310 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 1824. 



FARMER'S CALENDER. 

 POTATOES. We have heretofore, vol. i. pages 

 286, 325, gone pretty much at large, into the 

 subject of planting potatoes, and said something 

 relative to the diiferent modes of cultivating 

 that very valuable vegetable. We shall, there- 

 fore, endeavor on the present occasion, to be as 

 brief as possible ; and although we may go over 

 the same ground, we will not proceed egactly in 

 the same track in which we have before tra- 

 velled. 



You will do well to plant some early sort of 

 potatoes on a small, fertile, and forward piece 

 of ground near your stye, which, together with 

 your peas, (if you have any) will give you a 

 chance to bring forward your pork, and get 

 your hogs at least half fatted bofore your Indian 

 corn is ripe enough to gather. With regard to 

 the greatest portion of your potatoes, intended 

 for the use of your kitchen, and for feeding 

 your stock, &c. you may, perhaps, derive u-seful 

 information from the following observations, 

 which we copy from the 2d vol. of " Memoirs 

 of the Board of Agriculture of the State of 

 New York." 



" Potatoes should be planted the first ten 

 days in May, or a little before planting Indian 

 corn. But it is better to postpone the planting 

 of potatoes than of corn. Therefore, in the 

 hurry of spring work, farmers often leave their 

 potatoes to be planted in the last week of May. 

 To plant them early will never injure the crop 

 at any season, and if the season happens to be 

 very dry about harvest time, the crop will be 

 much better if planted the first of May. 



" Seed potatoes should never be cut — one 

 large whole potatoe is sufTicient for a hill. The 

 outside skin of a potatoe called the cuticle is 

 the most durable part, and retains the moisture 

 for the use of the young plant, until it is all ex- 

 hausted. If potatoes are cut the ntitritive juice 

 is absorbed in a great measure by the earth. — 

 The evil of cutting seed potatoes is more mani- 

 fest on a dry soil than if moist. It is a mistaken 

 opinion that a whole potatee is not good on ac- 

 count of bringing the plants too near together ; 

 for the roots which yield all ue seek for, spread 

 in all directions, and fill the hill. 



" Potatoes, if planted in a sandy or loamy 

 soil, will yield one third more if a table spoon- 

 ful of plaster be thrown upon the naked pota- 

 toes in each hill, after they are dropped and 

 before they are covered. 



" Yard manure is very useful, if laid over 

 the potatoes in each hill, and after an inch of 

 soil has been laid upon them ; and then the hill 

 covered as deep as usual. But if the manure 

 be laid directly upon the seed or under it, a 

 drought will injure the crop. 



"The most convenient method for raising po- 

 tatoes is to plant them about the margins of 

 corn fields. Then a horse may turn upon them 

 when ploughing among the corn without in- 

 jury." 



If the land on which you plant potatoes is in- 

 fested with grubs, or wire worms it may be well 

 to strew quick lime over it, at the rate of about 

 two bushels to the acre, immediately after plant- 



ing. Or if lime cannot conveniently be had, 

 you may try the effect of a bushel and a half or 

 two bushels of salt to the acre. But neither of 

 these substances should be put into the hills or 

 suffered to come in contact with the seed pota- 

 toes. 



A letter from William Moody to the Hon. Jo- 

 siah Quincy, published in the 4th vol. of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Repository, page 

 353, recommends sea sand, as an antidote against 

 the wire worm, and, no doubt it would prove 

 efficacious against other insects, which devour 

 potatoes while in the ground. This writer says 

 " I am persuaded, from experience, that sea 

 sand, put under corn or potatoes with manure, 

 or spread on the land, will go far, if not wholly 

 to the total destruction of those destructive 

 worms, [wire worms] on which nothing else 

 seems to have any effect. It has a beneficial 

 effect spread on land before ploughing, or even 

 after land is planted with corn or potatoes ; not 

 only to destroy the wire worm and other in- 

 sects, but to increase the crop. With my neigh- 

 bors a load of sea sand is considered preferable 

 to a load of their best manure, to mix in with 

 their common barn manure, or to spread on their 

 gardens and low flat land." 



Mr. Moody likewise says, in the same letter, 

 " late planted potatoes, which are gathered in 

 before ripe are far the best for seed the next 

 year. If kept in a dry warm place in a cellar, 

 they will be much earlier, and likely to pro- 

 duce more abundantly the next )'ear, and will 

 be as good for use the following spring, thou°-h 

 they may not be so good in the fall." He then 

 gives the details of an experiment in which po- 

 tatoes were planted the 7th day of July, which 

 produced the largest and most in a hifl of any 

 raised by the author that season. The same 

 potatoes, planted the spring succeeding came up 

 some days sooner than others of a more early 

 kind. We think it would be well to repeat this 

 experiment, make others of a similar nature, 

 and let the result be made public for the good 

 of the community. 



FOREIGN. 



By the packet ship Amethyst, Captain Bussey, s 

 rived at this port on the 21st, London dates te the 12' 

 March have been received. By these it should see 

 that England has offered to mediate between Spain ai 

 the South American Provinces. But his Catholic M: 

 jesty declines the proposed mediation, and announc 

 his determination to strain every nerve to recover tl 

 Prov.nccs, in a tone of confidence, which would see m 

 to be inspired by a reliance on the assistance of oth Isi 

 EuroDean Powers. The Russian Ambassadorhas mac 

 a speech to Ferdinand which gave intimations of a 

 sistatce, and it is rumored that a negotiation has act 

 ally commenced for the purchase by Spain of ships 

 war f"om Petersburgh. 



An article dated Stockholm, Feb. 20, declares th 

 Sir B Bloomiield, the British Ambassador, had r 

 ceived dispatches from his Court, and made a ve b 

 communication to the other foreign Ambassadors 

 Stockholm, stating, in substance, that if Spain, in ai 

 tempting to recover her lost possessions in Americ; 

 confines herself to her own means and resources, Gre 

 Britaii will remain a quiet spectator ; but should ai 

 other power join and assist Spain, Great Britain w 

 recognise the new governments which are establishi 

 in South America. 



LosDoif, March 12. — By letters from Trieste, dati 

 on the 24th ult. information has been communicated^ 

 the arrival there of a vessel from Missilonghi, in 1 

 days. The news received by this channel is impC' 

 tant aid satisfactory. The Greek army had been i 

 vided into batalions, according to the English custoi 

 and wis, at these dates, undergoing the discipline 

 Europtan troops. A great number of the chieftai 

 had assembled at Missolonghi, and the necessary i 

 struclions had been promulgated for introducing mo 

 em tactics into every quarter of the military service 

 that part of the Federal Republic which had, at t 

 period in question, been liberated from Asiatic supn 

 stitio'.i, for the greatest harmony prevailed among t 

 leaders of the different provinces, who had assembl 

 in the Senate, to form laws for their future governmer 

 A plan also for the offensive prosecution of the ne- 

 campaign had been maturely deliberated on, and afi 

 various improvements, had been finally adopted. ' 

 was of course kept a secret, but enough was CODJI 

 tureri to create an universal belief, that its issue woi 

 be splendid, and its results most beneficial to the I J 

 establishment of this formerly mighty Empire. 



We are happy to be informed that Frederick Halt 

 late Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy^ 

 and Lecturer on Mineralogy at Middlebury College, I the sea, seize the 'richest Turks in KatolTa, who St 



s been appointed Professor of Mineralogy and Geol- oWiged to pny large ransoms. 



Brfssei-s, March 5. Recent letters from the 

 chipelago state that the Greeks have again madl 

 landing twenty leagues to the north of Smyrna ; IM 

 they levied large contributions, and required a lar 

 quantity of provisions, after which they re-embark< 

 Other parts of the coast of .isia Minor have likewf* 

 been disturbed by the Greeks, who, being masters 



Lord Byron had been recognized by the governn 



gy by the Corporation of the University of Vermont, 



at Burlington. From our personal acquaintance with | °^ Western Greece, as Presidenl of slrangsri. 

 Professor Hall, we are induced to believe that this ap- 

 pointment will prove beneficial to the University, and 

 serviceable to the public. We know Professor Hall to 

 be a gentleman, whose talents, acquirements, and in- 

 defatigable industry, entitle him to a high standing 

 among our American Literati. His means for the ac- 

 quisition of knowledge have been more ample than 

 those which usually fall to the lot of our countrymen. 

 A residence for a considerable time in Paris, the Head 

 Quarters of European Science and Literature, has giv- 

 en him opportunities of which, we believe, he has faith- 

 fully availed himself. Since his return he has directed 

 his pursuits, principally, to investigating and develop- 

 ing the natural riches of our soil, and to bringing to 

 light those mineralogical treasures which are bountiful- 

 ly bestowed by the Great Author of Nature on our 

 highly favored portion of the Globe ; but require the 

 eye of science and the hand of the artist to produce, 

 and fashion to the use of the Agriculturist and Manu- 

 fictiirer. 



ifa 



DOMESTIC 

 Ditel. — A duel has lately been fought in Georg) 

 between two very young men by the name of Cogde* 

 and Wigfall, on account of some trifling affair whip ' 

 happened at Yale College. They fought with riflesj: 

 thirty paces distant ; — the latter received the balf 

 his antagonist below the breast bone, which came 

 on the right side between the second and third 

 having touched the liver in [its course ; of wl 

 he died on the following day. 



We hail with unfeigned pleasure, the annunciatic 

 of the establishment of an Annual Rehister fi 

 this country, to be edited by Professor Everett. Th , ' 

 extent and variety of this gentleman's information, all' '* 

 the versality of his genius, singularly fit him for 8ucl( ™ 

 task.— Boi. Gae. * 



m; 



Robbery.— The store of Messrs. E. & G. A. Kirtlan(P'i 

 at Saybrook Point, was broken open on the morning 

 the 15th inst. and a quantity of goods, to the amouil 

 of severaJ hundred dollars, was stolen. A reward,<|['~ 

 fifty dollars is offered for the thief and gqods. Wf'' 



Con. Herald, m 



