take place. 



'• I sailed. from New York to St Bartholomew, 

 and brought with me two hundred barrels of 

 potatoes, packed in the above manner. 



" On my arrival at the island I found, as I ex- 

 pected, that the potatoes had preserved all their 

 original sweetness of flavour ; in fact, as good 

 as when tirstdug, having undergone to fermen- 



Dcfect in the common bifurcate or trianr^ular 

 Harrow, — and hoto remedied. In the common 

 triangular harrow, a tooth or line is placed near 

 (he extremity of the angle made by the junction 

 of the legs ; and the other tines are placed in the 

 legs, in such a manner that the lines drawn by 

 tiie teeth of the harrow, when it is put in motion, 

 shall be eqni-dislant. But in this mode of con- 

 struction, the tooth fixed in the angle, and the 

 two next teeth in the legs, are so situated as to 

 form a sort of enclosure, in which, turfs, stones, 

 and other obstacles to the effectual operation of 

 (he harrow are apt to hang, and are not easily 

 dislodged. To remedy this evil, a friend, who is 

 a practical cultivator, advises to take out the 

 tooth, which is placed in the angle, nnd place it 

 in the brace or cross-piece -ji-Idch connects the Icgi 

 of the /mrrow, in such a manner, that il may des^ 



