208 [Assembly 



potato disease, while their neighbors were entirely de troyed. 

 The preparation of the soil for the potatoe should consist in very 

 deep disintegration with the subsoil plow, run in the bottom of 

 the furrows, made with a two-way plow, for the introduction of 

 the potatoe. This gives full depth for the running of the roots. 

 The potato should then be dropped whole in these furrows and 

 covered with three inches of dirt. As soon as the vine makes its 

 appearance, another three inches should be added, after which 

 flat cultivation by horse-hoes and cultivators should be pursued ; 

 thus the six inches of d^pth claimed by Beatson would always be 

 maintained. The original tubers that first set upon the stems 

 would alone appear, and all the pabulum collected by the roots 

 and furnished from the atmosphere to the leaves would go to per- 

 fect these first tubers, producing them at or near the same size; 

 whereas if the vines have earth placed about them to a higher 

 point, the new tubers which will of necessity appear will rob 

 those originally formed of their pabulum without perfecting 

 themselves, thus rendering the crop of inferior quality. Some 

 six years ago I commenced the cultivation of the mammoth nut- 

 meg potato. This is a small potato, yielding but an ordinary crop 

 under ordinary cultivation. I have, how^ever, on one occasion 

 succeeded, by adding J)recisely the missing constitutents of the 

 soil, ascertained by analysis as wanting, in raising 350 bushels per 

 acre, but generally with ordinary cultivation the crop of mam- 

 moth nutmeg is not so large as the mercer, and very much less 

 than that of the merino and other cattle feeding sorts. The qua- 

 lity of this potato, however, is superior to any other. It may be 

 ripened in favorable situations by the 20th of June, and will be 

 as hard and firm the following spring as when first dug ; and 

 whatever may be the size, and however new, they are mealy and 

 fine flavored when cooked. Mr. James Campbell, of Weston, 

 Somerset county, N. J., has cultivated this potato, every year 

 planting his largest tubers, until he has more than doubled their 

 size, and he now produces them equally as large as the mercer. 

 I have sold all my crop for six years at $2 per bushel for seed, 

 and never have been able to supply the demand. The various 

 recommendations which have appeared relative to the mode of 

 arresting the disease have not proved specifics, with the exception 



