NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



21 



to be good bearers and valuable fruit, never cutting 

 your limbs too near the trunk to make your top too 

 tliick and wounds too large. 



JESSE SMART. 

 Troy, Me., Dec. 1818. 



Editorial Remauks. 

 We have numerous instances of grain crops being 

 very injurious to orchards. Root crops may be ctil- 

 tivated to advantage among trees ; these keep the 

 ground light and mellow, and lead to deep and 

 thorough tillage. The ripened grain doubtless ex- 

 hausts the soil of some ingredients that are essential 

 to the trees or fruit. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 POTATO DISEASE. 



Ma. Editor : There is no topic, moral, religious, or 

 palitical, that has been so thoroughly discussed, with- 

 out arriving at any satisfactory result, as the potato 

 disease. For years our agricultural journals have 

 teemed with discoveries of cause and cure, and all the 

 remedies, lilte those of the patent nostrums of the 

 day. " Strike at the root of the disease, — Remove all 

 impure humors and restore health." 



And yet a strict adherence to the rules laid down, 

 (and which it is said were a sovereign remedy the 

 last season,) are a total failure this. — The "rot" 

 continues. One writer avers it is atmospherical 

 influence, caused by the extreme drj' and warm 

 weather. The next season is the reverse — extremely 

 wet and cold : a new discovery is made, that it is 

 occasioned " by the extraordinary humidity, com- 

 bined with a peculiar state of the atmosphere." 

 Some theorists attribute the disease to tiies, or other 

 insects. Others aver that the real cause of the evil 

 is " a fungus or mushroom of extreme tenuity that 

 breeds amazingly and reproduces itself by thousands." 

 Some have found a remedy in planting unripe tubers, 

 or in renewing from the seed ; others, in the use of 

 plaster, salt, lime, and ashes, have saved or destroyed 

 their crops. Mowing the tops when in blossom 

 has stayed the destroyer, at the expense of the crops. 

 But these visionary theories ai'e exploded. Each 

 succeeding year finds us as much in the dark as ever. 

 In 18-17, the early-planted and harvested potatoes 

 ascaped the rot ; the long reds and late potatoes 

 were nearly a total loss. In 1848, the case is re- 

 versed : the earliest planted and eaiiiest harvested are 

 the most affected, whilst the long reds and other late 

 varieties have universally escaped — showing con- 

 clusively, that no general rule can be safely adopted 

 in the cultivation of potatoes, to avoid the rot. 



All this strengthens our belief in the position wo 

 adopted some two years ago — that the cause and 

 grand panacea had not and never would be discovered. 

 It is as inexplicable as the caiise and spread of the 

 Asiatic cholera, and must ever be equally problem- 

 atical; yet we think the disease is on the decline, 

 and will in a few years cease to exist. Under these 

 impressions, our advice for the future is, plant just as 

 many potatoes as you would if the disease had never 

 appeared, manure them in the same manner, culti- 

 vate them in the same wa}% entirely regardless of 

 the delusive speculative theories of the thousand 

 and one writers who have discovered so many 

 sovereign reynedies, wliich are just about as valuable as 

 a last year's almanac. C. 



Pembroke, Dec. 184:8. 



Editorial Remarks. 

 Our correspondent is perfectly correct as to his 

 general views and conclusions about the cause of, 

 and remedy for, the potato rot; yet, notwith- 



standing all have failed to show the true cause, and 

 assign a sovereign remedy, much light has been 

 thrown on the subject, which greatly aids the culti- 

 vator. Many causes assigned are predisposing 

 causes, and some remedies recommended are par- 

 tial remedies or preventives. 



Wet lands and unfermcnted animal manures arc 

 predisposing causes that may be avoided, and this is 

 the case with other conditions or circumstances that 

 have an unfavorable inHuenco. Salt, plaster, lime, 

 charcoal powder, and other specifics that have been 

 recommended as remedies, though not sovereign, 

 often serve a valuable purpose as partial preven- 

 tives. 



Although early planting is not a sure guard 

 against the rot, yet it is measurably so, as in numer- 

 ous experiments, and on an average of years, early 

 planted potatoes, or those that are early by nature, 

 are less affected than late planted, or late A'arieties. 



Early diggiftg will not always save potatoes from 

 this malady ; yet it often lessens its effects, particu- 

 larly when we have warm, heavy rains in the fall. 



A few months ago, we stated that the best and 

 cheapest remedy (partial remedy, it should be 

 called) was the cultivation of hardy kinds, that were 

 not liable, or not very liable, to rot ; for every cxil- 

 tivator is aware that there is a great difference in 

 different varieties. AVIien we dug fifty kinds in 

 September, that were planted for experiments, which 

 was rather early, before many rotted, one kind, the 

 Stockbridge, a new variety, v«ry large and beautiful, 

 had rotted more than all the other kinds. 



PRESERVING SWEET POTATOES. 



We copy from the Southern Cultivator an article 

 on this subject, and though the mode of preserva- 

 tion may be good in a mild climate, a log cabin 

 would not be sufficient protection in a cold region ; 

 yet the method of preventing decay may be good in 

 all climates, and when further protection is necessary 

 against the cold, it may be effected by covering with 

 hay or litter. 



Last year I used a log cabin, unchinked, with dirt 

 floor, to save my sweet potatoes and plants. There 

 was a good lock on the door, and I lost none either 

 by rot or appropriation. Having gathered a large 

 quantity of pine straw and leaves from the forest, 

 I spread it down about six inches thick on the floor, 

 and then spread down potatoes a foot or more deep, 

 over this another layer of straw, and so on alternately, 

 until the potatoes were all housed. They kept per- 

 fectly sound, and better than any I have ever put 

 up. The lock secured them fi-om thieves. If S. 

 will try this plan, I think he will succeed. I believe 

 that they cannot be kept in a cellar. I have tried it, 

 and failed ; also tried double log cabin with inter- 

 filling of sand, and failed. It was too close ; they 

 must have air, be kept dry and dark ; the pine straw 

 absorbs any extra moisture in the heap. 



Boxes. — That world-renowned chemist, Liebig, 

 says that a single pound of bone dust contains as 

 much phosphoric acid as one hundred pounds of 

 wheat. From this we can easily perceive that there 

 are bones wasted on every farm in this state sufficient 

 to manure the entire wheat crop. This, to many, 

 wiU doubtless appear strange, but is nevertheless true. 



