480 



NEW ENGLAND EAIIMER. 



Oct. 



dry, clear weather, and placed where they are in- 

 tended to be kept ; and if in barrels, these should be 

 kept as dark as possil)lc. Some have packed apples 

 in chai'coal dust, others in alternate layers, with 

 straw and a layer of earth, in the same manner as 

 for potatoes. Some place them in cold, dry cellars, 

 in heaps, covered with straw; but all these methods, 

 while they may sometimes succeed, invariably ab- 

 stract so much of the Havor from the a])plcs as to 

 lessen their real value. The same mistake is often 

 made in pacl\in<if grapes in cotton — and while they 

 maintain their figure and look well, the aroma is 

 abstracted and absorbed by the cotton. 



The plan given above for ])reparing apjiles for 

 shipping, first made public by R. L. Pell, Esq., is 

 the most dependable. — Working Farmer. 



Fur the New England Farmer. 



POTATO CROP. 



Mr. Editor : — In your paper of September 1st 

 appears an article from one who signs himself 

 "South Danvers," bearing the title that I have se- 

 lected, lie says, "of the new varieties of potatoes 

 that have l)een tried in this vicinity, the present 

 season, there is none so highly praised as Davis' 

 Seedhng ; side by side with other varieties this es- 

 capes disease entirely. Some pretend to crack uj) 

 the 'State of Maine' potato — but the best observers 

 say it is a miserable concern — entirely unworthy of 

 regard." 



Now I agree with him exactly in what he says of 

 the Davis' Seedling ; it is a very fine variety, de- 

 serving of extensive cultivation — very productive, 

 hardy, and a good-flavored sort. In regard to what 

 he has to say about the State of Maine, the reverse 

 is eminently true ; the statement he has made is cal- 

 culated to mislead the ])ublic in respect to this splen- 

 did variety of potato. It is, in the first place, very 

 productive, yielding this year a bushel of handsome 

 potatoes from eighteen hills ; it is early, being near- 

 ly as early as the White Chenango, which is the 

 favorite early sort of the market gardeners ; it is 

 very handsome, being perfectly white outside and 

 inside ; as for its eating qualites, it is unsurpassed 

 by any variety that I am acquainted with, and I 

 think I may, without boasting, lay claim to some 

 knowledge of ])otatoes, ha\ing for some years felt a 

 great interest in the potato, and i)lanting every 

 named sort that I could get, besides raising a great 

 many from seed, so that my list numbers, this year, 

 not less than seventy-five varieties. It is not sur- 

 passed even by the famous Carter potato, which has 

 such a high reputation, and if jour correspondent 

 will produce a potato equal to the State of Maine 

 in even/ respect, I will send him as many potatoes as 

 he will use for five years. It is not liable to rot, hav- 

 ing never found but few rotten potatoes among 

 that sort. I am incHned to think that "South Dan- 

 vers" has never seen the true State of Maine pota- 

 to, or is radically mistaken in regard to it. 



James F. C. Hyde. 



JVewlon Centre, Sept. 6, 1855. 



I'he History of Butter. — From the various 

 statements in history, it may be safely concluded 

 that the disco vei-y of butter is attributable neither 

 to the Greeks nor Romans, but that the former 

 were made acquainted with it by the Scythians, 

 Thracians, and Prygians, and the latter by the peo- 



ple of Germany. It apjiears, says Beckman, that 

 when they had learned the art of making it, they 

 emi)loyed it only as an ointment in their baths, and 

 particularly as a medicine. It is never mentioned 

 by Galen and others as food, though they have 

 s))oken of it as apphcable to other purposes. No 

 notice is taken of it by Apicius, nor is there any- 

 thing said in that respect by the authors who treat 

 on agriculture, though they have given accurate in- 

 formation regarding milk, cheese, and oil. This 

 may be easily accounted for by the fact, that the 

 ancients v.'ere entirely accustomed to the use of 

 good oil. In like manner, butter is very little em- 

 ployed at the present day in Italy, S]win, Portugal, 

 and the southern parts of France, but is sold in the 

 apothecaries' shops for medical purposes. During 

 the ages of paganism butter appears to have been 

 very scarce in Norway ; mention is made by his- 

 torians of a present of butter so large that a man 

 could not carry it, and which was considered a very 

 resj^ectable gift. — Farmer's Magazine. 



For the New England Farmer, 



COI^TSOLATIOIT FIT FOR AN EMPEROR. 



In the memoirs written by the celebrated Emper- 

 or Khang-hi, the following passage occurs : 



"I was wall^ing on the first day of the sixth 

 moon, in some fields where rice was sown, wliich was 

 not expected to yield its harvest till the ninth. I 

 happened to notice a rice plant that had already 

 come into ear. It rose above all the rest, and was 

 already ripe. I had it gathered and brought to 

 me. The grain was very fine and full, and I was 

 induced to keep it for an experiment, and to see 

 whether it would retain, on the following year, this 

 precocity, and in flict it did. All the plants that 

 proceeded from it, came into ear before the ordina- 

 ry time, and yielded their harvest in the sixth moon. 

 Every year has multij^lied the product of the pre- 

 ceding, and now for thirty j'ears it has been the 

 rice served on my table. The grain is long and of 

 rather a reddish color, but of a sweet jierfume and 

 very pleasant flavor. It has been named Ya-mi, or 

 "Imperial rice," because it was in my gardens that 

 it was first cultivated. It is the only kind that can 

 ripen north of the great wall, where the cold begins 

 very early and ends very late ; but in the province, 

 of the South, where the climate is milder, and the 

 soil more fertile, it is easy to obtain two harvests a 

 year from it. And it is a sweet consolation to me, 

 to have ])rocured this advantage for my people." — 

 Hue's Chinese Empire. 



Hue remarks, that this species of rice succeeds 

 admiral)ly in dry climates, and has no need, like com- 

 mon rice, of perpetual irrigation ; and that it is not 

 the feult of the missionaries if it has not long since 

 been acchmated in France. 



Apples, Pears and Plums. — Our acknowledg- 

 ments are due Mr. William Wheeler, of Acton, 

 for a basket of fine Porter apples, and another of 

 Bartlett pears; to E. W. Bull, Esq., of Concord, 

 for fine specimens of the Washington lied Gage, 

 and other plums, and to his Excellency Gov. Gard- 

 ner, for a liberal basket of the Tyson pear, grown 

 upon the first tree producing that fruit in New Eng- 

 land. 



