NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



351 



obtained of oats, and the land is left in much better 

 condition for grass. Others have had good crops 

 in this region. Summer wheat is sown here most- 

 ly. I am glad that attention is turned again to 

 raising this most desirable crop, and hope that the 

 time is not far distant when every farmer will cul- 

 tivate it with success. Jere. Fullerton. 

 Raymond, N. H., Sept., 1851. 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 

 POTATOES. 



Mr. Editor; — In Apiil last, I called your at- 

 tention to potatoes raised by Mr. I. Bradstreet, of 

 Danvers, from the seed planted in 1845. They 

 were said to be quite prolific — of good quality — 

 and free from rot. This at\ernoon, in company 

 with Mr. Allen, chairman of the committe on root 

 crops, in Essex County, I have visited the grounds 

 of Mr. Bradstreet, to ascertain the result of his 

 cultivation the present season. He has raised be- 

 tween nine and ten hundred bushels, on about five 

 acres of ground. His men were employed in dig- 

 ging to-day. The potatoes were large and fair, 

 averaging a bushel to sixteen hills. I never saw 

 potatoes of better appearance. He has not found 

 so much as a bushel of defective potatoes in all his 

 crop. The ground on which he was digging was 

 a light soil, well pulverized, in good condition, 

 this being the second year of potato crop. It was 

 manured with common barn manure — a shovel full 

 to the hill. Mr. B. showed us a field in front of 

 his house, where he raised two hundred and eight 

 bushels from six and a half bushels of seed — on 

 less than one acre of land. Mr. B. cuts his pota- 

 toes when he plants; placing several pieces in a 

 hill, each piece having about three distinct eyes, 

 throwing away that part of the potato which has 

 small eyes. He is particular in the preparation of 

 his seed, and in the cultivation afterwards. The 

 last spring he sold more than two hundred bushels 

 of his potatoes for seed; and he feels that his pre- 

 sent crop is a good one; quite equal to his expec- 

 tations. I was pleased with my visit to his farm; 

 and am satisfied that his potatoes are as good as he 

 represented them to be. I planted about half a 

 bushel of them in my garden; but the ground be- 

 ing shaded with trees, there was not a fair chance 

 for growth. Mr. B. has two other kinds of seed- 

 lings, which appear well; of their quality I cannot 

 speak, not having tried them. Having said so 

 much in other communications about rotten -pota- 

 toes, and the cause thereof, I am happy in the op- 

 portunity to state facts in relation to sound ones. 

 Upon asking Mr. B. as to the operations of insects 

 upon his potatoes; he says they were never more 

 abundant than the present season; but he thinks 

 these insects have no connection whatever with po- 

 tato rot. He is a practical man, of great experi- 

 ence, whose opinion is worthy of regard. 

 Your ob't serv't, 



J. W. Proctor. 



Danvers, Oct. 15, 1851. 



For the Neio Ensrtand Farmer. 

 REPRODUCTION OF POTATOES. 



Potatoes are produced from two sources; first, 

 from the ball, or seed of it, and second, from the 

 potato itself. Now, I maintain, if we raise them 

 from the potatoes only, the time will come, sooner 

 or later, that they will decay, rot, and finally be- 

 come extinct; and that the only way to prevent such 

 an issue is to reproduce them from the seeds in the 

 l)alls at stated periods. There is in vegetables, as 

 in animals, different sexes. The way to keep ani- 

 mals to their pristine size, health and vigor, is to 

 cross different species of the same genus. Can it 

 be less essential in vegetables of different kinds'? 

 But the potato cannot be crossed as long as it is 

 raised from the potato itself, which is produced be- 

 low the surface of the earth, and of course is not 

 regulated by the laws of sexual contact. It is only 

 when raised from the seed of the ball, which is the 

 result of the blossom of the top, the pollen of which 

 has been in contact, that a cross of different species 

 has been effected. Cattle, bred in and in, as it is 

 called, degenerate, and unless the deteriorating 

 course be arrested by proper remedies, will become 

 extinct. This arrest of decay and reinstatement 

 of health and vioor is effected by seasonable cross- 

 ing. So of the potato; if it is raised from itself 

 alone, it maybe said to he bred in and in; and such 

 a process in the lapse of time will result in decay, 

 and finally in utter extinction of the root. T have 

 little doubt but the potato which has been so raised 

 for a long course of years, is now near its extinc- 

 tion, and that all remedies except the one alluded 

 to will prove as abortive in its application as any 

 quack prescription resorted to, to cure real phthisis 

 in the human species. 



The potato has come to its present state gradu- 

 ally. Years before the rot commenced, it had lost 

 much of its former mealy, nutritious quality; as 

 soon as a little cool, speedily it became hard and 

 unpalatable to a much greater degree than it did 

 forty years ago; in truth it is an obvious fact, that 

 the potatoes of this day which do not rot, do not 

 possess the palatable, nourishing qualities of for- 

 mer times. 



Remarks. — The facts in this communication, so 

 clearly related by Mr. Proctor, are valuable. It 

 is possible that the rejection of the "small eyes," 

 may induce a more vigorous crop. We should 

 have been glad to know more of the condition and 

 situation of the land; whether it is high or low, 

 wet or dry, and how deeply, and when plowed. 



Remarks. — The subject of potato rot has occu- 

 pied so much room in our columns, that we feel 

 obliged to make it yield to other matters for the 

 present. We have therefore omitted a considera- 

 ble portion of our correspondent's remarks. From 

 our own experience, we do not find that the potato 

 has deteriorated in quality, our crop this year being 

 as large, fair, and good flavored, as any that we 

 ever produced. Last year, on an adjoining field, 

 our crop was a failure, the whole field remaining 

 undug; while this year the potatoes are excellent 

 in every way — size, quantity and quality. The 

 whole matter of planting the potato ball has been 

 experimented upon heretofore, without any benefi- 

 cial results. 



1^ A cheerful spirit makes labor light and sleep 

 sweet, and all around happy, which is much better 

 that being only rich. 



|I^"I know by a little what a great deal 

 means," as the gander said when he saw the tip of 

 a fox's tail sticking out of a hollow tree. 



