jl 84 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



April 





i) 



the first small potato from nothing, or from other 

 ingredients than such as Providence has fitted for the 

 purpose. A hill to each nine square feet, placing them 

 three feet apart in the rows both ways, with but little 

 seed in a hill, and not over four or five stems allowed 

 to grow in each hill, has given the cheapest and best 

 crops. If the land is sufficiently dry, hilling up the 

 earth is unnecessary and often prejudicial. Place 

 the seed not in a deep furrow, but on the same level 

 with the surface, taking care that the soil is well 

 pulverized at least six inches below tlie seed. In 

 covering potatoes when planted, the depth should vary 

 somewhat with the soil and season. The judgment 

 of the farmer. must decide in each case. One can 

 afford to give a bushel of potatoes at harvest for a 

 like quantity of good ashes to be used in making 

 the crop. 



The following is the composition of the ash of this 

 plant : 



Tubers. 



Carbonic acid. 13.4 



Phosphoric acid...- 11.3 



Sulphuric acid, 7.1 



Chlor.ne, 2.7 



Lime, 1.8 



Magnesia, 5.4 



Potash, 51.5 



Soda, trace 



Silica, 5.6 



Oxide of Iron 0.5 



Charcoal and loss, 0.7 



Haulm or Vines. 

 11.0 

 10.8 



2.2 



1.6 



2.3 



1.8 

 44.5 

 tra. 

 13.0 



5.2 



7.6 



100.0 100.0 



The above analyses were made by M. Boussing- 

 AULT, and are reliable. By deducting the carbonic 

 acid and loss, nearly 60 per cent of the ash of the 

 tuber is potash, and the vines are nearly as rich in 

 this mineral. 



POTATOES. 



Ik the February number of the Farmer I find some 

 remarks and inquiries in relation to planting large 

 and small potatoes. My father always preferred 

 large ones for planting — at least, those above medi- 

 um size, and was not particular about cutting them, 

 putting one in a hill. My own experience is this : 

 I have generally sorted my potatoes in the fall, feed- 

 ing out the small ones and reserving the others for 

 family use. In the spring, only the smaller ones of 

 my winter's stock would remain, and these I- have 

 used for planting. When, however, I have been ap- 

 prehensive of coming short, I have supplied niy.self 

 by cutting from those used for eating, a chip, or slice, 

 about half an inch thick, from that end of the potato 

 that contains the eyes. The product has always 

 been of good size, as well as abundant, whenever the 

 soil and the season have been favorable. I ought to 

 state, however, that as I purchase most of my win- 

 ter's supply, the small potatoes that I plant may have 

 been raised from larger seed. What the effect would 

 be, of planting small potatoes raised from small .■^eed 

 for several years in succession, I am not prepared to 

 say. Perhaps the result would be degeneracy. 



In the spring of 1849, ail my seed was such as 

 above described, and yet my crop was good. Some 

 that were planted on a kind of ridge formed of the 

 earth that had been thrown out of a ditch cut through 

 a low marshy soil, were first rate both in size ai.d 

 quantity. In digging the ditch, the first soil that 

 waa thrown out, consisting oi a black clay muck, 

 was covered with a gravelly clay loam from the bot- 



tom of the ditch. The potatoes raised on this soil, 

 from small seed, surpassed every thing raised in the 

 vicinity, and were admired by all who saw them. 

 Thoy were chiefly Mercers, English whites, and Sar- 

 dinia?, or flesh-colored. 



Seedlings. — It was at this time that I raised a 

 fine lot of seedlings, consisting of five or six appa- 

 rently distinct varieties. These I planted in the 

 spring of 1850, in the same garden with some half 

 dozen other varieties, consisting of Mercers, Sardin- 

 ias, several kinds of white, one of black, and some 

 of a pale red, or flesh-color, known here by the names, 

 Waterbury reds, Sandlakes, &i.c,, very similar to a 

 kind cultivated in Eome parts of New York, and 

 called by some " Western reds," if not the very same. 

 The soil was a deep, dark, clay muck, with a sandy 

 clay subsoil, very rich and moist. All the potatoes 

 .seemed to do well till about the time of flowering, 

 when I discovered indications of disease. The dis- 

 ease did not seem to spread much until the tubers 

 were about half grown, when the leaves appeared to 

 die suddenly, leaving the stems green. Examination 

 was wholly unsatisfactory. I immediately began to 

 dig them ; but they decayed so fast that in a few 

 days full three-fourths of them had perished. Some 

 that were sound when dug in the morning, would be 

 partially decayed in the evening, and reduced to a 

 pulp, with a fcEtid odor, the next morning. The 

 " Waterbury Reds" withstood the disease best ; the 

 seedlings were only second on the list. From a 

 piece of ground that would once have produced 

 twenty-five or thirty bushels, I obtained less than 

 one when I dug them at the close of the season. H. 

 —Down East, FeVy, 1851. 



SMALL POTATOES. 



Messrs. Editors : — I noticed an article in your col- 

 umns, recommending small potatoes for seed. As 

 that does not altogether agree with my experience, I 

 wish to communicate to you the result of an experi- 

 ment. 



I think it best not only to select the large potatoes, 

 but the best part of each should be used for seed. 

 Every seed in the potato commences its grovrth at 

 the small end, and are matured only as the potato 

 expands and they are brought over its surface by its 

 growth ; consequently the eye or seed at the small 

 end has not come to maturity. Who would be wil- 

 ling to run the risk of planting their crop of corn by 

 taking their seed from the small end of the ear, that 

 was not half grown or matured. 



The following experiment has been made : Selected 

 large potatoes, divided the eyes as nearly as possible 

 into three equal parts by cutting them crosswise. 

 The pieces next to the stem, or large end, were 

 planted in one row, the middle pieces in another row, 

 and the small end,s in the third row. They were all 

 equal in regard to soil and cultivation. At harvest 

 they were dug and kept separate, and each weighed. 

 The difference between those raised from the large 

 ends and the middle pieces were in favor of the for- 

 mer ; but the difterence between those raised from 

 the large ends and those of the small end.i, were in 

 proportion as one and a half tons to the acre in favor 

 of the former. Pleast to make the experiment for 

 yourself. A Subscriber. 



Bes^er by far not to start an object, if its pursuit 

 is to be abandoned at the first difficulty. 



