1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



231 



himself! "Extracts and Replies" give the price, 

 «S;e. of Poudrette, and directions for using guano. 

 "Shade as a Fertilizer" — strictures. on a previous 

 article with the same caption. Both Avriters seem 

 to admit as a fact, that successive crops of wood 

 enrich the soil. On the principle of the advan- 

 tages of rotation, wood may prepare the soil for the 

 growth of ordinary cultivated crops, but from ob- 

 servation, I conclude that each successive crop of 

 wood grows slower and smaller than its successor 

 — thus indicating the inalnlity of the soil to pro- 

 duce wood crops, as well as corn crops, indefinite- 

 ly. "Mr. King's Address at Northampton" op- 

 poses the use of manure as a top-dressing. 



POULTRY. 



Although a little provoked at our own liens for 

 adopting a line of policy by which we lyvve eggs 

 plenty when they are cheap, but none at all when 

 they would sell at good advantage, we cannot help 

 admirin;^ the very pretty "Poultry House" fig- 

 ured and described by the editor in this number. 

 Biddies that live in this top-knot style, certainly 

 ought to emulate the exploits of that old speckled 

 hen, whose sad fate is commemorated by the few 

 successors of the ancient Bards, who yet sing the 

 songs of yore. 



ROOTS. 



The writer of the article "Carrots," &c., gets into 

 a sad snarl by trying to learn the value of this root 

 fmm tables of analysis, and published statements 

 and opinions. Is it not time that agricultural 

 writers and speakers learn caution in the use of 

 stray facts and tables of figures ? "Cultivation of 

 Roots" tells how to raise carrots so as to make 

 money by the operation, — after hitting me a slap 

 for going back to the old well-curb, by which 

 means our well is famed as the best water iu the 

 neighborhood, 



SCIENTIFIC. 



"The Symmetry of the Solar System," an arti- 

 cle contending that all truth in astronomy is not 

 yet developed, and that the science is not always 

 to remain where it was left two hundred years 

 ago. It also contains some general remarks on 

 Symmetry, that I commend to the consideration of 

 those who adopt the principle latterly taught in 

 high quarters, that "confusion," in laying out 

 grounds, planting trees, and even in the arrange- 

 ment of buildings, is the highest manifestation of 

 skill and taste that man is capable of. "Tripoli 

 or Burgmeal," is the caption of a letter from Prof. 

 C. T. Jackson, showing that specimens of a depos- 

 ite found in a pond in Maine, are composed of very 

 minute shells. I regret that an examination which 

 suggested the thought that 



"The very dust we tread upon was once alive," 

 should have been the occasion for introducing a 

 pun couched in lanijuage that can ))C tolerated 

 in few respectable families. The "Chemistry of 

 Plants." 



VARIE'tY, 



From "Mr. Coming's Address" we have have 

 two pictures — Foolish Fanning, and Profital)le 

 Farming. _"M<mntains of Vermont." A taste 

 for movmtain scenery seems to be rapidly increas- 

 ing among the pleasure-seeking classes of our cit- 

 ies. And well it may. "Whoever has stood upon 

 a high mountain, has one bright spot in his mem- 

 ory. My own pilgrimage to the summit of old 



Mansfield, years ago, was so pleasant, that I hope 

 many people will accept the invitation of friend 

 Milan, to try the hospitality of Stow people, and 

 the splendid view from the top of this mountain. 

 Many other articles must be passed over with a 

 brief, or no notice at all, such as, "Chrystal Palace 

 Rewards ;" "Quackery in Farming ;" "Farm for 

 Experiments;" "Rearing Calves;" on the trial of 

 "Reaping Machines," "Underdraining," &c. 



A Reader. 

 Winchester, March, 1854. 



For the New England Farmer. 



POTATO EOT. 



Mr. Editor : — The potato as an article of food 

 has become one of the most necessary and impor- 

 tant productions from the soil that is cultivated 

 by the farmer. And as all classes feel the loss of 

 the potato, so much so that a table of meats and 

 vegetables cannot be spread without it, the article 

 must alwaj-s be prized , as being one of the neces- 

 saries of lite. The fearful malady in shi\pe of the 

 "rot" that has spread over the whole country and 

 other countries in the last ten years, has caused 

 much alarm among all cultivators as to its real 

 cause, whether a remedy for it can 1>e found out, 

 or whether the cultivation of the potato will not 

 finally have to be abandoned altogether. As to 

 the real cause of the "disease," it is presumed 

 that we all know as much about it now, as we 

 shall in the next ten or twenty years to come, and 

 that, in reality, is just no knowledge at all. — 

 And all the certain and sure remedies which 

 have been put forth by different individuals, we 

 consider not to be worth one red cent as a cure 

 or preventive, as a general thing. For instance, 

 one man puts salt and lime into his potato hills 

 and they do not rot ; anotlier cultivator cuts oflf 

 the tojjs of the potatoes in the latter part of the 

 season, as soon as the rust strikes them, and that 

 saves his crop. Another farmer plants his crop 

 on high and dry ground with little or no manure, 

 and that saves his crop, and so on to the end of 

 the chapter. And yet it is enough to know for 

 us all, that the potato has and continues to rot in 

 all seasons and soils, climates, conditions of cul- 

 ture, &c. 



Whether this disease will continue for another 

 ten years of course we know not, but are inclined 

 to think, however, that in time it will run out l>y 

 cultivation, and the potatoes Ijccome sound again. 

 As to the general mode of potato culture, there 

 are probably almost as many plans and theories, 

 as there are farmers, and jierliaps every cultivator 

 will have his own way of doing the l)usiness. 

 With many farmers tliore lias been a great change 

 in the manner of cultivating the crop in the last 

 few years, while many others follow the same 

 system that they did twenty-five or thirty years 

 ago; "no change" is written on their system, 

 which they prove by their works. 



It would be a matter of curious history for the 

 future to know how many certain and "sure rem- 

 edies for the potato rot" have been put forth dur- 

 ing the last ten years, by difffivnt individuals in 

 this and otlicr countries. So far as our knowl- 

 edge goes, M'O know not of tiie first "line" of reli- 

 able information whereby any plan has yet been 

 brought out as a certain preventive against tho 

 disease, 



