37 



One of our most judicious cultivators planted his potatcs -with- 

 out any manure and covered the ground -with meado-w hay and 

 stra-w. This prevents the gro-wth of -weeds and keeps the land 

 from drying in -warm -weather, and saves the labor of hoeing. 

 Another saturates the straw Avith brine and thinks it not only 

 promotes the growth of the tubers, but prevents the rot. Ano- 

 ther puts ashes and lime in the hill, -with excellent results, using 

 no other manure. Another ploughs in barnyard manure and 

 puts none in the hill. Another sho-wed a peat-meadow planted 

 Avith potatoes. The land being too soft for the feet of animals, he 

 dug holes, put in each a handful of stable manure, and Avith little 

 labor had an immense crop, at the rate of five hundred bushels to 

 the acre, and this Avithout rot.* Another in strong, rich land, 

 planted black Chcnangoes, Avith straAvy manure in the hills, and 

 the potatoes rotted badly. Another planted Avith a handful of 

 horn shavings in each hill, and raised a good, sound crop. Another 

 soAvs ashes and plaster broadcast over the tops Avhen they nearly 

 cover the ground, and believes that this treatment prevents the 

 rot. Others plough in guano for the same purpose. It is gen- 

 erally thought that guano, lime, phosphates, horn shavings and 

 other similar manures have a less injurious effect than strong 

 stable or barnyard manure, — though even those must be Avell 

 mixed Avith the earth and not suffered to come in direct contact 

 Avith the seed. 



No kind of potato is safe from disease. We hear it stated 

 every year that this or that sort of potato has not rotted. That 

 may be true for a single year, or for a fcAV years, but in process 

 of time, every kind degenerates in quality and yields a smaller 

 crop. This season, the black Chenangoes and Davis Seedlings, 

 formerly the soundest varieties, have proved no exception to the 

 general rule. We have seen no reason to modify our opinion ex- 

 pressed in a report several years ago, that the potato, from long 

 cultivation and the Avidest possible departure from its natural 

 habits, had commenced a process of deterioration Avhich could not 

 be prevented in any ncAv kinds noAv under culture. 



We have no expectation of finding a subsitute for the potato, 

 and therefore Ave look for its continued cultivation under such 



* Since the above -was written, the Patent Office Report on Agricnlture 

 has come to hand. From a liasty perusal, -we judge it to be the most vahi- 

 able volume that has issued from that office. On page 197, in an essay on 

 fertilizers, by Simon Brown, is the following passage : — " Muck is suitable 

 lor any lands, and may be used to advantage even on its own native beds. 

 Drain it so that no water shall stand permanently within fifteen inches of 

 the top; plough and add alkalies in the form of ashes, lime or plaster, and 

 it will produce abundantly of almost any crop of the farm. 1 have seen 

 garden vegetables growing luxuriantly on it; and since the rot has affected 

 the potato, that indispensable esculent has been raised on original muck 

 beds with better success than on any other land." 



