PRACTICAL FARMER 



185 



scarce and dear — that before his arrival, all for 

 sale had been secured for the American market — 

 that in fact there are no Morus Miilticaulis for 

 sale, and th:it the season was so tmpro[)itions, that 

 the seed did not come to tiiatiirity. Another ad- 

 vice states that even white .Mulberry seed is worth 

 60 francs the pound in Paris. Those who have 

 mulberry trees on hand should make the most of 

 them. There is no prosj)Cct that trees can be im- 

 ported and sold another year at former prices. 



SILK CULTURE. 



A writer on the subject of the Silk Culture, ve- 

 ry properly remarks that " we feel certain that if 

 the subject is properly estimated l)y agriculturists, 

 that the silk culture is calcidated to make a great 

 moral ami physical change over the whole face of 

 our country, and to banish penury from the door 

 of every farmer in this land who has enterprise 

 and industry enough to enter into it." — JVorthamp. 

 Courier. 



The TuR^'IP Flv A mftthod of preventing 



the ravages of the turnip fly has been adopted in 

 Hampstead : 



The practice is founded upon tlie fact that the 

 fly emits its eggs in the autumn, and that they are 

 not hatched till the next spring, when the warmth 

 and the fruitful state of the soil by repeated 

 ploughings and harrowings, admit of the genera- 

 ting effects of the suji's rays. It is at this period 

 the turnip is generally sown ; the j)lant therefore 

 springs u|) at the time the fly is hatched, and a 

 su[>ply of food being thereby afforded, it is riot 

 surprising that they should multiply and thrive. 

 If inst'?atl of sowing immediately, the soil is bro't 

 into as fine a state as possible and the sowing de- 

 layed for ten days, although the fly would be 

 hatched, it would die for want of its natural food. 

 The existence of a fly in the field may be ascer- 

 tained by placing cabbage leaves at U'ght, and 

 examining them in the morning. — Baltimore Far- 

 mer. 



(From the American Silk Grower.) 

 EXPERIMENT WITH POTATOES. 



Mr Cooke : — \n No. 19 of your paper, I find 

 the account of an exper'nient by Mr Ilazen, which 

 together with that made by Mr Hatch of Alstead, 

 and published liy you some time since, would al- 

 most .leem sufficient to satisfy the reader without 

 my conununication, but as 1 had, [trevious to see- 

 ing Mr Hazen's [)ublication, prepared a history of 

 an experiment I had made with considerable care, 

 and with move mathematical precision than either 

 of those, I send it for your consideration with lib- 

 erty to publish it, if you see fit, as different re- 

 sults may arise from different modes of manage- 

 ment, on different soils, &c., I consider that a 

 goodly number of experiments on the same sub- 

 ject, to be not amiss. 



About tlie 29lh of May 1836, when filanting my 

 potatoes, I left five rcws for experiment, on each 

 side of which I p'anted the row with one good 

 fair sized whole potato to each hill, I then plant- 

 ed the five rows in the following manner: — The 

 Irit row with three to four small ones laid scatter- 

 ing to each hill, making about the same amount 

 of seed, bj' weight, of the wholes. I then took 

 tlie seed-ends, taking as near half of the potato as 

 1 could judge, from a good sized potato, like those 

 generally planted in the field ; and to each, hiil 

 laid two of these pieces six or eight inches apart; 

 next I selected some quite large, an-! took enough 

 of the seed-end to be of c^qual weigiit, each of one 

 good fair sized potato, being generally about half 

 of the great potato, and to each hill juit one of 

 these seed-ends; the 4ll) row I cut into quarters 

 and planted scattering about eight inches apart, 

 all four of the quarters to each hill ; tlie 5th row 

 was ]jlanted with two good fair sized wholes to 

 each hill, (double the seed of the rest} then next 

 to then), as you will understand, came my wholes, 

 planted one to the hill, as 1 before statefl. 



Now for the result. To make the story plain, 

 I took as much ground of each sort as jiroduced 

 100 pounds from those i)lanted with the wholes of 

 good fair size. 



Ist row, planted with s-nall ones, 89 lbs. but on- 

 ly al)out two thirds as large as an average of the 

 others. 



2d roWj jilanted two seed-ends to the hi.l, £7 

 2-3d lbs., and the size about like the i)roduce of 

 tl)e wholes. 



3d row, planted with one seed-end of a large 

 potato to the hil!, ninetytwo and one half pounds, 

 the produce of these being fair and iiandsome. 



4th row, planted with 4 quarters to the hill, 90 

 lbs. of a quality rather below medium. 



5th row, planted with two good jjotatoes to the 

 bill 105 jjounds, having rather more small ones 

 tlian those planted with single wholes, and altho' 

 they produced the greatest croji l»y 5 percent, yet 

 it is estimated this surplus was tiuly about half 

 enough to compensate for the extra amount of 

 seed planted ; therefore on the whole, we find the 

 great(!St ])rofit in planting one gooil sized, fair 

 whole potato to each hill, provided the distance 

 of hills be siudi as I usually make, that is, nearly 

 4 feet by 2 12. But if you are intent on making 

 the lidls further apart, then ])erhaps it may do to. 

 put two good ones to the hill, but in no ordinary 

 cas.=!, do I approve of cutting. Repeated experi- 

 ments in former yars have fully convinced me 

 on this y)oint ; even cutting into halves and [)lant- 

 ing both pieces, is not quite as good as to plant 

 whole, for in cutting we mutilate the germs of the 

 coming plant with which nature has furiiislied 

 each potato, and being thus lacerated it is render- 

 ed incapanle of throwing up so rigorous and per- 



