1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



493 



From the Tennessee Farmer. 



JKUUSALTCJI AUTICIIOKE. 



This plant is in a peciilinr manner filted to grow 

 uniler liio shade. It can tiicreli)re lie cuhivated in 

 woods; and it is sometimes sown in England to 

 atFord siiclter for game ; the plants being left to 

 reproiluce themselves annually from tubers. 



Taken into account the iiardy qualities of this 

 plant, its prothiclivencss and easy culture, it may 

 be (loLibled whether it merits the universal neglect 

 into wliich it has fallen. Granting its inferiority 

 as an article of Ibod to the plants now cultivated 

 for our domestic stock, it must be of some impor- 

 tance to have a plant that can be so easily cultiva- 

 ted, and on soils so low m the scale of fertility. 



GRKAT HEAT AT THE EAUTH's CENTRE. 



M. Arago, by examining the temperature of a 

 well 900 feet deep now being dua at Paris, thirdvs 

 J\e has ascertained the ratio of the increasing tem- 

 perature of tlie earth towards its centre, so that at 

 the tenth degree from the surface all known mat- 

 ter must be in a state of fusion. At the point to 

 wliich the perforation in question has reached, 

 M. Arago expects a spring of water will arise of 

 a sufficient degree of heat to warm public estab- 

 lishments, supply baths, and serve lor other pur- 

 poses. 



BIARL IN NEW ENGLAND. 



Professor Hitchcock of Amherst College, has 

 discovered extensive beds of marl in Springfield, 

 West Springfield, and South Hadley, Mass. He 

 says, "I have examined banks of this substance, 

 which may properly be called diluvial marl, in 

 West Springfield, for a mile or two along the north 

 side of Agawain river, where millions of cart 

 loads of it may be obtained; and this is directly on 

 the proposed route of the rail road from Spring- 

 field to Albany. It occurs also, half a mile south 

 of the village of West Springfield, a little south- 

 east of the bridge, on the road to Suflield; and I 

 have no doubt but. it underlies most of the plain, 

 extending at least as far as Harlfcird. 



On the east side of Connecticut river, this marl 

 appears in several places, along Chicopee river, 

 nearCabotville and Chicopee factories; especially 

 at the quarries of stone, where it has been cut 

 through by the excavations. In the north part of 

 Springfield, on the bank of Connecticut river, on- 

 ly half a mile from South Hadley canal, the marl 

 forms a high bank for a considerable distance, and 

 I saw it also a short distance south of the centre 

 of South Hadley. Indeed I can have no doubt 

 that it may be found, more or less abundantly, be- 

 neath the sand and clay, all the distance from 

 South Hadley to Springfield." — Connecticut Cou- 

 rant. 



From tlie Soutliern Agriculturist. 



ON THE ADVANTAGES OF CELLARS FOR 

 SWEET POTATOES. 



Mr. Editor: — Most planters during this month 

 will be getting in their potatoes, and I shall contri- 



bute my mite, by giving my brother ])lanter3 a 

 ^'cw liints as to the time of digging potatoes, and 

 the best mode of putting them up. 



Long experience has taught me. that after a 

 spell of dry weather is the best time for diifginc 

 in sweet potatoes. When thus collected, they are 

 less liable to rot, from their being more, dry, and 

 not so apt to sweat when put in the cellai. In 

 digging in m}' potatoes, 1 always use the dagnon 

 plough. This I run down both sides of the bed, 

 and throw off a deep furrow. After doing this, I 

 use the hoe to remove the earth, which still re- 

 inains about the roots. I consider the use of the 

 |)lough very great in getting in my potatoes. 

 Some persons have objected tliat it cuts the pota- 

 toes ; but this is an ofijcction, not founded on fiict. 

 From actual trial with the plough, I find that not 

 one half the number of potatoes are cut by using 

 the plough, as with the hoe. 



In putting up my potatoes, I have, for the last 

 fifteen years, given the decided preference to the 

 cellars, over the common mode of" banking. The 

 advantages of the cellars over the banks, are, 



1. They require less labor to make them. 



2. Consume none of your corn-stalks or pine 

 trash in putting up the potatoes, which could be 

 otherwise used as manure. 



3. By proper management, keep the potatoes 

 much better. 



In a i'ew days, with a few rails, a cellar might 

 be made, capable of holding six or seven hundred 

 bushels of potatoes. My mode of making these 

 cellars is this: I select the driest and most sandy 

 spot I can find — I ditch off a square about twice 

 the size of the space required for the cellar, and 

 dig one main ditch to lead of!" all the water from 

 the ditches composing the square. I now frame 

 my cellar with rails in the shape of the roof of a 

 hipped-roof house, and cover the same with dirt 

 as free from all vegetable matter as possible. I 

 should here observe that the rails should be well 

 dried before putting them up, and the earth with 

 which you cover must have as little ft-rmenting 

 material in it as possible. At the end where you 

 intend to fix the door of the cellar, you must pro- 

 ject the roof over from two to three feet. This 

 will keep it from too much exposure to the air, 

 &c. Running through the entire length of the 

 cellar at the top, you should have a trough with 

 the uncovered side turned downwards, so as to let 

 out the heated atmosphere within the cellar. The 

 cellar should be double partitioned within, so as to 

 leave a passage way through it. The potatoes 

 shoulil be placed on either side of the passage, 

 and should the potatoes be dug, some in dry wea- 

 ther, and others in damp, the potatoes so dug, 

 should be carefully divided and put by them- 

 selves. The reason of this is that the potatoes 

 dug in dry weather will keep much longer than 

 those dug in wet weather, and by mixing them the 

 bad will injure the good. 



Every day in dry weather, the cellar should be 

 opened froui about eleven o'clock, A. M. until one 

 P. M. This will have a tendency to convey a- 

 way the dampness of the potatoes, occasioned by 

 their sweating. During a continuance of damp 

 weather, the cellar should be smoked every one 

 or two da3^s. But care must be observed to make 

 what is called a dry smoke. To do this, the fire 

 used for creating the smoke should be made of the 

 driest fuel. By pursuing the above mode, in put- 



