324 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



Mr. Claggetfc has been for thirty years in his 

 countiug-room, and never owned a farm before. 

 Indeed he informed me that he never saw a plow 

 run in his life until he saw his own, on this farm. 

 His labor is performed by a foreman, a native of 

 the district, and sis laborers, mostly Irish, with 

 two yoke of oxen and three horses, a force by the 

 way, entirely insufficient to perform such mighty 

 works on New England soil. I did not see the 

 foreman, Imt cannot help suspecting that he is a 

 farmer of the right stamp. I have good faith in 

 the success of any intelligent man who will read 

 and inquire, and spend his money freely that he 

 may produce satisfactory results in agriculture. 

 Still it is a business not learned in a da;ji, and I 

 have no reason to doubt the correctness of our 

 friend's remark, that "Farmer Claggett owes 

 merchant Claggett a good deal of money." 



Such men, however, are public benefactors. 

 They inspire others with faith in labor, and faith 

 in the heritage which a good God has given us, 

 and if they expend money in the experiments, 

 they derive from them the rational sitisfaction 

 that they leave the earth better than they found 

 it. H. F. French. 



For the New England Farmer. 



SMALL POTATOES. 



J\Ir. Editor : — We cannot be surprised at the 

 diffijrent theories and conclusions among men, in 

 matters of religion, law, politics, &c., for reasons 

 that selfish aims and party ends are sometimes ob- 

 jects to Ije carried without reference to virtue or 

 beneficial objects for public good. But in matters 

 of the mechanic arts and of farming there is but 

 one rir/lu way, to be profitably pursued, however 

 much -practice may varv. I respectfully beg to 

 differ widely from your correspondent, S. P., and 

 also your own "remarks" in encouraging the 

 planting of "small potatoes." Experience has 

 been my schoolmaster. "S. P." does not say, 

 when the "large potatoes" were planted, that 

 gave his father "100 bushels not large enough 

 for the table," whether the season was one of 

 much wet or extreme drought. Nature must have 

 been exceedingly harmonious on the one hand, or 

 over abundant on the other, to have given 100 

 bushels all small potatoes. I should attribute to 

 other causes rather than "large" seed, and then 

 the singular metamorphoses of the large potatoes 

 turning into small ones, and the small ones to be- 

 come lirge again, shows the original large seed 

 retained its vitality, which had been acted upon 

 by wet or drought the first season. 



Now the farmer who planted "large potatoes" 

 without cutting (at the time the "robin's egg" 

 size were planted,) over-seeded to excess. While 

 5 stocks to a hill is a full compliment, some 20 to 

 30 sprouts came from a large potatoc. What but 

 small vines and smaller potatoes could be expected 

 from such a crowded hilH Why is a large po- 

 tato "an artificial growth" any more than a 

 small in the same hill with the same advantages 

 to grow? So S. P. says "the native growth of 

 the tuber is small." This we admit if he refers 



to the ball seed, which requires 3 or 4 years to 

 mature. The farmer wants the potatoe fully de- 

 veloped to practice upon. He wants neither seed 

 from the ball or small potatoes. It would seem 

 to be a more safe doctrine to plant the largest, 

 best developed seed. In planting small potatoes 

 these pertinent questions arise. Do you winnow 

 out your small wheat, barley, rye, oats for seed? 

 Do you sow inferior grass seed and clover ? Do 

 you save your small melons, cucumbers, squashes 

 and pumpkins, for seed? Do you trace up your 

 small ears of corn or take the tips for seed ? Do 

 you set out small beets, can-ots and the like, to 

 gather seeds from 1 Do you go into the nursery 

 and select small, unpromising trees for your or- 

 chard? Do you save your smallest calves, pigs, 

 lambs or fowls, to propagate from ? I need not 

 multiply the chances which would seem to be a 

 violation of the common rules of progress. Every 

 good farmer aims to go ahead. 



A-gain permit me to refer to the Long Island 

 farmers, who plant their largest potatoes and cut 

 off the seed end, to avoid small ones. In digging 

 time no one would endorse the "depreciation 

 theory" of j)lanting "small potatoes" if they 

 could witness the large mercers thrown out with 

 scarcely any small ones. 



As before stated, I hope fair tests will be tried. 

 Several years experience satisfied me, when sort- 

 ing for the bins, half being small, that "small 

 potatoes" returned small potatoes. Hence I am 

 at issue, even if alone, with all small potatoe ad- 

 vocates. Respectfully, H. Poor. 



Brooklyn, L. I., May 19. 



For the New Eng/and Farmer. 



LABELLING FRUIT TREES. 



Fruit trees should be distinctly laljelled at the 

 time they are planted out, and when intended for 

 an orchard, or where there are several together, 

 a plan should be made of them, with the name of 

 the variety of each tree plainly written against 

 it; then, in case a label is lost by accident, or 

 otherwise, by referring to the plan the variety is 

 at once ascertained. Much confusion and per- 

 plexity results from a neglect of this subject ; 

 fruit of the first quality is often exhibited from 

 grafted or budded trees, the name of which is 

 unknown to the owner, although the variety may 

 be quite common in many localities. 



Nurserymen should be exceedingly cai-eful to 

 correctly label their trees, as it is a disappoint- 

 ment, as well as loss, to wait patiently several 

 years for a tree to bear, and then to have it pro- 

 duce a different kind from what it was purchased 

 for ; and should scions be taken from it for prop- 

 agation previois to bearing, the evil might be 

 much extended. 



Scions sliould be taken from trees which we are 

 absolutely certain produce the kinds their name 

 indicates ; the labels put on and kept on, so long 

 as any of the bundle remain. When scions are 

 obtained from others it should be from men in 

 whom we can place the most implicit confidence, 

 and then mistakes will sometimes occur when we 

 have used the utmost vigilance ; but to make as 

 few as possible should be the constant aim of all 

 propagators of fruit. 0. V. Hills. 



Leominster, May, 1855. 



