NO. 1. 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



Indeed, so wide is the field of his labors, 

 60 numerous the objects with which lie is 

 connected, so various the operations which 

 he lias to perform, that we verily think that 

 a farmer ought to be tiie most learned man 

 upon earth. But can a man conciuoror make 

 hnnself perfectly familiar with every science 

 and every thing] By no means — yet never- 

 theless he should have his mind so well stor- 

 ed with the general principles of all the sci- 

 ences, that he can be guided by them when it 

 becomes necessary to be more particular, and 

 to know when he employs a man devoted 

 particularly to any one branch, whether he is 

 competent to the task, and will discharge his 

 duty to him with ifdelity and precision. — 

 JMaine Farmer. 



From the Ohio Farmer. 

 Su^eet Potatoes- 



This excellent vegetable would be more 

 extensively cultivated but for the great labor 

 of planting and cultivating them in the usual 

 mode, and for the difficulty of keeing them in 

 the winter. 



To obviate the first difficulty, I have, for 

 about twenty years, ceased making hills al- 

 together, and planted in ridges. I break up 

 the ground well, and if necessary, harrow it 

 — then with a barshearor cary plough, throw 

 three furrows together. To complete the 

 ridge, take a weeding hoe or fine rake and 

 draw the dirt up first on one side and then 

 on the other, to about the height potatoe hills 

 are usually made. Open a trench on the top 

 of the ridge and drop the slips five or six 

 inches apart, cover with the hand about two 

 inches deep. 



This mode is attended with several ad- 

 vantages — requiring less ground, less labor 

 in preparing the ground, less in cutting the 

 seed roots, less in bending ridges than hills, 

 and greatly less than digging. The last ope- 

 ration is done mostly with the plough. After 

 clearing off the vines run a furrow along the 

 ridge, taking down about two-fifths on one 

 side, return and throw off as much on the 

 other side, leaving about one fifth in the 

 middle, nearly full of potatoes, which can 

 be easily torn to pieces with the hand. A 

 hoe will be necessary to move the dirt thrown 

 out by the plough, so as to facilitate the pick- 

 ing out of the potatoes. 



This mode of culcivating and taking up 

 the crop, reduces the labor in my estimation 

 nearly one half. 



To obviate the difficulty as to keeping, I 

 put my potatoes in a garner in the cellar, 

 putting chaff or dry dirt around and on them 

 — put them up the same day they are dug. 

 When freezing weather comes on, close the 

 cellar windows. In this way I had sweet 



potatoes for the table throughout the last 



cold winter. 



Plant about the first of April, and be sure 

 to dig after the first frost hard enough to bite 

 the leaves. 



Though the following communication ap- 

 peared in a Connecticut paper in l-SM), its 

 suggestions may be new and important to 

 many who are at present interested in the 

 culture of the peach tree: 



The Pcacli Tree. 



From a ucsire to encourage the culture of 

 the Peach Tree, we ofier the following as the 

 result of experiment and observation. 



It is generally known that worms, near 

 the surface of the earth, destroy them by eat- 

 ing the bark; the object is, therefore, to find 

 a preventive, in order that the trees may be- 

 come aged in a healthy state. 



It is evident that these worms pass through 

 the common change and assume the form of 

 millers, early in the summer, and deposit 

 their eggs in the berk as low as they can 

 find access to it; and that tlie worms pro- 

 ceeding from them begin to operate in the 

 latter part of the summer, when they have 

 been found the size of a common pin. If 

 suffered to remain tjiey grow to the thick- 

 ness of a rye straw; each of them girdles the 

 tree about an inch, and the wood from the 

 wounds to the heart dies. Hence it is, that 

 a single wound impairs the vigor of the tree 

 and a number of them will kill it. The point 

 to be gained, is to protect the tree from the 

 millers, and by a simple method, we have 

 succeeded for several years, which is recom- 

 mended with full confidence. 



About the first '^i May remove the earth 

 from the body of the tree, and shift it to the 

 height of 1.5 or 16 inches, in such manner 

 as to exclude the millers, burying the lower 

 part of it in the eaith. We have used straw 

 cut to the length and about half an inch in 

 thickness, bound on with twine. This should 

 be removed about the first of September, as 

 we have sometimes found the young worms 

 in the upper part of the straw, being then 

 readily discovered on the surface of the bark, 

 covered by a little gum. The process should 

 be commenced when the tree is young — they 

 have been found in a rapid growth the first 

 fall after it sprouted. Thus a few minutes 

 in a year devoted to a tree, will protect 

 it against this cause of decay — a very tri- 

 fling expense compared with the value of this> 

 healthy and delicious fruit. 



Jonathan Brace, 

 John I. Wells, 

 Wm. H. Imlay. 

 Hartford, Conn. Sep. 8, 1830. 



