246 



Culture of Potatoes. 



Vol. II 



should be thoroujjhly harrowed fine and 

 smooth as possible ; then take a narrow light 

 cultivator, or small plough, calculated tor 

 turning a deep narrow furrow. With this 

 instrument lay your land in drills twenty 

 inches asunder and four inches in depth, run- 

 ning north and south if practicable, to admit 

 tlie rays of the sun to strike the plant equally 

 on both sides ; put into the bottom of the fur- 

 rows or drills about twoinches of well rotten 

 barn-yard manure, or its equivalent— then 

 drop your potatoes. If of the common size, 

 or what is more important, that they contain 

 about the usual quantity of eyes, (if more, 

 they should be cut, to prevent too many stalks 

 shootmg up together,) put a single potatoe in 

 the drills or trenches ten inches apart ; the 

 first should remain uncovered until the sec- 

 ond one is deposited, to place them diagonal- 

 ly in the drills, which will afford more "space 

 between the potatoes one way, than if laid at 

 right angles in the rows. The coverino- 

 may be performed with a hoe, first haulms/ 

 in the furrow raised on each side ofthedrilf; 

 then carefully take from the centre of the 

 space, the soil to finish the coverino- to the 

 depth of 3i or 4 inches. By taking the 

 ^rth from the centre of the space on either 

 side to the width of 3 inches, it will leave a 

 drain of 6 inches in the centre of the space, 

 and a hill of 14 inches in width, gentlv de- 

 scending from the drill to the drain"; the 

 width and depth of the drill will be sufficient 

 to protect the plant against any injurious ef- 

 tectsota scorching sun, or drenchino- rain 

 1 he drams in the centre will at all times bo 

 tound sufficient to admit the surplus water to 

 pass off. I am not at all tenacious about the 

 instrument to be made use of for openino- the 

 trenches to receive the manure and potatoes : 

 ttiis work should be well done, and may be 

 performed with a common hoe with much 

 uniformity and accuracy, by stretching a line 

 to direct the operation. It is true tiiat the 

 labor cannot be performed with the same fa- 

 cility as with a horse, but it can be better 

 done, and I think at less expense, (akin"- into 

 consideration the labor of the man to hold, the 

 boy to ride, and the horse to draw the ma- 

 chine. 



The good husbandman in that climate shouW 

 make all practicable preparations for his crop 

 I in the fall, and plant as early in the spring as 

 jthe ground is sufficiently dry and warm.— 

 Here the growth is extremely rapid, notre- 

 I quiring more than from 90 to 110 days to per^ 

 feet it. The quantity will not be quite bo 

 great as with us, but superior in quality. 



Boiics— Manure. 



It is well known that bones converted to 

 dust constitute the most efficient and valuable 

 manure that has yet been discovered; and 

 that to this substance much of the improved 

 state of European agriculture may fairly be at- 

 tributed. It has occurred to us as somewhat 

 surprising that in the present advanced state 

 of chemical science, and when the constituent 

 parts of bones are so well known, that no at- 

 tempts to produce a compound embracing the 

 same substances and capable of producing the 

 same results, have yet been made. Bones are 

 composed of gelatine, fat, cartilage, and 

 earthy salt. Chemistry has determined the 

 nature of each of these substances, and the 

 proportions in which they generally exist in 

 bones is also known. The earthy salts are 

 lime and phosphorus, or the solid part of the 

 bone is phosphate of lime ; a substance of great 

 value to plants, and which is found in many 

 of them. Wl' therefore can see no insupera- 

 ble obstacle in the production of an article, 

 which, if it could be afforded at a reasonable 

 cost, would, from its active nature, and the 

 ease with which it can be applied, supersede 

 all others in those places and for those purpo- 

 ses in which ordinary manure is inefficient 

 or disgusting. We regret that the profound 

 genius of the philosophic Davy had not been 

 directed to this point; as such a discovery 

 would be one of the greatest gifls science has 

 yet made to agriculture. Perhaps, howevei^ 

 the discovery has been reserved for Hare or 

 Silliman, as the application of electro-magne- 

 tism to mechanical purposes was for Daven- 

 port. We shall see. — lb. 



SEASON FOR PLANTING. 



In this respect they are a most accommo- 

 dating crop, allowing the farmer in the 

 southern and central part of the designated 

 district 20 or .30 days to perform the opera- 

 tion. I he particular time depends in a very 

 considerable degree upon the climate. In 

 the region of my residence, (the 44th deo-ree 



f ?l \iu^''^.i'''^ ^'^^y '"^y ^^ planted 

 from the 10th of May, to the 1.5th of June. At 

 the extreme north of the described limits less 

 i4Utude IS afforded for seed time and harvest 



CELLARS. 



It is a practice in Germany, worthy of cor 

 imitation, to keep open a communication be- 

 tween the cellars and the principal chimney 

 of the house, to enable the noxious air, more 

 or less generated there, to escape. It also 

 promotes the draft of the chimney. The air 

 in cellars often becomes highly deleterious 

 to health, and the sickness of families may 

 frequently be traced to the stagnant and 

 noisome air in these under ground apart- 

 ments. Where there are different apartments 

 in a cellar, ventilation should be provided 

 for by leaving a passage open over the doors 

 of communication. 



