240 History of the JVeshanoc, or Mercer Potatoe. — Lime. Vol. VIII. 



In a list of 65 remarkable cows, furnished 

 by Mr. Colman in his Report, the average is 

 about ten quarts of milk to produce one pound 

 of butter. 



In a trial of a two year old heifer, in the 

 month of March, we made from eight quarts 

 of her milk one pound of butter, which we 

 thought at the time very extraordinary, and 

 still think so. Although we have accounts 

 of several that have produced one pound of 

 butter from eight quarts of milk, we have 

 never heard of but one, with the exception 

 of Mr.'Schenck's, that produced it from less, 

 and that was a cow in Sheldon, Vt, ; she 

 gave 26 quarts in one day, and two milkings 

 in twenty-four hours, produced 3 lbs. 14 ozs. 

 of butter. — Farmer^s Monthly Visitor. 



History of the Neshanoc, or Mercer 

 Potatoe. 



Canfleld, December 30tli, 1843. 



My Dear Sir, — I have succeeded by the 

 aid of Mr. McLain, P. M., at Warren, and 

 Mr. Gallony, P. M., Wilmington, Mercer 

 county. Pa., in obtaining the history of the 

 Neshanoc or Mercer potatoe. It is furnished 

 by James Gilkey, the brother of John Gilkey, 

 who produced it from the seed. It appears 

 from James Gil key's letter, that an article 

 was published in the Mercer Luminary, on 

 the 5th of June 1839, which was copied 

 from a paper at Easton, Pa., pretending to 

 give an account of the origin of the said po 

 tatoe, in which the writer, as Mr. James 

 Gilkey says, was mistaken in some particu 

 lars of the biography of his brother, which 

 he wishes corrected ; I shall copy that part 

 of his letter, according to his request. 



John Gilkey and James Gilkey, moved 

 from Westmoreland county. Pa., in the 

 month of November 1797, and settled on a 

 tract of land in what is now Slippery Rock 

 township, Mercer county. Pa., about two 

 miles east of Neshanoc creek. In the fall 

 of the year 1800 or 1801, John Gilkey col- 

 lected the balls or apples from his pota- 

 toes, which were of the varieties of red, 

 blue and white. In the spring he planted 

 the balls or apples in a bed in his garden. 

 The seeds produced small potatoes, some of 

 them not larger than peas, and of different 

 colours. On being cultivated the second and 

 third year, the potatoe arrived at its full size. 

 How John Gilkey selected from the first 

 production, Mr. .Tames Gilkey does not know. 

 Mr. Bevan Pearson first cultivated this po- 

 tatoe in the vicinity of Philadelphia, from 

 seed obtained in Mercer county, and thence 

 named it after the county, where it was first 

 producai, Mr. John Gilkey named it Ne- 



hanoc, after a creek from which tlie settle- 

 ment was named. John Gilkey is dead, and 

 his surviving brother is the only person from 

 whom correct information can be obtained. 

 His statement may be implicitly relied on. 

 In the publication above mentioned, it was 

 said, "that John Gilkey was educated for 

 the Roman Catholic ministry, and that he 

 was a poor solitary exile from the Emerald 

 Isle." 



" It is true he came from the county of 

 Derry, in Ireland, when but a youth, with 

 our parents and the rest of their family, in 

 the year 1772, before the American Revolu- 

 tion. He was a Protestant, and not known 

 to have changed his profession. He lived in 

 Pennsylvania from 1772 to 1826, when he 

 died." 



The history of this excellent potatoe is 

 probably as ample as you desire, and it is 

 certainly as full as can at this day be ob- 

 tained. Most sincerely, yours, 



E. Whittlesey. 



J, S. Skinner, Esq. 



Liine> 



The analysis of soils in a certain sense, 

 and with a view to certain special objects, 

 is far from worthless or deserving of neglect. 

 One soil, by an easy examination, is found 

 to be deficient in organic matter, and the 

 advice may be — try the ploughing-in of a 

 green crop; another may contain much ve- 

 getable matter in what is called an inert 

 state — try upon that a dressing of hot lime; 

 a third may contain sulphate of iron or alu- 

 mina — drain, deep plough, lime, or marl, 

 and summer fallow such land, and you take 

 the shortest road towards a cure. Again, 

 one may ask, why does lime not benefit my 

 land "J An easy analysis will reply, because 

 it abounds in lime already, and must have 

 a season of rest from liming; or because it 

 is poor in organic matter and requires more 

 liberal supplies of manure ; or, if neither of 

 these is the case, because your land requires 

 draining. So the subsoil may be yellow and 

 noxious when brought to the surface, or it 

 may kill the roots of plants when they de- 

 scend to it. Then a simple examination 

 may prescribe draining and subsoiling, that 

 the noxious matter may be washed out by 

 the rains, and the whole mellowed by the 

 admission of air. Or it may be rich in lime, 

 which has sunk from the surface, and after 

 frequent limings has produced a real marl 

 bed beneath; and here the chemist may say, 

 plough your land deep, and bring up the 

 marl, and thus save the cost of lime for a 

 season at least. — Journal of Agriqulture. 



