TRACTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, &c. 149 



tlie haulm is cut : and if furtlier trials should fully confirm what 

 is here related, the discovery of a new mode of culture would be 

 of infinite advantage, because the potatoe haulm, hitherto lost to 

 the farmer, would become valuable as a food for cattle and hogs ; 

 and would consequently be of great service when the pastures are 

 low ; and would also give him the means of enricliing his lands 

 with large quantities of valuable manure, which might be made 

 by consuming the haulm either as food or litter (or both) in his 

 farm yard.* 



Lettuce is an esculent which I have never observed here to be 

 injured b}^ the caterpillar or aphides. Its growth is quick, and it 

 may, I believe, be raised at all seasons. I lately ascertained its 

 produce per acre : which proves it might be a valuable acquisi- 

 tion to the hoggery, and an auxiliary food for cattle. The cir- 

 cumstances of the crop alluded to are as follows : 



On the 13th of August, last, a seed bed was sown with cos 

 lettuce, received from the Cape of Good Hope. It was trans- 

 planted on the 28th of September, at the distance of 15 inches 

 from plant to plant. On the iSth of November, although well 

 grown, the plants did not entirely cover the soil, wherefore, they 

 might admit of being set nearer to each other, that is, at one foot 

 asunder. In this case an acre would contain 43,560 plants. 

 Twenty plants cut close to the roots on the 13th of November, 

 vielded 16 pounds of excellent fodder ; consequently an acre 

 would produce 34,848 pounds, or about 15 tons. It is probable 

 it might even exceed this quantity, and that the average weight 

 of full grown plants might be one pound in three months ft-om 



* Rating the present potatoe grounds at one hunded and fifty acres, and tlie produce 

 of haulm at 4 tons per acre, this would be 600 tons of green fodder from one crop, or 

 1,200 tons from the two crops in the year. The practice here suggested, will, I trust, 

 attract the attention of the landholders. 



