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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE HONEY BEE. 



Mr. Cole: — I have been waiting- to obtain 

 through the medium of the "Farmer," some new 

 information as regards the honey bee, and to hear 

 how others succeeded the past season, as to what 

 kind of management proved the most successful. 

 There seems to be little interest felt as regards this 

 subject, while others are fully discussed, as they 

 should be. Bee culture should occupy a more 

 prominent position than it now does, in the domes- 

 tic relation of the farmer, as well as the mechanic, 

 for when properly managed, they become quite a 

 source of profit to the owner. 



But few of my bees swarmed the past season, 

 owing to the cold weather in May and fore part of| 

 June, after which we had warm weather, but they 

 did not swarm, as probably they had been confined 

 to their hives until the young queens had issued 

 and were destroyed. Notwithstanding they made 

 considerable honey, and my stock were never in 

 better condition, as to honey and bee, than they 

 are now. 



Should the present be a good year for honey, I 

 shall expect to give you a good report of my bees 

 and the way I manage them, and the way I make 

 my hives. Bees, if the Spring be backward, 

 should always be fed with honqy. But I am not 

 giving instruction in bee keeping at present, but 

 wait to hear from your more experienced contiibu- 

 tors, as I hope soon to do. 



Yours truly, B. F. Conant. 



• Lyme, N. H., Aug. 9lh, 1851. 



Re.marks. — We should be pleased to hear again 

 from our correspondent, on his successful mode of 

 managing bees, and on the construction of his 

 hives. 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 

 THE POTATO DISEASE. 



Mr. Cole : — In my peregrinations in New Eng- 

 land for the last few years, my attention has been 

 called to the prevailing disease among potatoes. — 

 Of the numerous articles written on the cause of the 

 "rot," I have read liberally, and examined with 

 intense mterest the remedies proposed. But, as 

 yet, I am satisfied that all have failed in assigning 

 the true cause; though partial remedies, at very 

 great annual expense, have been proposed. 



Having bestowed much thought and experimen- 

 tal labor on this subject for four years past, I think 

 I have ascertained the cause; if so, a radical cure 

 may be effected, and the potato restored to its pri- 

 mal pure state and healthy condition; the cause be- 

 ing removed, the effect will cease. 



The present is the third year of my experiments, 

 and by the fifth, / shall be frepared to claim the pre- 

 mium. 



Some say that a peculiar miasma exists in the 

 dew, or m the atmosphere, which causes this fear- 

 ful evil ; others, that the top is punctured by a pois- 

 onous msect, and the new bulb infected throuf^h the 

 recurrent roots. These theories, I grant, are enti- 

 tled to respect; but, in my opinion, it still requires 

 proot and chemical investigation to fix the fact that 

 the same miasmatic influence exists in different la- 

 titudes, and that the same poisonous insect ravao-es 

 in different climates; and if the new bulb can beln- 

 fected by vines introdnf^d thrnnn-;) t],p stock or tup 



in one case, it would be in others. But I have 

 known the potato to ripen fully, the tops die, as 

 usual, and the crop be harvested and put into the 

 cellar in a sound state, yet afterwards become one 

 mass of rot, and be thrown out upon the manure 

 heap. I have tried lime, ashes and charcoal as re- 

 medial agents, and found them good fertilizers, yet 

 they all failed to cure the "rot." 



Now, with your leave, I will give my views of 

 this vegetable epidemic, or contagion, and the re- 

 sults, thus far, of my experiments. 



I hold that the potato crop has degenerated in 

 consequence of amalgamation. Northern, south- 

 ern, eastern and western, early and late varieties, 

 have run together, and produced a kind of hybrid 

 germ. This I hold to be the fous et origo of the 

 rot. It is a well-known fact, that within the last 

 half century potatoes of every variety, from the de- 

 licious old Irish down to the lowest grade of this 

 plant, have been introduced among us, and all mixed 

 together; and hence the rot. For instance, there 

 are in my neighborhood a very few old farmers, 

 with stiff notions and strong prejudices against in- 

 novation, who have always grown the same kind 

 of potato, and have entirely escaped this disease. 



Three years ago I saved the balls from the tops 

 of the Nova Scotia potato, and the following year 

 planted them, and obtained potatoes, which I plant- 

 ed last spring, and I have the past week examined 

 them, and from one seed, one potato, I have what I 

 call i\\epure Nova Scotia, differing somewhat from 

 the one from which I obtained the balls three years 

 ago; and I also have a perfect specimen of the Ear- 

 ly Blue, the Lady-Finger, and one other kind. I 

 claim that these are the original, obtained by analy- 

 sis. They could not have mixed; for they have 

 never blossomed. 



But I have already taken too much of your time, 

 though you may hear from me again, if this proves 

 worthy of notice. 



Yours, «&c., R. Davis, 



A native of Plpnouth, Co , 3Iass. 



Mr. Cole: — I saw Mt. Davis' specimen of pota- 

 toes which he gathered from one seed. It was re- 

 ally a curiosity; and if his communication is not 

 beyond the range of your notice in the Farmer, I 

 hope you will insert it. M. C. Sawyer. 



Bristol, N.H., Aug. 20, 1851. 



Remarks. — If our correspondent be correct in 

 attributing the potato rot to the mixing or amalga- 

 mation of the seed, how comes it that the disease 

 ever got into Ireland, where, like "the few old far- 

 mers" in Mr. D.'s "neighborhood," the people al- 

 ways grow the same kind. 



The Long Red potato has been cultivated in this 

 country about forty years; of course it was not pro- 

 duced from so great'a variety of potatoes from north, 

 south, east and west, early and late, as Mr. Davis 

 has mentioned, yet it has rotted to a great extent, 

 but it did not rot until within a few years, when 

 potatoes generally rotted. Now if this potato had 

 within it inherent principles of decay, why did it 

 flourish well for more than thirty years? And why 

 did it rot so suddenly and extensively? This does 

 not appear like a decline from inherent impeifec- 

 tions- but it iinnpnis to b^ thf vpsiiU of a uowertul 



