No. 11. 



Potatoes. — Tillage in the Hebrides. — MiMein. 343 



stance should be attended to when frathering 

 hay containing- it. From the foregoing ob- 

 servation?, therefore, 1 think it extremely 

 probable that the plant in question is the 

 general cause of salivation in horses. There 

 are other plants which act as masticatories, 

 but there are very few of them that are liable 

 to be eaten by the graminivorous animals, I 

 am however certain, that the Euphorbia ma- 

 culata will produce it, and have always ob- 

 served it to abound in the fields when slab- 

 bering was prevalent." 



This plant begins to be in flower in July, 

 or beginning of August, and continues to 

 bloom for several weeks, during which time 

 it no doubt possesses the greatest acrimony ; 

 and it is at this time tliat horses are most 

 commonly affected with the disease called 

 slabbering. 



John Daly. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Potatoes. 



" Let nature liave lier perfect work." 



Mr. Editor, — Had your correspondent C. 

 (p. 296, No. 9, for April) lived a century 

 ago, his proposal to deprive the potato plant 

 of its seed-vessels to strengthen the root, 

 would have been in season, for the wise folks 

 of that age supposed that *' art could improve 

 nature;" but such a scheme as that which he 

 advocates is now quite out of date, for it is 

 found that nature is in every thing perfect, 

 and all that man can do is to assist her by 

 bringing within her reach the materials for 

 her work, or removing out of the way those 

 obstacles that would impede her progress. 

 The instance which he cites, of an experi- 

 ment made by M. Zeller, Director of the Ag- 

 ricultural Society of Darmstadt, is only tiie 

 repetition of the old story, which has come 

 regularly up and gone regularly down for the 

 last age: the plan has been advocated and 

 abandoned times and often, and wise men 

 have at length come to the conclusion, that 

 Nature knows best how to do her own work. 

 An account of M. Zeller's experiment of re- 

 moving the potato blossom, is going the round 

 of the agricultural papers, and the difference 

 in favour of the operation is generally made 

 to appear, as stated in the Cabinet, namely, 

 as 476 to 37; but the latter number is evi- 

 dently a misprint — it should be as 47G to 

 437, and so it is stated in the New England 

 Farmer, one of the best agricultural journals 

 in the United States. A. 



P.S. Is it not time, now-abeut, to revive 

 again the hilling of corn] 



We can never hope to render soils more 

 fruitful by applying a gill of manure to the 

 hill, and then carrying off the whole product. 



Tillage in the Hebrides in 1811. 



The tillage of a great portion of the He- 

 brides (Scotch Islands) is thus described in 

 the agricultural survey of those islands. "A 

 man walking backward, v\'ith his face towards 

 four horses abreast, brandishing his cudgel in 

 tlieir noses and eyes to make them advance, 

 followed by a ristle-plough employing a horse 

 and two men — the three, commonly all toge- 

 ther superfluous — still followed by four other 

 hor.ses, dragging clumsy harrows fixed by 

 hair ropes to their ttiils, and almost bursting 

 their spinal marrow at every tug and writhing 

 of their tortured carcasses ! All this caval- 

 cade on ground uninclosed, undrained, and 

 yielding on an average three returns only for 

 the seed sown, and sometimes lost altogether 

 by the depredations of cattle, or accidents in 

 a late harvest! Much of the most laborious 

 and degrading work — such as carrying bur- 

 dens of manure and peats upon their back — 

 performed by women.''^ — MacdonaliTs Sur- 

 vey. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Mildew. 



Sir, — On a visit yesterday to a friend in 

 Jersey, I was shown on his finely-cultivated 

 farm, three fields of wheat of the greatest 

 luxuriance, and promising a rich reward at 

 harvest. The best of these was sown in Au- 

 gust, the next best in September, and the re- 

 maining piece in October: the whole at pre- 

 sent is free from the fly, but I fear my friend 

 must make up his mind to a decided case of 

 mildew in all, as they are all seeded with 

 timothy, and are remarkably thickly set. If 

 Colonel Smitii's theory of mildew be correct 

 — of which I have no doubt, and of which my 

 friend entertains the greatest /effr — his hopes 

 will "go by the board" as certain as that he 

 will have deserved a better fate. The above 

 crops are the most luxuriant that I have seen, 

 and if they were as clear of grass as they are 

 of weeds, I should lay the yield at about 35 

 bushels per acre ; as it is, however, one half 

 that quantity and a third of the quality might 

 be nearer tlie mark. 



I consider the agricultural public much in- 

 debted to Col. Smith for his essay, and hope 

 that many will be induced by it to make a 

 fair trial of the plan which he proposes to 

 adopt, and which has, I understand, obtained 

 the sanction of experience in his hands and 

 the confidence of very many others. In my 

 yesterday's tour, I saw rye 3 feet in height, 

 with the ears fairly developed — a remarkable 

 growth for this remarkably backward and 

 untoward spring. 



^ Jacob Try on. 



Pailad-. May 3, 1841. 



