302 



NEW ENGLAND F A R iM E R , 



MARCH 23, im 



A>ri IIDRTICULTUKAL RKCI3TEB. 



UutTOK, Wkunesdav, Mabch 23, 1842. 



THE PLANTING OF POTATOES. 



We :ire rallier enrly in giving <lirPClions fcr the plant- 

 in" of I Ins rri.p. But if wc would niilicH tin: incdB of 

 planliti^ iii"8l ol llie ordtnnry cro[B in season, we nmsl 

 take some cnc or more of tlii-m in anticipation ol its 

 proppr tiiop. VVc will promise lliat our «o(i('Ss with 

 thiacTi.p has been little favor.ililo. WhrtUir this be 

 owing to iho «<.il we have tilled ; to the manure we 

 have ujr <l ; to the mode of applying the ninnurc ; or to 

 iniudicioiis niclhods of cultivation, or to all of these com- 

 bined, »e know rot Want of success wiili a crop 

 which uKisI fiinners deem a good one, has caused us to 

 •tudy all ihc accounts of its cultivation which have 

 fillen in our way ; and also to study the plant and crop 

 %n the fi'trt, as far us we have had opportunity duriuo 

 Ihe last year. Another thing we will premise, viz : the 

 opinions we shall f.'ive, should be tried by many nnd va 

 ried ejperimcnts, before we shall venture to prnmuljjate 

 ihein ad rules tinit farmers will obviously find it well to 

 follow. If i>iir stiilemenls shall induce them to make 

 some e.K|>erimeMl8 en their own rcsptynsibilitti, we shall 

 be content. 



Our practice has been to plant on n good loamy soil, 

 with liar<l gravelly subsoil ;.^^oftener on sward than on 

 old ground. Have planted from the first to the Iwenti- 

 fllhof.Vlay. Have usually planted in hills 3 |. 2 feet 

 apart ; — put a good largo manure-fork full of m.Tnurc in 

 the hill — s.-'y twelve to fifteen loads — or from four to 

 five cords p<-r acre. This manure haft been applied im- 

 mediately upon taking' it from the barn cellar, while 

 dripjung wet with urine, and the potatoes — IT- to 20 

 biishcis [cr acie — have been put upon thi* dung forth- 

 with end trod !en into it. For after .eulfuro, lite plow 

 has been run between the rows, i/uually ench way, and 

 the plints hool two or three times This diifurri little 

 friun the most common mode of operation in tho eastern 

 part of the ('ommonwi-allh, excepting that the manure 

 is much more full of urine than that upon firms in gene- 

 ral. Whether the strength of the rnaimre has not been 

 delrimen'al in our mode of using, may be a fair question, 

 and if obliged to give answer, we should guess that it 



h'JS. 



Potatoes generally do best in cool seasons and in cool 

 soils. We have given them n hot bed. Slorc than 

 this, we have fonmd beds into which the atmosphere 

 does nrit pass very freely. AVe can recal in niemory 

 several sayiiijis and lacla which render it probable that 

 in this we erred. There was a coininon Having in our 

 boyhood, which used to bo uttered when we were 

 planting on mii;»Ii and cloddy land, that sods were the 

 best covering for potatoes. Only a few yinrs since, wc 

 noticed when dif;;;lng potatoes on a rerhiimi d meadow, 

 that th"»i' hills which were made up mainly of small 

 clods contained more and belter pntalocK than those 

 hills which were formed from largo cloils, or those 

 which were composed of tho ^ne p«ai or peaty miulor. 

 This led us lo think seriously upon a thousht wliich 

 had passed tliioiigli the mind before, viz : lliat potatoes 

 require air. About two years ngn, we meniioned this 

 point to an observing farmer in Topsfidd lie said, 

 your remarks r-mind mo of what I witnessed last year, 

 or the year bi fore, on Dr. Nichols' form. I was pass- 

 ing there one day about the first of June, and Mr G. 

 had somu brakes, foins, liuckUlicrry bushes, &.c in his 

 catt, and sppeand to be putting them inin hills for 

 planting " What are you doing there, neiglibor G. ?" 



said I. " Obeying orders," said he. " Well, what are 

 ynur orders ■"" " Why, the Dr. told me, after ! had I 

 taken tho manure out of the cellar, to put ihisstufi" into I 

 the water in the bi lloni of the cell.ir, let it soak awhile, 

 and then plant potatoes upon it." "Small jiolatoes 

 there, thinks I," said our informant, Mr I'etlinj'ill. But, 

 continui d he, I happened by there in the autumn, when 

 Mr G. was harvesting the potatoes, and they were- bet- 

 ter than any others 1 saw that season- 

 Mr Hicck, the publisher of this paper, informs me 

 that several years since, Jie planted potatoes in hia gar- 

 den where the land was ri<li, and had long been tilled. 

 In such places, vines or tops are usually luxuriant, 

 while the bottoms or tubers are small. He furrowed 

 out this ground with a large plow, running deep, making 

 •Irii Is four feet apart. He then nearly filled tiie drills 

 with butt stalks ; put his seed upon these, about a fool 

 apart in the hill, then leveled on the furrow, and in till- 

 ing made no hill or ridge. Kroni this hiiid he nbtained 

 at the rate of between seven and eight hundred bushels 

 per acre. 



The process puisued by Mr liarnuin, of Vermont, 

 whose' slaiement has recently been in our columns, 

 though in many respects different from these hero giv- 

 en, yet was well suited to keep llie surf.ice of the land 

 so loos) as to admit of a free circulation *>f air. 



Now, without intending to say or intimate that air is 

 all that this crop wants, we do intend to express the 

 opinion, disliiicliy, that the crop does require more air 

 thin is usually allowed it. What may be inferred from 

 the fact that potatoes often do wonderfully well where 

 they are planted upon swamp mud, muck, and from the 

 other fiict, that they grow well by placing the seed up- 

 on the sur.'iice of moist land, and covering them with 

 straw -' Both <if tliesa matter:^ are loose, and vvould af- 

 ford ^ood ventilation. 



To vrhat does lilt this tend ? What course is lo be 

 reconiniendcd ? As our opinions on this point are so 

 much matter of theory we will not recommend. But 

 we will mention methods that have occurred In us. 

 One might putin the drill or the hill, a small quantity, 

 four, five or six loads of well pulverized and good ma- 

 nure to the acre. This is wanted for the fibrous roots, 

 the vine or stalk to feed iipnn. Above this might be 

 put ten or twelve loads lo the acre, of leaves, hiiiistalks, 

 old potito vines, fine brush, chips or any thing of the 

 kind which would keep a place light and loose for the 

 tubers, the potatoes proper, to swell and grow in. — 

 \\ hen planting, we know not whether it would he best 

 to put tho seed between the two kinds ol dressing, or 

 above them both. 



Aiict'ier method would be, and the work might be 

 less, to manure with the good manure as before, using 

 only a sinall quantity, planting directly upon thai, cov- 

 ering shghthj — stirring the earth well once or twice after 

 the plants were up, and then putting the other dresiing 

 upon tho surfiice. 



well lo ' 1^ 



COMPOSTING WITH MUCK OR SWAMP MUD. 



One of the first farming operations in [he spring, is to 

 carry the manure frimi the barn yards and hog yards tu 

 the fields, iind drop it in large heaps near wliere it is to 

 be used for planting. By most farmers il is tipped from 

 the cart, and permitted to lie fur a few days in Ke,.ara'e 

 liiiaps of a load each. While thus exposed, the drving 

 winds of spring extract lis juices (the best part of it,} 

 very rapidly. At a convenient lime il is forked over, 

 and the several loads are joined into one heap. A less 

 sui face is llien exposed to wind and sun — but yrt enough 

 is exposed to allow tho escape of rypry particle ih.it 

 takes the firm of pas or vapor. Tlie.ie volatile pans 

 which are usually suffered to escape, arc Ihe most frr- 



lilizing portions of the whole mass, and it 

 fine ihem if we can. 



The course which science prcs(ribcs, and which 

 pxpt rieiice of many of our best fanners approves, ; 

 mix yniir dung in layers of five or six inches thick ' 

 mradow mud — muck — that is, a layer of that thicki 

 then one of dung, and then of muck and so on ; bu 

 sure and let ihe muck cover the lop and the sides 

 then the iiminonia and other viiliiabie parts that lire 

 dined lo escape, will be seized and retained by 

 muck 'I'hus you save. But this is nut all : in ntos 

 stances the muck has a sourness or acidity, which 

 venis its acting v^ ell as a manure. Now the ga.sea f 

 the dung tend to remove or correct that S4iurne6s, ar 

 they do this efTectually, the muck itself heeoiiies a g ji 

 manure, and thisyourquaiitity of real manure isduul p 

 or more than doubled. 



The mixture may be improved by adding, tei 

 twelve days before you use the compost, five or 

 busiiels of ashes, or half as many of quick liim 

 each curd in the heap, if thig is done Ihe heap she 

 have a coaling of pure muck all over it, two or tli 

 inches thick, which should be wall patted on with 

 shovel. 



But, be cautious. — If you go to the swamp and 

 inuck now, and think to make that answer fortius ye. 

 crop you will be likely to do more harm than go 

 Muck so recently dug lia^tno much sourness, it wa 

 a thorough/rcezm^ before it is fit to use. 



To give an idea of what the loss may be from sufl 

 ing our fermenting dung lo remain exposed, as is uei, 

 we may refer lo an experiment by Sir fl. Davy, 

 which lie found that three pints of hot fermenting a 

 uurc, consisting principally of tho litter and dung 

 cattle, gave out in three days tliirtyfive cubic jnclics 

 an " elastic fluid" which was found to contain twei 

 one cubic inches of carbonic acjd. The fluid mat 

 collected in the receiver amounted to near halfan • 

 and had a salt taste and disagreeable smell If half 

 oz of the best of the manure escapes from three pii 

 in three days — there will be loss of two pounds per bui 

 el, or of 70 lbs. per load of 35 bushels in three da; 

 This is more than we can aflVird lo spare. 



li>?«l 

 I k*" 



THE FARMERS MUCK MANUAL, BY Dii.DAN 

 We are indebied to the publisher for a i opy of tl 

 work, which was favorably noticed Jiy "A Coiisla 

 Kinder," in our last paper. We h ive turned over i 

 leaves and taken a hasty glance at usc<mlonls- Th 

 has satisfied us that the work is woriliy of a l]iorou| 

 readiiio. We hope that farmers will obtain the buo- 

 and put lo the test of experiment many of the simp 

 rules which Dr. Dana's science hits deduced- — Th 

 lerin " muck " in the title, is used in a very broad i 

 For the work treats ofsoils and uH kiwis of tduhi/i 

 Science here leads to ihe same result in reg.ird lu pea 

 in compost, which has been reai hcd by those practice 

 farmers who make two or three loads of this peat, inixe 

 properly wilh one load of cow dung, equal in value li 

 four luadd of dung Dr. Dana has defined nearly all hi 

 trrnis, but tho unlettered man, though he should real 

 and understand the definitions, will soon forget manj 

 of them, and as he get.i farther on in the book, lie wil 

 become confused, and many passages will he cnliroly 

 unintelligible to him- If ho procures Ibis work, ho muil 

 make up his mind to study it. Very mimy of the mnil 

 v.'iluable parts of the work, however, can be understood 

 by any niaii of common capacity, and will well repay 

 fiir reading, even should he iioi recur In il a second lime. 

 I'orliuns of the work are highly prnclicni. Many of th< 

 pnsilioiis are new, and their coirectnuso will be ques- 

 lionad. 



