No. 5. 



Rohan Potatoes. 



165 



could be raised to profit and advantage in this 

 country, for all domestic purposes, and as a 

 valuable article of commercial export. 



A resolution also passed tiiat body unani- 

 mously according thanks to all the pioneers 

 in the silk business in the U. S., and parti- 

 cularly to Gideon IJ. Smith, of Baltimore, 

 for his untiring zeal and long efforts in this 

 cause. The passage of this resolution fixed 

 at once the complimentary proposition of 

 Mr. Ed. KulTm, of the Farmers' Register, 

 that the silk growers of the country should 

 irivi- a certain per centage of their profits, 

 ;;;i I present Mr. Smith with a farm. In the 

 evening after the passage of the above reso- 

 lution, two thousand dollars were at once 

 subscribed towards this purpose — alike ho- 

 norable to the mover, to Mr. Smith, to the 

 members of the convention, and to Mr. 

 Ruffin, who first suggested it. 



We learn that the first No. of the Silk Jour- 

 nal will be out some time in .January, and that 

 itwill contain the journal and proceedings of 

 this interesting convention. More than 200 

 delegates were present ; among them were 

 judges, lawyers, physicians, divines, and 

 many of the most intelligent and able men of 

 our country. Judge Comstock of Connecticut 

 was President of the Convention, and Dr. 

 Arnold Naudain of Delaware has been elect- 

 eo President of the National Society, the 

 next convention of which will be held in 

 Washington, December, 1839. 



From the New England Farmer. 



Rohan Potato. 



Mr. Joseph Brkck, — 

 Dear Sir, — Agreeably to your request, I 

 ai ^ive you the result of my observation and 

 xperience in regard to tlie Rohan potato, 

 which I have grown for three years. For 

 ;he ta'ile I consider it only second rate, com- 

 pared with the Chenango ; in all other re- 

 rtc spects I think that it is destined to hold a 

 ^ery conspicuous rank, and consequently to 

 )e extensively cultivated. 



I am not aware that for productiveness it 



las any competitor. In the year 1836 I had 



bur potatoes sent me from France. The 



)roduct from these the present year was 



lineteen bushels, the largest weighed a 



pip5)ound and a half; they were grown in a 



ield with other varieties, and no extraordi- 



jj, lary pains bestowed upon them, either in re- 



Sf ation to the culture or the quantity or quali- 



jl,t y of the manure. Coarse stable manure 



f( vas used, a forkful to each hill. The land 



vas of middling good quality, a part of it 



lv((i|uite dry, and the crops suffered severely 



ill rom the long drought. They should be 



planted early, by the 1st of May. If not con- 

 venient to plant by that time, I should recom- 

 mend burying them in a warm place to ac- 

 celerate their sjirouliiig, whicli was tho 

 course I pursued tiie present year ; or if they 

 could be put into a hot-bed and sprouted, it 

 would probably be a better way ; they 

 sliould, however, be planted out before the 

 sprouts become so long as to be in danger of 

 breaking off in removing them. I have not 

 cut them for planting excepting the first year. 

 In 1837, in consequence of illness, I did not 

 have an opportunity of giving them a fair 

 trial, not being able to give my personal at- 

 tention to them. They were planted in 

 rows, and dropped three or four inches apart 

 in the row on the north side of a high fence, 

 without any manure excepting some ditch, 

 mud. The product was only a bushel and 

 a half, and none of them grew very large. I 

 think it would be better to cut tiie largo ones, 

 especially till they become more plenty. I 

 have no doubt I should have raised a num- 

 ber of bushels more had I adopted that me- 

 thod, notwithstanding, from the causes above 

 mentioned, the last year's produce was 

 small. 



It is said, and I believe with truth, that 

 the large ones are never hollow, whereas the 

 large ones of other varieties are. 



They are harvested with great facility, 

 one man dug 12 bushels in 4^ hours; the 

 proportion of small ones was less than one 

 bushel in nine, and they would hardly have 

 been considered small the present year for 

 any other variety. 



I will mention only one more good quality 

 which entitles it to consideration, viz., its 

 being very solid, more so, I think, than any- 

 other variety which attains so large size that 

 I am acquainted with. 



Respectfully yours, 



E. M. Richards. 



Dedham, Nov. 8th, 1838. 



Remarks. — In addition to what Mr. 

 Richards has stated respecting the Rohan 

 potato, we would state our experience, and lay 

 before our readers the result of our own ex- 

 periment this year. From the statements 

 made by a number of individuals, who had a 

 few pounds of us in the spring, we were in 

 hopes to have given a more flattering account 

 of this potato than we are enabled to do. 

 The produce has not been so great as we ex- 

 pected ; but in comparison with other vari- 

 eties it has done well. The St. Helena and 

 other varieties planted, have not paid the ex- 

 pense of digging, and with the same cultiva- 

 tion which was bestowed upon the Rohan. 

 We are of the opinion that we did not get 

 two bushels for one planted. We planted 

 591bs. of Rohan potatoes in hills, four feet by 



