No. a 



Sunrise over the Ocean. — The Potatoe Crop. 



247 



Sunrise over the Ocean. 



The East is kindling with the first pale streak 

 Ot'iieep'nini;, bright'niiig red. The firmament 

 Is full of cloiuis, light, siift and beautiful, 

 And ever varying in their shades and shapes. 

 While each new change seems lovelier than the last. 

 Slowly the light extends;— the ninrning star 

 That glittered, jewel-like, amid the glnom, 

 Is fading in the twilight, strengthening still 

 And, like a curtain gently drawn aside. 

 Revealing, as the dawn glides softly on, 

 Earth, in her dewy freshness, fragrant, fair; 

 Am! Ocean— glorious in serene repose! 



Meanwhile, the East is liright'ning ; tint by tint 

 The crimson melts to rose and saftVon liue ; 

 And the dark clouds above the horizon's brow 

 Are bathed in splendour, and in haste assume 

 The livery of their Master, at the news 

 Which the swift rays have brought of his approach. 

 He comes!— he comes!— and, like a warrior-king, 

 Rejoicing in the might of his wide sway, 

 Bursts nil the dazzled sight! Old Ocean's brow 

 Is wrinkled into smiles at his return. 

 And his white breakers a rude welcome roar ! 

 What marvel, if th' untutored savage bow 

 In worship to an imsge so divine 

 Of its divine Creator! Oh! happier we. 

 To whom 'tis given, to view with Faith's bright glance, 

 An image of the " Sun of Righteousness," 

 Who<ioth arise upon the sin-sick soul 

 With healing on his wings,— and ever shines 

 With glory, tenfold richer to the mind. 

 Than to the dazzled vision is this scene 

 Of sunrise o'er the waters— though it be. 

 Of all God's wondrous works, most wonderful ! 



Miss E. S. Rand. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



The Potatoe Crop. 



Although the potatoe crop has been very 

 much increased both as to quantity and quali- 

 ty within the period of nine years, the time 

 that I have been in this country, still it must 

 be admitted, that much remains to be done 

 before we reach the point at which some of 

 our eastern brethren are doing business in the 

 "tater line;" nor can I quite consent to be- 

 lieve that all the difference is to be attributed 

 to a difference of climate, for after a consi- 

 derable allowance has been made for the heat 

 and drought of the middle and southern states, 

 there will yet remain a " discrepancy" to be 

 accounted for, to the amount of some hun- 

 dreds of bushels per acre ; and I am inclined 

 to think that much of this arises from the 

 want of properly working and preparing our 

 land before-hand, it being considered that so 

 much labour and expense are not necessary 

 here, as on the lands at the east, with so stern 

 a climate. So we see, according to the old 

 adage, " where God does most for man, man 

 does least, either for God or himself," for we 

 find the best management and the greatest 

 share of health and happiness in a country 

 where man is, emphatically, compelled to eat 

 his bread in the sweat of his face — witness the 

 agriculture of the eastern states, where it has 

 been said, in derision of their small and stony 

 possessions, a farmer is compelled to pasture 

 his sheep by letting them down to feed be- 

 tween the rocks by means of a rope fastened 

 to their hind legs, and holding them in that 



position, there not being room on their small 

 meadows for more than their mouth and fore- 

 feet ! And in journeying towards these states 

 I have often observed that the most unkind 

 soil and the wildest portion of the country is 

 always settled the best, and there it has been 

 that 1 have witnessed the truth of our motto, 

 that "the productions of the earth have al- 

 ways been in proportion to the cultivation 

 bestowed upon it ;" and where also surpri- 

 singly large crops of potatoes have been 

 raised by artificial means, on land the most 

 unsuitable by nature. 



Before I came to this country I v/as much 

 employed in raising potatoes for the market, 

 and believing that some observations which I 

 then made might not be out of season or place, 

 even in a country where it is admitted that 

 soil and climate, as well as circumstances, 

 differ, I will, with your permission, recount 

 a few, in the hope that a portion of them at 

 least might'be found applicable, and be made 

 subservient to the purpose of those of our 

 friends who are not yet convinced that 

 " there is nothing more to be learnt in farm- 

 ing." And in this hope, I must first state a 

 fact which I was witness to sometime since. 

 A farmer had brought potatoes to the landing 

 at the foot of Chesnut street on the Delaware, 

 which attracted the notice of the bystand- 

 ers, to whom he was disposing of them by 

 the bushel at a price not above that of the 

 market, although they were very superior in- 

 deed, being remarkably even in their growth, 

 neither large nor small, and particularly free 

 from knobs and scabs; and every one was 

 surprised to hear him say they had not been 

 assorted, but had grown just as he had put 

 them into the baskets for sale, adding, " I 

 never have any large or small, and in a fa- 

 vourable season never less than six hundred 

 bushels per acre, oftentimes more." He was 

 a "Friend," but from what part of the country 

 I did not learn — not, however, from Jersey. 

 To the question, how do you manage to ob- 

 tain such crops? he replied "I plant in sea- 

 son on well prepared land, keep the crop 

 clean, but never mould up the rows, and that 

 is all my secret in raising potatoes." I was 

 sorry that business called me away at the 

 time, or I should have liked to compare notes 

 with him on a subject which of all others had 

 employed my thoughts, and of which I flatter 

 myself I know a little, and with the hope that 

 he would have had it in his power to teach 

 me more, but I have not since been able to 

 learn his residence. 



This is the season, the month of March, in 

 which in England I used to finish ail my po- 

 tatoe planting, both for the middling and late 

 crops, if the weather was favourable; the 

 plants have then time to grow and shade the 

 ground before the extreme heat comes on to 



