DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. III. 



SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1851, 



NO. 10. 



RAYNOLDS & NOURSE, 



Proprietors. 



OFFICE, QUINCY HALL, BOSTON. 



S. W. COLE, Editor. 



PLANTING SMALL POTATOES. 



In some parts of the country potatoes are so 

 scarce that farmers find it difficult to get enough to 

 plant. In such cases it is best to plant small ones, for 

 if they do not not yield as good a crop as large ones, 

 there will be but little difference for one year. 

 Owing to the rust last season, which did more dam- 

 agethan the rot, in this section, potatoes were very 

 small and poor; yet these poor potatoes will proba- 

 bly yield good crops. 



If a person has to buy potatoes to plant, it will 

 not, generally, cost him more than one-fourth or 

 one-third as much for small potatoes as for large 

 ones to plant the same extent of land. The small 

 potatoes may be had at a much lower price per 

 bushel, and a much less quantity will be required. 

 Our remarks refer to raising a single crop. 



It is yet doubtful whether the constant planting 

 of small potatoes will cause a degeneracy in a 

 course of years. In some cases small potatoes have, 

 for one year, yielded as much as large ones; in 

 other cases they have not. 



GRASSES. 



We believe that nearly all of our grasses are im- 

 ported, or of foreign origin; if this be the case, or 

 if it be not so, why should we confine ourselves to 

 a few, very few varieties, while in other countries 

 so many kinds are cultivated to advantage] In this 

 country we have a great variety of climate, in every 

 climate a great variety of soil, and our soils are not 

 only various in their composition, but differ widely 

 in their degree of moisture; some from their situa- 

 tion being extremely wet, while others are light 

 and porous. And besides the advantages of produc- 

 ing almost every kind of giass to advantage, we 

 have nearly all kinds of stock for their consump- 

 tion. 



Then we surely can cultivate, and with profit too, 

 as great a variety of grasses as are now profitably cul- 

 tivated in any country. In England forty-seven 

 kinds of grasses are extensively cultivated, and each 



is found valuable by experiment for some kinds of 

 soil or situation. 



This doubtless includes several kinds used in 

 lawns intended for ornament rather than food for 

 stock; and some may succeed well in that country 

 of mild winters that would not endure the rigid 

 cold of the north, nor the hot, dry summers of 

 the south. And even in the north our summers are 

 generally hot, and frequently severe drought pre- 

 vails. Those grasses that are but little known 

 among us, but which succeed well in Europe and 

 are among their principal kinds, and which have 

 succeeded well here too in the small way in which 

 they have been cultivated, should receive more ex- 

 tensive cultivation, that their advantages may be 

 fairly tested, and the best kinds made known to the 

 public. 



Many intelligent farmers, after various experi- 

 ments on grasses, conclude that herds grass, red 

 top and clover are all that we can profitably culti- 

 vate. But we do hope that we shall not stop here, 

 for we have indigenous grass, and there are foreign 

 kinds that never have been subjected to thorough 

 trial. 



We would not advise large and expensive ex- 

 periments, but trial of those grasses not well known 

 should be made in a small way, and when the ex- 

 periment is sufficiently promising to justify it, let 

 the experiment be made on a large scale. 



EARLY WEEDING. 



There are many pieces of land, particularly in 

 nurseries and gardens, that should be rid of the 

 weeds and the soil stirred thoroughly as soon as it 

 is dry enough to work. There is a double advantage 

 in performing this operation early in the season. 

 In destroying weeds the old adage, "A stitch in 

 lime saves nine,"' is literally correct. 



The tender weed, the small bunch of sorrel, ar 

 tuft of grass, that can be removed with ease, as it 

 first starts in spring, will soon extend its roots and 

 crowd upon plants, requiring ten times the labor to 



