132 



Potato Planting. 



Vol. V. 



dust or other substance which does not absorb 

 water ; and, although precautions of this kind 

 may sometimes prove salutary, they ought 

 not to be trusted to where a dry, airy, healthy 

 situation can be obtained ; frequently white- 

 washing the walls with lime seems to have 

 an influence in removing moisture and keep- 

 ing them dry. Tlie owner of a damp and 

 uncomfortable stable often wonders why so 

 many of his horses catch cold, "there are 

 always some of them coughing ;" now, if he 

 were to make that stable his abode for four- 

 and-twenty hours, he would have but little to 

 wonder at. Large stables are objectionable, 

 and have nothing to recommend them but 

 cheapness in the erection, so that when it is 

 more important to have a cheap than a healthy 

 stable, a large one may be indulged in; the 

 saving in the end, however, may eventually 

 prove a loss, if the builder of the stable be 

 the owner of the horses. A very large stable 

 cannot easily be ventilated; it requires a 

 lofty roof to give any degree of purity, and 

 contagious diseases once introduced into such, 

 spread rapidly and do extensive mischief be- 

 fore they can be checked." 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Potato Planting. 



Mr. Editor, — I too, must beg permission 

 to endorse the account which follows. I have 

 proved it, therefore I speak with confidence 

 as to the results. In a visit to an excellent 

 agriculturist, I found him cutting his potatoes 

 for seed, and prevailed upon him to select the 

 tops only for planting, reserving the remain- 

 der of the potatoes for culinary purposes ; he 

 will by this time, have taken up the crop, and 

 would he — he is one of your subscribers — in- 

 form us of the result. 



In my memorandum-book I find these entries 

 — 29th March, planted fifty pounds weight 

 of the tops of potatoes which had been re- 

 served, while preparing the bulbs for cooking 

 for the use of the household, by merely cut- 

 ting off a thin slice and throwing it by in a 

 basket, during the winter, which was placed 

 out of the reach of the frost. 24th Septem- 

 ber, dug up the potatoes which were raised 

 from the thin cuttings, from the tops of the 

 roots while preparing them for the house; 

 they are uniformly large and fine, particu- 

 larly clean from scab (as the land was spread 

 with lime as soon as the crop was planted) 

 and, without exception, the best crop I ever 

 grew ; the quantity planted was just 50 lbs., 

 and from them I have this day taken up one 

 ton. But now allow me to turn to the ac- 

 count spoken of above, which is copied from 

 the "Agricultural Almanac" for 1823, and 

 which is never the worse for keeping. 



P. G. 



" The following improvement in the cul- 

 ture of potatoes, is taken from the " Ameri- 

 can Farmer," and is extracted for the Alma- 

 nac, not only under a conviction of the rea- 

 sonableness of the practice, but from actual 

 experience of its verity. Whensoever the 

 writer has himself superintended the cutting 

 of his seed potatoes, he has uniformly suc- 

 ceeded in this mode of preparing the seed, 

 but when the persons employed were left to 

 their own government, all the parts of the po- 

 tatoes were indiscriminately cut and planted : 

 the difference in the crop has evinced the ne- 

 cessity of the farmer's attention to the whole 

 detail of the affair : this branch of the cul- 

 ture is too generally committed to boys, or 

 ignorant and careless labourers. The bottom 

 of the potato is no better than the starch of 

 grain, intended by nature to nourish the ten- 

 drils thrown out in the first efforts of vegeta- 

 tion, the residue rots and perishes in the 

 ground, therefore the practice of preserving 

 it for the use of the household is a saving in- 

 stead of a waste. By judiciously cutting the 

 bulb, there will bo enough of the pabulum for 

 the tendril or young fibre thrown out by the 

 eye, to subsist upon ; indeed, if only the cut 

 containing the eyes were generally used in 

 planting, it is clear that the crop would be 

 the most abundant: this practice had been 

 known to and often proved by me, many yeara 

 before the account of it in the following ex- 

 tract was seen. 



" A correspondent has requested us to in- 

 sert the following. The first year, he says, 

 I cut the potatoes in three pieces, the top, the 

 middle, and the bottom parts, and planted 

 them in three rows. The top plant was ten 

 days earlier than the middle plant, and a 

 much greater crop; the middle plant was ear- 

 lier than the bottom, and a better crop, the 

 bottom producing but a very indifferent 

 crop. 



For some seasons past, I have only planted 

 the top eyes, and I may safely say 1 have the 

 best crop and the driest potatoes in the coun- 

 try. None need be deterred from this plan 

 on the ground of waste, for after the top is 

 cut off, the remainder keeps better and longer 

 fit for use than if the potato were preserved 

 entire ; and as a proof of this, lay a whole 

 potato on the ground, or in any exposed place, 

 and it will show that the top plants grow and 

 are many inches in length, before there is 

 any growth from the bottom." — A?«. Far. 12 

 April, 1822. 



P. S. If housekeepers in towns were to 

 preserve the cuttings of the tops of their po- 

 tatoes during winter, and preserve them as 

 above, there would be more than sufficient to 

 plant all the country, without the cost of a 

 single cent for seed ! 



