J^rm^rs JHatttljig Iftsiixrr- 



CONDUCTED BY ISAAC HILL. 



'ThORB WHO LABOR IX THE EARTH ABE THE CHOSEN FEMI'l.t OK (Jul', WHOSE BIIEA9T3 HE HAS MADE HIS PECULIAR DEPOSIT E FOR SUBSTANTIAL AND GENUINE VIRTUE."— JeffcTSOTl. 



VOL. 11. NO. 4. 



CONCORD, N. H., APRIL 30, 1849. 



WHOLE NO. 124. 



THE PARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, 



PUBLISHED BY 



JOHN F. BROWN, 



ISSUED ON THE LAST DAT OF EVERY MONTH, 



At Ayer's Block, Concord, N. H. 



JK5" General Agents. — John Marsh, 77 Washington St. 

 Boston, Mas?.; Cooley, Keese & Hill, 191 Broadway, New 

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 ington CJtyj H. A. Bill, Keene, N H.j Thomas Chandler, 

 Bedford, N. II. 



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I U 





For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 



Mr. Editor: A society was last fall organ- 

 ized by the name of" The Rockingham Farmers' 

 Club," which has held weekly meetings through 

 the winter at Exeter. The exercises have been 

 principally discussions upon subjects connected 

 with Agriculture, previously assigned ; and at 

 the close of those discussions, reports have been 

 made in writing by Committees embodying the 

 information collected upon the subjects discuss- 

 ed. At a recent meeting a vote was passed to 

 furnish to the Visitor two reports on the subject 

 of potatoes, which 1 send herewith. 



I also sentl a printed copy of a report upon 



Transplanting Forest Trees. 1 fear however, 



that we may be too late for a publication of it 



this spring. 



We are hoping that in due time our Club may 



grow into a regular County Agricultural Society. 



Much interest is felt in the subject, and all that 



is wanting is concert of action throughout the 



towns. 



Truly yours, 



H. F. FRENCH. 



Exeter, N. H., April 9, 1849. 



At a meeting of " The Rockingham Farmers' 

 Cfnb" at Exeter on the -lib day of April A. D. 

 181!). Voted that the Reports of the Committee 

 upon the Culture of Potatoes be furnished to 

 the publisher of the Parmer's Monthly Visitor 

 for publication. 



Attest, 



S. B. SWETT, Secretary; 



Cultivation of the Potato. 



The committee to whom was referred the sub- 

 ject of the cultivation of potatoes having listen- 

 ed with mttch interest to the remarks made by 

 members of the Club on that subject, and having 

 given such consideration to it as their limited 

 lime would allow, beg leave to report, that, in 

 their judgment, the subject under consideration 

 is one of very great importance. To such an 

 extent has the potato become one of the com- 

 forts, if not one of the necessaries of life, that 

 its loss would be not a national only, but a world- 

 wide calamity. In one country at least it forms 

 a large proportion of the subsistence of the peo- 

 ple, and ill most civilized nations, but particular- 

 ly our own, it forms the almost indispensable 

 dish of all classes and all ages; and is the espe 

 einl favorite of both bipeds and quadrupeds. 

 Every thing then, tending to increase the quan- 



tity, or improve the quality of so important an 

 article of food ; everything tending to an im- 

 provement in its cultivation or its use, is worthy 

 of serious consideration. More especially also, 

 since from the wide-spread disease that has re- 

 cently attacked it, fears are entertained of its to- 

 tal extinction, every thing tending to show how 

 it may be preserved will be exceedingly impor- 

 tant and valuable. Hence the advantage of the 

 meetings of the Club, to bring out the facts with- 

 in the cognizance of the different members, to 

 compare different modes of farming, and to pro- 

 fit by each other's experience. 



The committee understand their particular 

 duty on this occasion to be, to condense the in- 

 formation elicited at the meetings of the Club, 

 to arrange under appropriate heads the informa- 

 tion thus obtained, and to add such other facts 

 on the subject as may have come to their know- 

 ledge. 



They propose to present the subject in the fol- 

 lowing manner: 



First. — The cause and preventive of the rot. 

 Second. — The best varieties for the table, and 

 for stock. 



Third.— The soil most proper for their growth. 

 Fourth. — The manure most suitable for them. 

 Fifth. — The proper time for planting. 

 Sixth. — The size, and quantity most suitable 

 for planting : anil 



Seventh.— The best mode of planting and cul- 

 tivating them. 



First. — The cause and preventive of the rot. The 

 chairman is happy to say that this branch of the 

 subject will be specially reported by one of the 

 committee, whose earnest enquiries and philoso- 

 phical investigations will enable him to present 

 it in an entertaining and instructive manner. 



Second.— The best varieties for the table and for 

 stock. On this subject great difference of opin- 

 ion obtains— almost every new variety has its 

 advocate, while others maintain that the old 

 English while or yellow potato is the standard 

 of excellence for the table. It would be tedious 

 to enumerate all the kinds for which superiority 

 has been claimed. For the table in the early 

 part of the season, we are of the opinion that 

 the Mercers, better known among us as theChe- 

 nangos, are as good as any ; not perhaps as the 

 very earliest that can be had, but as an excellent 

 variety for the fall anil early part of the winter. 

 For a baking potato at all seasons of the year, 

 the variety known in some localities as the Lon- 

 don kidneys, have perhaps no superior; for boil- 

 ing, the English whites, the Carters and the Peach- 

 blows, are all excellent. The pink-eyes tire also a 

 good potato. For swine and stock, if quantity 

 alone determines, the long reds and the veto arc! 

 probably the best, as they are generally consid- 

 ered the most productive. 



It does not necessarily follow, however, that 

 the variety which will yield the greatest given 

 quantity per acre, is the most valuable, even for 

 stock. That kind which "ill give the greatest 

 per cent, of nutriment according to its weight, 

 would seem to claim the preference. 



The committee are not aware that this matter 

 has been sufficiently tested, so that it can be sta- 

 ted with any degree of certainty, which variety— 

 taking every thing into consideration— is the 

 most valuable for stork. 



Third.— The soil most proper for their growth. 

 So far as regards the quality for the table, a dry 

 gravelly soil is probably the best. The greatest 

 quantity to the acre has been produced on a 

 deep moist loam. Newly cleared land produces 

 better potatoes than old land, and land newly 

 broken up than that which has been long culti- 

 vated. 



Fourth.— The manure most suitable for them. 

 On this point it is believed that potatoes are nev- 

 er better in quality, than when grown on new 



broken up pasture land with nothing but plaster 

 for manure, or on land newly cleared and burnt 

 over without any dressing whatever. But long 

 manure from the yard or barn cellar, spread on 

 the land and ploughed or harrowed in, is much 

 used, and probably the greatest crops have been 

 produced by manure applied in that way. Com- 

 posts, lime, marl, bone-dust, poudrette, sea weed, 

 guano and other substances, are also used with 

 success as a manure for l lie potato. 



This plant being one of those which are sup- 

 posed to draw considerable nourishment from 

 the air, it would seem that the manure that will 

 push forward the plants most vigorously in the 

 early part of the season is the most suitable, and 

 guano being in the slate in which ammonia es- 

 capes most readily would on this supposition be 

 the best. 



Whether the theory will bear the test of expe- 

 rience, experience alone must determine. 



Fifth. — The proper time of planting. It is be- 

 lieved that as a general rule, early planting will 

 be found the best, both for the quality and the 

 quantity of the crop. A variation of the season 

 may produce a different result, but it is believed 

 that successful late planting will be found the 

 exception, and early planting the rule. So far 

 as the experience of the committee has gone, 

 anil they understand that most of the members 

 of the Club have had the same experience, it es- 

 tablishes the fact that those who have put in their 

 seed at the earliest moment the state of the 

 ground will admit of, have obtained better pota- 

 toes- a greater yield per acre, and have escaped 

 to a far greater extent the disease that has proved 

 so destructive to the crop. 



Sixth. — The size and quantity most suitable for 

 seed. Until recently, the committee entertained 

 no doubts that large or medium sizeti potatoes 

 were the most suitable for seed : — late experi- 

 ments by members of the Club, and by men of 

 science in other parts of the world, go to shew 

 that on some accasions at least, those of small 

 size have produced as good crops as those of 

 large size. At the present price of potatoes this 

 is a matter of considerable consequence, because 

 to plant an acre of ground containing four thou- 

 sand hills with one potato to a hill, each weigh- 

 ing one pound, will require sixty-five bushels, 

 while if one-quarter of a pound weight of potato 

 to a hill will answer, it will require but sixteen 

 bushels to plant the same land, making a differ- 

 ence of forty-eight bushels of seed in the plant- 

 ing of a single acre; and if potatoes weighing 

 two ounces each will do just as well, the saving 

 will be proportionally greater. 



The committee however are not fully satisfied 

 with the experiments that have been made, and 

 find it difficult to give up the long cherished be- 

 lief that '* like produces like ;" and until further 

 experiments shall have settled the question, they 

 should be unwilling to rely entirely on " small 

 potatoes." 



Until better advised, therefore, they think it 

 safest to plant them of medium size at the rate 

 of from sixteen to twenty-five bushels per acre. 

 Seventh. — The best mode of planting and culti- 

 vating them. As a general rule, highly cultivated, 

 well tilled and well manured land, with the rows 

 from three to four feet apart, and the hills as 

 near as they can conveniently stand, say from 

 eighteen to twenty-four inches apart, the ground 

 stirred with the hoe or cultivator often enough 

 to keep it loose and porous, and prevent the 

 growth of every thing but the potato, will pro- 

 duce the greatest crops. 



They may, however, be raised easier and 

 cheaper. The mode prescribed by the president 

 of the Club, to spread the manure on the grass, 

 turn over the ground with the plough, make the 

 holes for the potato between the furrows with a 

 stick, plant them with the foot and hoe them 



