1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



299 



HOEING. 



the ground level, you ■will be saved the mortifica- 



As the season for plantmg and hoeing is at tio^i «[ beholding them wilt and wither in time of 



hand, a few words upon thos3 subjects may not be 

 deemed out of place. 



So far as the hoeing of corn is concerned, more 

 correct ideas and practices have been gradually 

 adopted within the past ten years, and we seldom 

 now see in a cornfield, any other than a very low 

 flat hill, if any hill at all ; but witl^. almost all 

 other hoed crops, such as beans, hops and especial 

 ly potatoes, so far as my observation extends', the 

 same high conical hills are still made around 

 them as were made tliirty or forty years ago. — 

 Now 1 readily admit that there may be lociitiuns 

 when such shaped hills may be beneficial and use- 

 ful, such for instance as in low, clayey soils liable 

 to overflow in heavy showers (though such arc 

 seldom planted,) but the trouble lies in not mak- 

 ing these exceptions, and we therefore sec the 

 farmers who still adhere to the old practice of 

 high hilling, do so to all their diS'erent hoed 

 crops and on all kinds of soils. This I believe to 

 be a great mistake, and those who have discontin- 

 ued the practice with their corn, believe they de- 

 rive great advantages from the change, especially 

 in dry seasons, obtaining much larger crops and 

 leaving the fields in much bettor condition for 

 plowing the coming spring, saving the labor of 

 splitting the hills, as it is termed. 



Seeing now the advantage to corn, of not hill- 

 ing, why should not the intelligent farmers push 

 their investigations a step farther and inquire if 

 the siime practice cannot be extended to the pota- 

 to. But I anticipate in the outset that an objec- 

 tion may be raised in the case of the potatoes, 

 and that it may be urged that it is positively nec- 

 essary that it should bo earthed up in order that 

 room be furnished for the tubers to form ; but 

 what evidence have we of this? So when the 

 subject of not hilling corn was first agitated, it 

 was urged that it was necessary in order that new 

 sets of roots might be formed to brace up the 

 plant when it attained its full height, and prevent 

 its blowing over, but upon trial and investiga- 

 tion it was discovered tliat these roots were mere 

 ly the result of hilling up, and farther, that corn 

 not thus hilled up and thus supported by new 

 roots, stood equally as well the assaults of wind 

 and storm, and the practice of high hilling was 

 discarded as emini ntly injurious by shedding oflT 

 the rains from the roots and exposing a much 

 larger surface to the sun's rays for evapoi'ation 

 during the heats of summer. 



Now might it not prove upon investigation that 

 the potato might do equally as well, and even bet- 

 ter, without any hilling at all ? In tlie discussions 

 upon the subject of hilling corn, it was with 

 much* pertinency asked, if nature had not pro- 

 vided a way to support a stalk of corn against 

 an attack of wind, without recourse to art, and 

 may it not be asked with as much pertinacity, if 

 nature has not provided a way to pi-oduce the tu- 

 ber of the potato plant without recourse to an 

 artificial hill or mound around the plant ? But 

 I am aware tliatit maybe still furtlier urged, that 

 in earthing up potatoes you give them more room 

 and a greater chance for expansion , and thus in- 

 crease tlieir size ; but to this I would say, just 

 plow your ground deep and well, pulverize your 

 soil, and your pot;ito will iind ample room to ex- 

 pand between the hills and rows, and by keeping 



drought. But again it may be urged that as up- 

 on the examination of the potato root and stalk, 

 it is found thei-e are numerous offshoots of roots 

 above the original, evidently produced by hilling 

 up, tlicrefore the amount of roots are increased 

 and consequently the tubers. To this I would 

 answer, that it is by no means certain that the 

 original or lower roots would not have produced 

 as many tubers, and larger ones, if left to the evi- 

 dent course of nature. What would be the most 

 natural inference to draw from the fact, that af- 

 ter the potato plant is fairly uj) and its roots well 

 developed, it is earthed up and its first roots laid 

 below the benign influence of light and air ? 

 Would it not be, that it would tax the energies of 

 the plant, to again produce and throw out a new 

 series of roots, and thus lessen the supply of nour- 

 ishment to the original ones? It certainly so 

 seems to me, and it is perfectly evident to my mind 

 that the true course to pursue in raising potatoes 

 is, to spread the manure upon the surface and 

 turn it well under with the plow, and then fur- 

 row for the crop from three to four inches deep ; 

 drop the seed in the bottom of the furrow with a 

 little ashes and plaster ; cover two incl.es ; run 

 the cultivator between the rows in hoeing, and 

 finish the cultivation with leaving the ground per- 

 fectly level. , This course in all ordinary seasons 

 would insure the crop against drought, and except 

 in very wet ground (which by the way should 

 never be planted with the potato during the prev- 

 alence of the rot,) would, I believe, insure a great- 

 er crop than with the present practice of hilling. 



The practice of making high hills I believe is 

 still kept up in the cultivation of hops, and to this 

 may we not attribute the short crops that occur 

 occasionally, as they are more generally raised on 

 light loam or sandy soils ? I think the subject 

 should attract attention, and experiments should 

 be instituted to test the weather. 



Mi/ford, May 20, 1854. H. A. Daniels. 

 Farmer and Visitor. 



For the yew England Farmer. 



CHEAP EXPERIMENT IN DECOMPOS- 

 ING BONES. 



In the Monthly Farmer for April, page ISG, 

 there appeared an article from the pen of James 

 RicuAKDsoN', Jr., under the above caption. After 

 speaking of the former waste of bones and of their 

 being at last brought into use as an article of ma- 

 nure, and the difficulty attending their decompo- 

 sition, by being ground or dissolved in sulphuric 

 acid, he adds, "without alluding to other experi- 

 ments, in regard to dissolving bones in strong lye, 

 &c. — that have been partially successful, I pur- 

 pose here, in as few words as possible, to describe 

 an experiment made on a small scale, with bones 

 and horse manure, that may lead the reader to 

 still further experiments, and at length end in 

 some practical result." He then goes on to de- 

 scribe the experiment, informing us that it was 

 made by a soap manufacturer. 



As to the experiment of decomposing or re- 

 ducing bones to a powder by boiling in "strong 

 lye," I know that it will do the job in a few hours, 

 for I have done it. Tlio time occupied was about 

 four hours, stirring occasionally. I am now try- 



