FARMERS' REGISTER-CULTIVATION OF THE POTATO. 



721 



to rear fine cattle. We have many difficulties to 

 encounter ; a long, warm and relaxing summer, 

 a superabundance of musquitoesand Hies, a scarci- 

 ty of pasture land, and worse than ail, the })reya- 

 lence of the mags^ot among our live stock, during 

 the months of July, August and September. But 

 with all these, Louisiana is a choice stock country, 

 as I have proven beyond doubt : all that is requi- 

 site, is attention There are now cows upon my 

 place for which .S250 have been offered, not three 

 years old, of the pure Durham short horned breed, 

 and believe me, sir, there is not a planter in Caro- 

 lina, who will bestow the proper attention, that 

 cannot have the same in three years. 



The object of this communication is to endeavor 

 to encourage your planters to make the experi- 

 ment, of c:row"ing in abundance a proper food for 

 their subsistence, during the winter and early 

 spring months, and preparing a sufficiency of pas- 

 ture for them during the remainder of the season; 

 and to test my sincerity, I will furnish any gen- 

 tleman this winter with a sufficiency of the Violel- 

 cane to plant an ordinary square in his garden, 

 (from which he can plant an acre the year suc- 

 ceeding,) free of charge, save the freight, from 

 New-Orleans to Charleston. And when he w ill 

 promise, that he will attend to them, and endeavor 

 to improve the breed and condition of the cattle in 

 the State, and state that he has ten cows, and pas- 

 turage sufficient for their entire support, I will 

 present him with a full blooded ' short horned 

 Durham yearling bull, and ship him to his order, 

 Charleston. 



I would direct the manner of planting the cane, 

 but I presume this, as well as its cultivation, is un- 

 derstood there. 



With great regard, 



WILI.IAHI II. SPARKS. 



on the cultivation of the potato, avith 

 a view to obtaining greatly increased 

 crops; by the author op "the DOJIES- 

 Tic gardener's manual." 



From the British Farmer's Magazine. 

 Above two hundred and forty years have elapsed 

 since the introduction of the potato into the British 

 isles. During that period it has i)een gradually 

 making its way in the favor of the inhabitants; 

 but its progress fbr a long time was very limited. 

 So slight, indeed, was the estimation in which it 

 was held, even after the era of the revolution, that 

 we find the celebrated Evelyn, in the year 1699, 

 giving directions to plant potatoes in the worst 

 grounds. " Take them up," he says, " in Novem- 

 ber, fbr winter spending — there will enough re- 

 main for a stock, though they be ever so exactly 

 gathered " 



The potati) began, however, to be extensively 

 cultivated about the middle of the last century ; 

 and now it is grown in every farm and cottage 

 garden, almost without exception. 



If experience seemed to have proved, bej'ond a 

 doubt, that this root may be deemed one of the 

 most important vegetable productions ; if, in the 

 face of every assertion to the contrary, it be found 

 a very valuable, and, generally speaking, a most 

 salubrious article* of diet ; and admirably adapted 



*Jt has been argued that the potato, at least under 

 certain conditions, possesses a slightly poisonous qnali- 

 VoL. 1—91 



to supply nutritious food for animals and poultry ; 

 it becomes a matter of serious interest to determine 

 with certainty, that mode of culture which shall at 

 all times, and in all situations, tend to produce the 

 heaviest crops, and of the finest quality. 



The common mode of planting and cultivating 

 the potato is known to every cottager and farming 

 man ; but that philosophic method which has re- 

 cently been productive of enormous returns, may, 

 perhaps, be referred chiefly, if not entirely, to the 

 scientific President of the Horticultural Society. 

 This method it is my object to describe, through 

 the medium of your pages ; but before I enter up- 

 on the detail of" Mr. Knight's directions, I think it 

 a duty to request the reader's attention to a few 

 important results, the particulars of which have 

 been stated to me in letters lately received from 

 that gentleman. As flicts, and very recent ones, 

 they are peculiarly interesting, not only as they 

 decisively show what may be, and has been effected 

 during the late season, but also because they prove, 

 to a demonstration, that science and hypothesis may 

 go hand in hand with practice; and that, when 

 the latter is founded upon the former, it loses alto- 

 gether its empirical character, and becomes estab- 

 lished upon the most unassailable basis. 



Mr. Knight has observed, that he planted his 

 potatoes upon a soil naturally poor, and very shal- 

 low, upon a rock full of fissures, giving no more 

 manure than is usually given to a crop of turnips ; 

 the manure was mixed up with the soil, and not 

 thrown into the drills at the time of planting. The 

 plants suffered from drought during a part of the 

 year; nevertheless, he had very good crops from 

 many varieties. These varieties he had himself 

 originated from seed, and they possess the impor- 

 tant quality of scarcely producing any blossoms ; 

 anil, therefore, the vital powers of the plant are 

 entirely employed in the production and support 

 of those tuberous processes — the potatoes — which 

 are the sole object of the cultivator. The produce 

 of two of the sorts is particularly stated to me, and 

 is as follows: of tlie one, twenty-three tons, two 

 hundred weight, seventy-six pounds ; and theother, 

 twenty tons, two hundred weight, one hundred and 

 one pounds, per acre. Of four other varieties he 

 observes, " the produce exceeded twenty tons each 

 per acre, all of good quality." If the reader will 

 reduce these weights to pounds, he will find them, 

 (reckoning the yield at twenty tons only per acre) 

 to amount to five hundred and sixty bushels, each 

 of eighty pounds weight. 



Inthe winter of 1S31, I received a packet from 

 Mr. Knight, enclosing several specimen potatoes 

 raised by him. For the convenience of carriage, 

 these were under the medium size, weighing about 

 four ounces each ; they were, however, perfi3Ct in 

 form and growth. Eight of them were selected, 

 and plante^d in a row^, each widely apart one from 

 the other. From these eight tubers, whose total 

 weio'ht was barely two pounds, I obtained a 

 produce of one hundred and fifty-six potatoes, 



ty. The idea may have originated in the botanic cha- 

 racter of the plant": in fact, it is one of the family of the 

 night shade — the solanum tiiberosimi of Linnseus, and of 

 lie old natural oi der luridcc, which included plants whose 

 appearance was described as being " dusky, dismal, and 

 gloomy." The genus or family solanum, is the type of 

 that numerous tribe or order in the natural system, sole- 

 necE, many of whose members exhibit great beauty of 

 appearance, and possess very useful properties. 



