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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the New En{iland Fanner. 



A NICE POTATO PATCH. 



Mr. Editou : Having recently made a flying ex- 

 cursion through a section of the granite state, the 

 interests of agriculture received a due share of my 

 attention. It was indeed a flying excursion, for with 

 the present well-arranged facilities for travelling in 

 that direction, no other term would express the speed 

 with which one may progress. Such is the perfec- 

 tion of these facilities, that it might seem that no 

 further advance can be made therein, unless bales 

 of merchandise and cars of men, women, and chil- 

 dren, shall hereafter be transported on magnetic 

 wires, as we now send billet-doux and price cur- 

 rents ; a thing not very probable, but as much within 

 the imaginings, as the other was twenty-five years 

 ago. 



However, my object is not to give an essay on the 

 wonders of steam or electricity, or even of their con- 

 sequents in the growth of villages and cities, as if 

 under the influence of magic. Here, indeed, tViC 

 field is ample, and is filled with incident surpassing 

 the utmost limits of romance in the past age. What 

 would then have been considered high-wrought fic- 

 tion is beginning to appear tame and insipid, com- 

 pared with tho real wonders in science and art, now 

 as familiar as household words. It is a truth which 

 receives universal homage, that the human intellect 

 is just waking up from a deep sleep — is just, as it 

 were, bursting asunder a prison-house which bound 

 it with a despotism as firm as the body may be en- 

 ' slaved by statutes, and chains, and bars of iron. We 

 behold its achievements, but cannot, at first, feel 

 that they are realities. We are half inclined, not- 

 withstanding the evidence of our senses to the 

 contrary, to suppose the whole a mere dream of 

 delusion. 



Nor is this effervescence of genius, if it m.ay be so 

 termed, confined to the use of steam, of magnetism, 

 or mechanical power. The bosom of the earth, as 

 if under some hitherto unknown spasmodic influence, 

 is participating in kindred developments. It was 

 feared that tho eastern portion of our country was 

 worn out and becorao worthless, like an old garment. 

 Such is not the fact. We are beginning to witness 

 results in agriculture as unexpected and as much 

 surpassing calculation, as those in science generallj' 

 and the mechanic arts, to which allusion has been 

 made. Who, a few years since, would have dreamed 

 of here raising forty tons of turnips, or eleven hun- 

 dred bushels of carrots, on an acre of land ? Who 

 would have thought the meanr. of fertilizing it so 

 simple and so abundant? The processes of our 

 fathers in agriculture were seemingly as inefficient 

 as were those in machinery ; and now the farmer 

 who undertakes to produce corn, or hay, or esculent 

 roots, with as little regard to fertilizing agents as 

 the}' had, would be esteemed as much behind the 

 age, as to transport his jn'oduce two hundred miles 

 by an ox team requiring two full weeks, when he 

 might do it in two days on a railroad, at a fourth 

 part of the expense. 



On reaching the capital of New Hampshire, know- 

 ing that Hx-Govcrnor Hill, for the last ten years, has 

 devoted himself mainly to agriculture, we were in- 

 duced to call on him, to witness his success. This 

 we did not doubt ; for a man that once understood 

 political management so well as he did, would be 

 obundantly competent, if disposed, to cultivate the 

 ground. We were not mistaken. Our anticijiations 

 were realized. We were richly paid for the delay 

 occasioned. Governor Hill, like a man of sense, no 

 more digs in the filth of politics. For the period 

 named, he has done little of such labor, unless to pick 



a good bone that may have been thrown to him. 

 Now, dear Whig reader, do not be alarmed. Isaac 

 Hill, if a Democrat, is raising as good hay, and corn, 

 and rye, and squashes, and potatoes, as any Whig in 

 the state. Yes, according to recent calculation, he is 

 raising this very year twice as many potatoes as are 

 growing on the farm of Daniel Webster — good Whig 

 potatoes, not a rotten one to be found in the whole 

 field. We wish poUticians generally would follow 

 the example of these two gentlemen in the particular 

 of which Ave are speaking. 



We had no sooner exchanged civilities than an 

 invitation was given to accompany him on an excur- 

 sion over his farm. The invitation was of course 

 accepted. In a few minutes, we were on a drive to 

 his farm, lying mostly on the eastern side of the 

 Merrimac Kiver. His farm consists of three or four 

 hundred acres of land — we were not particular to 

 take notes, as we now wish we had done — perhaps 

 a sixth part of the rich interval on the west bank 

 of the river, and the balance of sandy pitch-pine 

 land. The latter, till his own experiments with it, 

 was deemed worthless for agricultural purposes, and 

 cost him only about five dollars an acre, timber and 

 all. The timber was worth more than the cost of 

 the land. We believe it is five or six years since he 

 began to cut the timber and to till the soil. Ten or 

 fifteen acres annually yielded to the axe and the 

 harrow, and a good crop of rye was the result. Suc- 

 ceeding to this, tho plough with a span of horses, 

 and a subsoil plough with six oxen, among tho roots 

 and stumps of trees, upturned and loosened the upper 

 strata, to the depth of sixteen inches. A muck bed 

 in the vicinity contributed freely its fertilizing prop- 

 erties, and good clover rewarded the enterprising 

 proprietor for his labor. Next in order comes a crop 

 of potatoes ; and, it would be difficult for any one, 

 who has not witnessed it, to realize, what skill and 

 indomitable perseverance in agriculture can accom- 

 plish. Although we were delighted with his subsoil 

 ploughing then in progress ; with a large rye field ; 

 with several Indian corn fields ; with barns filled 

 with hay that would have elated the largest farmer 

 in the country ; yet we most admired his potato 

 field, on this pine timber land, which we had known 

 from childhood, and considered worthless. 



Perhaps of this description of land there were 

 under cultivation, in the same or contiguous enclo- 

 sures, about sixty acres, and one third of it com- 

 posing the potato patch in question. Our impression 

 is, that no manure had been used on it, but a compost 

 made in the ordinary manner, and a moderate quan- 

 tity of African guano ; yet, what potatoes ! We 

 pulled up samples here and there all over the field, 

 and found an increase upon the seed of about twenty 

 per cent, in weight, and in some cases numerically ; 

 that is, twenty new tubers for the single one used 

 for seed. What he has already dug, and from the 

 produce last year of an adjoining patch, he estimates 

 his crop this year at four thousand bushels. As soon 

 as harvested, they are to be conveyed to Boston by 

 railroad, a distance of sixty miles, and deposited in 

 cellars till demanded in the market, then yielding him, 

 it is estimated, — such is their excellence, — at least 

 one dollar per bushel ; or four thousand dollars for 

 the entire crop this season. What an example for 

 the imitation of his neij^hbors and fellow-citizens ! 

 What an example, especially, for retiring politicians, 

 and retiring merchants or professional gentlemen ! 

 Here, the wane of life, rich in varied experience, and 

 with means to impart it to others, may continue, to 

 its very termination, to bless the world ; and hence, 

 in tho retrospect, to yield to those who do it the 

 purest delights. And, by the increased mental and 

 physical verdure acquired amidst rural avocations, 

 they may add a large percentage to the number of 

 their own years, as well as to their joys ; thus making 



