496 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov, 



gaining the confidence and favor, of the agricultural 

 community. 



This is considered one of the most promising 

 signs of the times. Real farmers have taken the 

 matter in liand, and we now have publications that 

 are beyond susjoicion in the interest of the agricul 

 turist. The return to the farm of men who, hav- 

 ing tried life in the city and California, have found 

 that the Hfe of the farmer will compare favorably 

 •with the rest of mankind, is exerting a beneficial 

 influence. It leads to contentment, which is so es- 

 sential a requisite to happiness. It leads to im- 

 provement, as the men thus returning, in most ca- 

 ses, have not failed to observe that the wealth and 

 prosperity gained by the manufacturer has been at- 

 tained by the use of all publications and inventions 

 intended for his benefit, and who, believing the 

 same means equally appUcable to agriculture, have 

 not failed to bring them with them. These influen- 

 ces are steadily and unitedly at work for the ad- 

 vancement of agriculture. May they long continue 

 in their beneficent avocation. Yeoman. 



Brookfield, Sept., 1855. 



NEWFOUNDLAND DOGS AT NEW- 

 FOUNDLAND. 



[A writer in the JVew York Herald, who was one 

 of the excursionists on the late telegraph expe- 

 dition to Newfoundland, thus expatiates on the dogs 

 of that uninviting country :] 



Any one who has ever visited St. Johns must 

 have observed the large number of Newfoundland 

 dogs with which its streets ai'e beset. You meet 

 them wherever you turn ; they lie across the path- 

 way, and sometimes make their bed in the middle 

 of the road ; they stand like sentinels at every door, 

 and although they never dispute your passage, they 

 look at you with an inquiring gaze, as if they desir- 

 ed to know yoiu- business. In winter they are em- 

 ployed by the poor in drawing wood in sledges, for 

 which they seem peculiarly adapted by their strength 

 and docility. Dr. Kane took twenty of them with 

 him on leaving St. Johns, as they are said to be as 

 good, if not better, than the Esquimaux dogs, in 

 making journeys over the ice. A perfect dog mania 

 broke out among our company, and an extensive 

 trade in pups was opened with the natives. Every 

 person seemed determined to have one, and the 

 consequence was, that we had about as many dogs 

 on our return, as passengers. Dogs of all sizes and 

 ages, from a month to three years old, Avere carried 

 off unresisting victims into exile. Whatever doubt 

 there might be as to the purity of the breed, there 

 could be no dispute as to their being Newfoundland 

 dogs, and with many, that seemed to be sufficient. 

 Two of my friends bought a pair of them, twins, 

 and named them Telegraph and Cable, in their en- 

 thusiasm for the great enterprise. The pure breed, 

 it is said, is fast becoming extinct in St. Johns ; but 

 if I should judge from the large number of " full 

 bloods" tliat were shown to me, I should be strongly 

 inclined to doubt the truth of that statement. 



Morrison's Red Apple. — Our friend, N. P. 

 Morrison, of Somerville, "The Apple Man," has 

 sent us four of his Red Seedlings. They are more 

 beautiful to the eye than any other apple we have 



seen, and as pleasant to the taste as to behold them. 

 He says the tree is a thrifty grower, and good bear- 

 er,. and that the fruit will keep as well as the Bald- 

 win. The tree originated in Medfield, on the farm 

 of a Mr. Fisher, and the fruit has been well tested 

 by ^Ir. Morrison, who thinks it the best apple yet 

 known. There are no doubts on our own mind 

 but it is an apple of very high order. 



For the New England Farmer. 



LARGE OR SMALL POTATOES- 

 WHICH? 



Mr. Editor : — For 3'ears, at different times, there 

 has been much discussion and a good deal written 

 on the subject of seed potatoes. Which were best 

 to plant, the large or small ? Like every other ques- 

 tion, this has two sides to it, and each side has its 

 respective advocates. So far as talk is concerned, 

 it matters Httle to either party which gains the day, 

 but in an economical point, as affecting the farmer's 

 purse, it is quite otherwise, and is a matter of some 

 importance which wins. For many years past, this 

 great article of human sustenance has commanded a 

 high price to what it formerly bore ; mdeed, for the 

 past two or three years, I am inclined to the opin- 

 ion, that few articles of food have cost more to its 

 consumers — comparing them by the ratio of nutri- 

 ment afforded. Then again, it is extremely diffi- 

 cult for families to be economical in their use, 

 their former cheapness has produced a habit of waste 

 in their whole management — though the jJast few 

 years has produced a praiseworthy change in this 

 particular. I would not pretend to say that the 

 "Small Potato" question is an exception to the great , 

 law of nature — that like produces like — this is an 

 acknowledged principle throughout all the opera- 

 tions of nature. But I do say, that small potatoes 

 will produce large ones, and that pretty uniformly. 

 I have tried the experiment three times, and with 

 success. 



The first time, I used small potatoes and large 

 ones together, the large ones being cut to a very 

 small size before jilanting. I remember perfectly 

 well, that my men at the time declared that my ex- 

 periment would be a failure; that no field seeded so 

 s])aringly as that was, would ])roduce a crop ; none 

 of the potatoes used would average over a square 

 inch, while the majority would hardly exceed half 

 an inch. One object was — not so much to get a 

 good crop of potatoes — but to have the land culti- 

 vated among my trees. About one acre was plant- 

 ed. No extra pains was taken with them, and in 

 the fall, the result was over one hundred bushels of 

 good sized, handsome potatoes. The actual ground 

 occupied by the crop was not much over half an 

 acre, certainly not three-quarters. My men and 

 neiglibors were astonished at the result. Twice 

 since I have repeated this experiment, and with like 

 results. The last time with whole small potatoes, 

 and during the past week have had them dug, and 

 many of them will weigh half a pomid, and a large 

 number of them more, and very few like their pa- 

 rents among them. Now if these same "small pota- 

 toes" should be {planted from year to year, I do not 

 know what effect it might produce. Probably the 

 great law of nature would assert its rights, and 

 "small potatoes" be the result. 



There is no question but what farmers seed this 



