1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



241 



THE WHEEL HOE. 



This is an implement of which we can speak 

 from a practical experience, having used it per- 

 sonally for two or three years, with the most sat- 

 isfactory results. An implement much like this 

 has been in use among the thrifty farmers in 

 Essex county for many years, particularly by the 

 onion raisers there, and by them is called the 

 onion hoe. 



The knife in the cut below, varies somewhat 

 from the one given in the September number of 

 the Fanner, for 1853 ; some prefer one form and 

 some the other. 



No other implement, probably, will ever super- 

 sede the use of the hand hoe ; it is to the farmer, 

 what the right hand is to the mechanic ; 

 although it may not do the work as 



Fur the New Ensland Farmer. 



MATURING PLANTS. 



(review of R. M. I.) 



Mr. Mclntire objects to the idea that plunts be- 

 fore coming to maturity feed more from the at- 

 mosphere, and that potatoes produced from seed 

 do not come to maturity for some years, &c. 



After what I have heretofore said upon the first 

 of the above ideas, it does ^ot appear to me that 

 anything more is required upon that head. As 

 to potatoes producing large tubers at once, from 

 potato-seed, I am not aware of having advanced 

 any such idea. The potato first produces little 

 fibrous roots. It then 

 supplies the tops with 

 certain mineral sub- 

 stances, as has been 

 ascertained by chemi- 

 cal analysis. When 

 the tops have come to 

 a good degree of ma- 

 turity, then tubers 

 may begin to form. 

 But at this point let 

 the tops be cut down, 

 and the formation of 

 tubers is at once ar- 

 rested. Many exper- 

 iments and facts lead 

 me to this conclu- 

 sion. 



I The first growth of tops from the potato-seed, 

 fast as some other implement, no other can do it| js very small. The tubers produced will be cor 



better. It suits all places and conditions of soi 

 and must always remain an indispensable tool on 

 the farm. But the ivhcel hoe is more than "cousin 

 german" to it, as in good hands it will perform 

 five times as much service in a given period, and 

 where every thing is favorable, do it nearly as 

 well as the hand hoe. 



It is an implement which, after long and 

 thorough trial, we unhesitatingly recommend to 

 the farmer and gardener, as one which will save 

 a great deal of unpleasant labor in weeding, and 

 enable him to raise ten bushels of carrots as 

 easily with it, as he could Jive without it. In 

 order to give the operator perfect control of it, 

 there should be a cross piece on the end of the 

 handle about 18 inches long ; this does not seem 

 to be very well represented in the engraving. 



They are manufactured and sold by Nourse 4" 

 Co., 9 and 13 Commercial Street, at $1,25 cents 

 each. 



Spring Purchases. — Those persons about pur- 

 chasing trees, shrubbery, grape or other vines 

 and bushes which grow small fruits, if they study 

 their own interest, will look at our advertising 

 columns. Asa Clement, whose post-office address 

 is Lowell, James Hyde & Son, Newton Centre, 

 Anthony & McAfee, New Bedford, Mrs. S. W. 

 Cole, Chelsea, Ephraim Wood, Salem, W. Hall, 

 Bradford, and others. They are persons to be 

 relied upon. 



respondingly small. These tubers are planted, 

 and produce larger tops. Then are produced 

 larger tubers. Then again those tubers are plant- 

 ed, and produce still larger tubers. L^sually, in 

 three or four years, under proper circumstances, 

 the seedling potato reaches its maturity, when 

 the tubers are as large as they will ever grow, un- 

 der the same circumstances of culture. Does the 

 young seedling potato produce seed from seed? 

 If that is the ordinary way the potato does busi- 

 ness, "we'll give it up." 



It is a fact tnat potatoes will sometimes pro- 

 duce an abundance of seed, and but a very small 

 yield of tubers, where large tubers were planted, 

 and the soil and the culture were indifferent. 

 That the carbon of the old potato went directly 

 into the growth of the seed is very evident, I 

 think. 



I have been well assured of the fact that enor- 

 mous crops of potatoes have been produced from 

 the deep soils composed of old vegetable uuxtter, 

 in the West, where nothing ])ut the more eyes of 

 potatoes were planted. Experiments have abun- 

 dantly demonstrated that such things cannot be 

 done upon a soil but scantily supplied with old 

 vegetable matter. This is a fact which is full of 

 instruction. The experiment has l)een tried, of 

 planting the eyes of potatoes, on land less abun- 

 dantly supplied with old vegetable matter in a 

 state of decomposition. It ha* proved an entire 

 failure. Among tlie farmers of New England it 

 has been found that an excessively ricli soil, or 

 one full of carbon with such a degree of moisture 

 as to produce rapid decomposition of vegetable 

 matter, is almost certain to produce disease in po- 

 tatoes. 



It has also been observed that seedling potatoes, 



