No. 8. 



Sugar-Beet. — Potatoes. 



239 



For tlie Farmers' Cabinet. 



Sugar-Beet. 



Mr. Editor, — I find that the Masgachu- 

 setts Agricultural Society has awarded a pre- 

 mium of $15 to F. Tudor, of Nahant, for a 

 crop of sugar-beets measuring 1300 bushels 

 per acre. Mr, Tudor's account of the man- 

 agement of the crop — a statement which 

 should, I think, always be made to accompany 

 a premium crop — was as follows. "The 

 ground was old pasture of indifferent soil and 

 very stony; it was broken up in 1840 by 

 trenching, 20 inches deep, which brought 

 much poor soil to the surface. The stones 

 were gathered from the land and buried in 

 the bottom of the trench, upon which was 

 spread three inches deep of mussel-mud, then 

 i the turf and the best of the soil, then two 

 inches of rock-weed fresh from the shore, or 

 I cut from the rocks; then the less rich part 

 I of the soil and more mussel-mud, the top 

 ' being left with the poorest and most gravelly 

 soil. In the spring of 1840 it was sown with 

 eugar-beet, but the crop was poor. In 1841 

 the land was ploughed six inches deep with- 

 out reaching any of the rich soil below, the 

 surface still exhibiting little but yellow loam 

 and gravel. Upon this I caused sugar-beets 

 again to be sown, and when the plants had 

 spruno- up, I had the land dressed on the sur- 

 face — mereiy spreading on 15 cords of rich 

 cow-yard manure. This caused the young 

 plants to shoot and grow away most vigor- 

 ously, and the crop has been so large that I 

 have determined to exhibit it before the State 

 Agricultural Society, and put in a claim for 

 premium. No particular care has been taken 

 of the crop, for although the seed had missed 

 on several patches, they were not filled with 

 plants, while during the drought of August, 

 many of the tops were cut as fodder for cows ; 

 but for this, I believe the crop would have 

 produced 1600 bushels per acre. The crop 

 was sold by auction, and the weight given 

 was what the purchasers paid for. The 

 ^rgest root measured 34 inches in circumfe- 

 rence, and weighed 31 pounds, but it was 

 hollow; the largest sound and perfect root 

 weighed 21 pounds ; a fair bushel weighing 

 60 pounds. I think the large crop which has 

 been produced on my land was not caused by 

 the trenching, but by the looseness of the soil 

 and the top-dressing of rich manure; the 

 value of a top-dressing in a season of drought 

 being undoubtedly great." 



I conclude with one remark — the above 

 account speaks volumes for the systems of 

 subsoiling and top-dressing, a mode of man- 

 agement which seems at length to be com- 

 manding the notice of agriculturists general- 

 ly throughout the land. 



J. Grant. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Potatoes. 



Sir, — Seeing in the public prints that Mr. 

 Gowen had received the Philadelphia Agri- 

 cultural Society's premium for a crop of po- 

 tatoes yielding 200 bushels per acre, I have 

 not hesitated to consider it an error of the 

 press, for I can in no other way account for 

 the circumstance; v,'hat! 200 bushels of po- 

 tatoes a premium crop, and no other competi- 

 tor? how can this be? In the N. E. Farmer 

 for the present week, I find an account of 

 General Barnum's crop of potatoes of which 

 we have often heard, and feel a desire, upon 

 the present occasion, to bring it to your no- 

 tice. It is said by the General himself, 

 " Presuming the product of my potatoe crop 

 would be such as to partake too much of the 

 marvellous for general belief, to put it beyond 

 the reach of doubt or contradiction, it was 

 agreed to appoint S. Wilson, one of the com- 

 mon council of the city, and R. Stowell, mea- 

 surer, to superintend the measuring of the 

 ground, the digging of the potatoes and the 

 measuring of them; and the following was 

 the result of the different pieces; No. 1, 

 1361 bushels per acre; No. 2, 3410 do.; No. 

 3, 2041 do. ; No. 4, 1654 do. ; No. 5, 2253 

 do. Average of the whole number of pieces 

 1843 bushels per acre; the casting of the 

 sums being performed by B. Allen and Sid- 

 ney Dunton, mathematicians." From the 

 way in which they were cultivated, the Ge- 

 neral believes that 1000 bushels of potatoes 

 per acre may be raised with less than one- 

 half the expense that it would require in the 

 common mode to raise that quantity on four 

 acres, and this conviction arises from 25 years 

 of experience. For the account of the mode 

 of cultivating the enormous crop above men- 

 tioned we are referred to page 329 of the 

 13th volume of the N. E. Farmer. If any 

 of your readers are possessed of that volume, 

 would they favour us with a copy of it for 

 our information ] I confess the quantity there 

 stated is so great that the General must ex- 

 cuse rne for saying, I should have liked to see 

 " 'em are taters mishured," and would ask 

 how many inches thick of potatoes would an 

 acre square of land exhibit, if 3410 bushels 

 were packed upon it ? The largest crop I 

 ever saw was 700 bushels per acre, and then 

 the earth seemed perfectly covered with them, 

 although about a fifth only of the Vermont 



crop. POMME DE TeRRE. 



Jan. 28, 1842. 



Economy, industry, reading, observation, 

 reflection — when you see all these concen- 

 trated in the same individual, set that man 

 down as a good manager. 



