18 FARMERS' AND MECltANICs' JOURNAL. 



earth, soK! only for a dollar per bushel, they being injured in the 

 passage by the bilged air and fermentation, being bitter and bad, 

 whilst mine were as perfectly sweet and dry as when first dug. 

 What remained I shipped from St. Bartholomews to Jamaica, 

 where they arrived in equally good condition, and sold at a higher 

 price than they had brought at the former island ; some of these 

 casks of potatoes were put in a coal cellar by the purchaser at 

 Jamaica, and on examining them when I was leaving the island, 

 two months al^er, I found that they had in a very small degree, 

 sprouted, but that all their original tlavor was ])reserved. 



"Charles Whitlaw." 

 Tn order to preserve potatoes in sand or soil, it is not necessary 

 to pack them in casks or other vessels. They may be mixed with 

 a due quantity of the earth of the field in which they have grown, 

 and put into bins in cellars, or buried in holes dug in the ground. 

 The earth should be in such quantity as to keep them from the air 

 and tYom general contact v»'ith each other. Placed in tjiis manner, 

 they will not suffer from heat nor frost, if deposited in a cellar 

 which freezes. If surrounded by earth they will receive little or 

 no injury from frost. It is wrong to suppose, that the earth or 

 sand in which they are embedded, should be perfectly dry. Some 

 degree of moisture is necessary, in order to preserve the life of the 

 root. If the vital or vegetative principle be destroyed, they will 

 soon decay, by a sort of dry rot. They may, however, it is said, be 

 cut into slices, and dried in an oven or kiln, and will then remain 

 sv/eet and sound for years. We suppose that either the native 

 juice of the potato should be expelled by heat, or the vegetative 

 principle preserved by moisture, and a seclusion from the air. 



ON FOREST TREES, ORCHARD TREES. &c. 



Rensselaer School, Trot/, April 30, 1827. 



E§^f.cls of Light. — Clouds and rain have obscured the hemis- 

 phere during the last six days. In tliat time the leaves of all the 

 forests, which are seen from this place, have greatly expanded. 

 But they were all of a pallid hue, until this afternoon. Within the 

 period of about six hours, they have all changed their color to a 

 beaut' ful green. As the only eflicient change which has taken 

 place is, that we have a serene sky and a briglit sun, we may say 

 with confidence, that this change of color is produced by the action 

 of the sun's rays. 



Seven years ago next month, I had a still more favorable oppor- 

 tunity to observe this phenomenon, in company with the Hon. J. 

 Lansing, late Chancellor of this State. While we were engaged 

 in taking a geological survey of his manor of Blenheim, the leaves 

 of the forest had expanded to almost the common size, in cloudy 

 weather. I believe the sun had scarcely shone upon them in 

 twenty days. Standing upon a hill, we observed that the dense 

 forests on the opposite side of the Schoharie, were almost white. 

 The sun now began to shine in full brightness. The color of the 



