298 



NKW ENGLAND KARMEU. 



April 13. 153 



^0 command a thorough air when necea^ iry, the 

 walls and floor of which should be examined with 

 the strictest attention, in order to fill up every lit- 

 tle hole or crevice that can give access either to 

 rats or mice, as both those animals eajerly devour 

 the silk worms whenever they can find an oppor- 

 tunity for that purpose. 



In Languedoc and Quercy they mnl;e the stage 

 ii.'C feet, but more frequently only four feet and a 

 half broad, so that a person, by freing- first to the | 

 ;>no side, and afterwards to the other, may be able j 

 with ease to reach over the whole breadth, both 

 tor the advantage of giving the leaves to the 

 worms, ond for clearing away their litter more 

 '^asily. At every nine feet distance in the length 

 of the stage, they fi.^ a post in the floor, of a 

 lieight sufficient to support the roof, and to those 

 posts they nail a piece of wood across the stage, 

 whicli piece of wood serves to support tiie baskets 

 to be hereafter mentioned, whicli rest upon the 

 t-ross bars of wood at the two ends : so that these 

 'lars ought to be four inches broad, which allows 

 wo inches for each basket to rest on, as the bas- 

 :hIs join the one to the other at the cross bars. — 

 The stage being four feet and a half broad, takes 

 A-o of these baskets to fill up its breadth. They 

 make their stage to cor.sist of as many shelves as 

 he height will admit of, keeping them at the dis- 

 tance of twenty inches from each other. The 

 iowest table or shelf ought to be made six inches 

 broader than tlie shelf immedia'oly above it, that 

 the lowest may project three inches on each side 

 further than the one above it ; and so in propor- 

 'ion with all the other tables or shelves ; the uses 

 for making this difference of breadth in the dif- 

 ferent shelves shall be afterwards particularly 

 explained. 



It has been already observed that rats and mice 

 ire e.\tremely destructive to the iflkworms when 

 they can get access to them ; for which reason 

 every precaution should be nscd to protect them 

 ugainst such dangerous visiters. For this purpose, 

 therefore, the following one is generally attended 

 to. They cover the foot of each of the posts ol 

 wood which support the stage with a piece of 

 strong smooth paper, which is nailed to the wood 

 with tacks, to the height of a foot above the floor; 

 'ly which means, when these vermin attempt to 

 .Tiount, their feet slide upon the paper, su that 

 ihey can get no hold. .\ hoop of glass of the same i 

 height, made of a size proper for the wood, might, 

 perhaps, be found to answer the purpose better, 

 though [ was assured the paper had the full ef- 

 I'ect for which it was intended. The ant, or pis- 

 mire, IS also a most dangerous enemy to the silk- 

 worms ; to guard them from which, the usual 

 practice, where there is any danger from tliese 

 insects, is to put a quantity of hot lime round the 

 foot of each of the posts which support the stage, 

 vvhich fully answers for that purpose. Cats and 

 poultry of all kinds are likewise destructive to the 

 worms, and must therefore al.so be guarded a- 

 gaitiat with care. 



When the worms are young, they are put into 

 wicker baskets, three feet long, and eighteen 

 inches broad, the edges or sides of which are 

 made from two to three inches high. They make 

 them of that size in order to be the more portable. 

 When the worms come to be placed upon the 

 i-tRtre, they are put into baskets four feet and a 

 h'llf long, and two feet three inches broad, and the 

 sides or edges af them are from two to three inch-i 

 PS high, and of the thickness of about three quart 



ersofan inch. The bottoms of the baskets aro 

 made of planted roeds, .ifter being .split in order 

 to make them lie flat. They are bound all the 

 way round with a slip of wood a little more than 

 an inch broad, and about a quarter of an inch 

 thick, to keep them together, which is nailed 

 down, and three cross bars of wood are nailed 

 across the back of each basket to keep it firm. 



(To be continued.) 



SvVEET POTATOEH. 

 W'c have hcen requested by sevdal of our friends to 

 fitrnish directions relative to the most approved mode 

 (if culliv.Ttiog the Sweet Potalns. The following arti- 

 cle is copied I'roui the Boston Daily Advertiser of Or- 

 toher 27, IR2I ; anit the signature attached to it, may 

 jireclude the iicseFfity of our declaring that the mode 

 of culture whieh it prescrilins may be relied on as cor- 

 rect. 



Directions for Ihc preservation of the SLii's of the 

 Sweet Potatoes, and for their cultivation.' 



The .S7i'7>s are nothing more than the small po- 

 tatoes or roots last thrown ofi" hy t.he plant. They 

 are preferred to larger ones on the several grounds 

 of economy, of food and of room — of their being 

 more easily preserved, and less likelv to rot in the 

 ground alter they are planted. The writer of 

 this, during fifteen years, never succeeded in get- 

 ting more than one large sweet potatoe to vege- 

 tate or grow in the open ground. The ignorance 

 of the mode of culture has probably been the 

 cause of their not having been raised here. 



The slips should be put up for preservation 

 without bruisinf; them (or as the directions from 

 New Jersey expressed it, they should be handled 

 as carefully as eggs) in a dry state, iji perfectly 

 dry sand or earth, and kept in a warm place as 

 free as. possible from moisture. 



Those who wish to be perfectly assured of their 

 success, will raise a small hot bed with, or with- 

 out glass about the lOtli of April, on the south 

 side of a fence, wall or building. On this, they 

 will lay the slips or toots so close as to touch 

 each oth'.T, so that a bed of si.\ feet square will be 

 sufticient for a bushel of them. They should then 

 bo covered with about an inch of earth. If the 

 cultivator has no hot bed frames, the bed at nitrht 

 may be covered with a mat or wi'h straw. 



In 10 or 14 days some of the shoots will appear 

 above ground ; when about one half or even a 

 third so appear, they are all to be taken up to be 

 planted. The lightest soils are best adapted to 

 them. As their roots almost universally strike 

 dovvnwards.likc those of the carrot; they ".re always 

 placed on hills raised f.bout nine inches, or about 

 the height of a potatoe hill, after its last faithful 

 hoeing. These hills should be four feet and a half 

 apart in every direction. The slips, tv.o in each 

 hill, i-no foot apart, are then put in either with 

 the fingers, or a stick, or any instrument capable 

 of making !i sufficient hole, and the crown or top 

 should be within an inch or half inch of the sur 

 face. When thus started or sprouted, it will be 

 easy to distinguish the end which sends out roots. 

 from that which puts forth shoots for the open air. 

 The slips should be put in perpendicularly or 

 nearly so, the root end downwards. They would 

 grow without this precaution, but would bo delay- 

 ed and injured in their growth. A little dung 

 dug, or hoed in, will much aid their progress, un- 

 less the land be rich. Th'-y cannot bear moist, or 

 any rich grounds, or places, where the water 



stands, after showers. Thei- vines grow too 

 uriantly in such situations, and their roots are 

 er and more watery. The late season wai 

 wet to enable us to raise them in the highest 

 fection, but a majority of them were still 

 good. 



After they are planted they require the 

 treatment as the squash or pumpkin, that is, 

 ply weeding them. In the .Jerseys, they raise;! 

 runners from the ground when they weed t|^ 

 so as to prevent their taking root, which the^i 

 more readily than any plant, and which the JdL 

 frmors think injurious to the main roots. 1| 

 subscriber permitted nature to take its com 

 but he should certainly make the triid auoflii 

 veT of the New Jersey method. 



The products for two successive years 

 been at the rale of 210 bushels to the acre, 

 no greater care, nor indeed so much as that' 

 stowed on common potatoes. They were pli 

 this yenr early in June, and were hilled on 

 10th of October, which is at least 4.5 days 

 growth, than they would have in common yi 

 or i''the seed had arrived earlier. They will 

 gin to be palateable and fit for table about the 

 of vSeptember, or the 1st of October, as the si 

 may have been hot or cold ; but the general 

 ought not to be dug till the vi-ies are killei 

 They will endure seven or eight successive 

 frosts after the common potatoe stalks have bl 

 killed. So many persons have applied for sli 

 that it was the advice of some of them, that thl 

 hints should be published. It is not preteni 

 that the culture is of any agricultural iinportaiO' 

 — it is tnerelj' an horticdtural experiment, ver 

 pleasant to tho.-e who have a taste for such put 

 suits — and also gratifying to those who lave thi 

 s^ceet potatoe. They certainly can be raised hen 

 of txcellent quality full as often as we can mil! 

 good grapes, peaches, or even pears. 



JOHN LOWELL.. 



P. S. — They should not be gathered in by tht 

 hoe, or even spade — they mnst be raised like !&■ 

 car'ot by the dung fork. 



Thefolloivinff additional remarks are from the 

 Mass. Agric. Journal. " 



THE CAROM.X.A POTATO, OR SWnCT POT.^TO 



This plant is not a potato, though there is a vul- 

 gar opinion, that the common potatoe transplanted 

 to southern regions becomes sweet, and that the 

 sweet potato on being carried to northern dimes 

 degenerates into the common potato. The com- 

 mon potato is what the botanists have named a so- 

 lanum. It is not a running plant. Its nati»n 

 country is probably the high lands of South Amer^ 

 ica — a cold region. It delights in cold seasong, 

 and a moist soil, and it is a fact, that it is drier 

 and more mealy, when raised in such soils, than in 

 dry ones. The best potatoes known are raised in 

 the wet, flat and almost overflown grounds of 

 Lancanhire in England; and in Ireland, so famous 

 for its moisture and verdure, as to have received 

 the appellation of the Emerald Isle. It flourishes 

 admirably in the fogs of Nova Scotia and the low- 

 er parts of the state of Maine. The sweet potito 

 hcs no title to be called the Carolina potato. It i& 

 an e.xotic, or foreign plant with them. It is a na- 

 tive of trooical rep-ions : has been gradually intro- 

 duced northerly, like the Lima or Saba, commonly 

 pronounced, Civet bean. The sweet potato is not- 

 a solanum, but a convolvulus ; has all the habits 

 of the tribe of the convolvulus ; it is a runnin" or. 



