Notes and Gleanings. 357 



been one dollar a bushel to the producers during the winter ; though at times 

 thev have risen as high as a dollar and twenty cents. 



The variety almost. wholly grown here for market and transportation is the 

 Orono, or, as it is locally termed, the " Foote " potato. When they arrive in 

 market, and are sold, they are quoted ''Jackson Whites ; " but the fact is, of the 

 many thousand bushels of potatoes which are sent out of this market annually, 

 not five hundred bushels are Jacksons. The reason why the Oronos are raised 

 in preference to the Jacksons is that they are more productive, and command 

 the same price in market. In general appearance, the two resemble each other. 

 The Jackson is of the better qualiiy, especially if grown in a wet season. It is 

 also a little earlier, and, as before stated, not so productive. The Orono is said 

 to have originated in the town of Orono, in Penobscot County, in Maine ; while 

 the Jackson originated in a town of that name in our own county. So you see 

 they are both local varieties, though they have obtained a wide-spread signifi- 

 cance. 



The potato-crop in Maine last year was light, being at least one-third less 

 than an average. The cause of this falling-ofif was a wet, late spring, and an 

 early rust, which killed the tops while the tubers were about two-thirds grown. 

 The average yield in this State is about a hundred and fifty bushels per acre ; but 

 last season it was not a hundred. The average price is about fifty cents a bushel 

 in this market ; but this year it is double that sum, so that the farmer who raised 

 more than required for consumption gets about as much money as though there 

 was a full crop. 



The method of cultivation pursued here differs somewhat with different 

 farmers. A common method is to break up an old sward in the fall or spring, 

 harrow, furrow, drop a shovelful of barnyard manure in hills two feet apart, and 

 plant the potatoes upon it. They are hoed once, and no other care given till 

 harvesting. Others plant on old ground in the same manner. Others, again, use 

 ground plaster in addition to the manure ; and a good many raise large crops 

 with only plaster, or sulphate of lime, as a dressing. The method of applying 

 the plaster is to first mix it with the seed as the potatoes are cut : this stops 

 their bleeding, and some of the plaster adheres to the cut potato. The seed is 

 then dropped without manure, and a tablespoonful of plaster put on it before 

 covering. After the sprouts have just broken through the soil, and the first 

 leaves are formed, another spoonful of plaster is applied ; and this is all the ma- 

 nuring the crop obtains. Fine crops of potatoes are obtained by this method : 

 though the system is not one to be recommended ; for the soil must be left much 

 poorer from each crop taken off. 



In their cultivation, the horse-hoe and cultivator are extensively used ; and, in 

 many cases, the hand-hoe is not used either in planting or hoeing. A man and 

 boy with a cultivator will plant and cultivate as many acres as ten men with the 

 hand-hoe. No machine for digging has yet come into general use. They are 

 dug by hand, sorted in the field, put into the cellar, and marketed during the 

 winter season. Geo. E. B. 



Belfast, Me., 1868. 



