No. 216.] «13 



application of manure. The object in sifting is to divide the parti- 

 cles of soil perfectly, and thus let in the gases; plaster of Paris acts 

 more mechanically than otherwise, it separates particles of soil from 

 •each other, but is not soluble in the soil. 



Judge Van Wyck. The rot in the potato has not yet been so bad 

 in our Eastern States as it has elsewhere. In this quarter the white 

 •and mercer potatoes have suffered the most virulent disease, many so 

 putrid that they could not be removed from their hills. 



Chairman. Last year the mercers planted, hardly returned the 

 amount of seed planted. 



Mr. Manice. I have the early sovereign potato; it is small, round, 

 of a light yellow tint. I have raised them for the last three or four 

 years, and have not had a rotten one among them, until last year, 

 when there was one or two potatoes in a bushel, rotten. These 

 potatoes are about the size of an egg, and gave me a beautiful yield. 



I tried guano on one piece of ground, and the best of barn yard 

 manure on the other. The potatoes manured with guano were fifty 

 per cent, more in quantity, and better in quality than those with the 

 barn yard manure. I pounded the guano, sifted it and sowed it in 

 the drills, using 2 quarts of it in a drill 90 feet long, and then stir- 

 ring the earth in the drill afterwards well with the hoe. I have now 

 about 2 acres planted in the same style, only I used a hand cultivator, 

 properly set, to stir the earth and guano in the drills. 



E. H. Ely. I have raised potatoes for the last three years, soil 

 light, put a table spoonful of plaster of Pari^ on each hill, planted 

 one small potato in each hill, had no rot, never saw better potatoes 

 than they were, had about sixty or seventy bushels an acre. They 

 were of a good size, but a few in a hill, uniform in size nearly. 



My farm is table land, about eight miles up the Connecticut river, 

 from Long Island Sound. 



Carrington Wilson, of No. 152 William street. New York, who 

 has English seeds for sale, presented to the Club for distribution, 

 seeds of Spring Tares, White Tartarian Oats, Black do, Hopetown 

 do, Talavera Wheat, Lucerne, Long Red Mangelwurzel, Yellow Globe 

 do, Reil Globe do, Italian Rye Grass, Pacey's do, Triifolium Incarna- 

 tion, Mixed Meadow Grass. 



