210 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



small quantity, with much pain and difiiculty, any rich grounds, or placns, where the water 

 turpentine iin.l ail other diuretics, are improper; Islands, after showers. Their vines frow too 

 mucilaginous drinks such as infusion of linseed, , luxuriantly in such situations, and their roots 

 and decoction of raarah mallows are most likely ; are softer and more watery 



to afford relief. 



The Farmer's Assistant asserts that this disor- 

 der has very rarely been known in this coun- 

 try. ( rO BE CONTI.MED.) 



sVVEET POTATOtS. 

 We have been requested by several of our friends to 

 furnish directions relative to tfce most approved mode 

 of cnKivaling the Sweet Fotatoe. The following 

 article is copied from the Boston Daily Advertiser of 

 October 27, 1821 ; and the signature attached to it, 

 may preclude the necessity of our declaring that the 

 mode of culture which it prescribes may be relied on 

 as correct. 



Directions for the prcscrration of the Slips of the 

 S-u'cet Potatoes, and for their cultivation. 

 The Slips are nothing more than the sjnali 

 potatoes or roots last thrown off by the plant. — 

 They are preferred to larger ones on the sev- 

 eral grounds, of economy, of food and of room 

 — of their being more easily preserved, and less 

 Ukelyto rot in the ground after they are plant- 

 e^. Tiie writer of this, during fifteen years, 

 never succeeded in getting more than one large 

 sweet potatoe to vegetate or grow in the open 

 ;>T0und. The ignorance of the mode of culture 

 lias probably been the cause of their not having 

 teen raised here. 



The slips should be put up for prcsenation 

 without bruising them (or as the directions from 

 New Jersey expressed it, they should be han- 

 dled as carefully as eggs) in a dry state, in per- 

 fectly dry sand or earth, and kept in a warm 

 place as free as possible from moisture. 



Those who wish to be perfectly assured of 

 their success, will raise a small hot bed with, or 

 •without glass about the jptb of April, on the 

 south side of n fence, wall or building. — On this, 

 they will lay the slips or roots so close as to 

 touch each other, so that a bed of sis feet 

 square will be sufficient for a bushel of them. 

 They should then be covered with about an 

 inch of earth. If the cultivator has no hot bed 

 frames, the bed at night may be covered with a 

 mat or with straw. 



In 10 or 1 ! days some of the shoots will ap- 

 pear above ground ; when about one half or 

 even a third so appear, they are all to be taken 

 up to be planted. The lightest soils are best 

 adapted to them. As their roots almost univer- 

 sally strike downwards, like those of the carrot, 

 they are always plac<>d on hills rauff/ about nine 

 inches, or about the height of a potatoe hill, af- 

 ter its lust fait) fid hoeing. These hills should 

 te four feet and a half apart in every direction. 

 The slips, two in each hill, one foot apart, are 

 then put in either with the fingers, or a stick, 

 or any instrument capable of making a sufficient 

 hole, and the crown or top should be within an 

 inch or hall' inch of the surface. \Vhen thus 

 started or sprouted, it will be easy to distinguish 

 the end which sends out roots, from that which 

 puts forth shoots for the open air. The slips 

 should be put in perpendicularly or nearly so, 

 the root end downwards. They would grow 

 without this precaution, but would be delayed 

 and injured in their growth. A little dung dug, 

 or hoed in, will much aid their progress, unless 

 the laud be rich. They cannot beat moist, or 



The late season 

 was too wet to enable us to raise them in the 

 highest perfection, but a majority of them were 

 still very good. 



.\fter they are planted they require the same 

 treatment as the squash or pumpkin, that is, sim- 

 ply weeding them. In the Jerseys, they raise 

 the runnners from the ground when they weed 

 them, so as to prevent their taking root, which 

 they do more readily than any plant, and which 

 the Jersey farmere think injurious to the main 

 roots. The sub.scriber permitted nature to take 

 its course, but he should certainly make the tri- 

 al another year of the New Jersey method. 



The products for two successive years have 

 been at the rate of 220 bushels to the acre, with 

 no greater care, nor indeed so much as that be- 

 stowed on common potatoes. They were plant- 

 ed this year early in June, and were hilled 

 on the 10th of October, which is at least 45 

 days less growth, than they would have in com- 

 mon years, or if the seed had arrived earlier. 

 They will begin to be palatable and fit for ta- 

 ble about the 15th of September, or the 1st of 

 October, as the season may have been hot or 

 cold ; but the general crop ought not to be dug 

 till the vines are killed. They will endure 

 seven or eight successive hoar frosts after the 

 common potatoe stalks have been killed. So 

 many persons have applied for slips, that it was 

 the advice of some of them, that these hints 

 should be published. It is not pretended that 

 the culture is of any agricultural importance — it 

 is merely an horticultural experiment very plea- 

 sant to those who have a taste for such pursuits 

 — and also gratil'ying to those who love the 

 s-jt;cet potatoe. They certainly can be raised 

 here of excellent quality /«// as often as we can 

 raise good grapes, peaches, or even pears. 

 JOHN LOWELL. 



P. S. — They should not be gathered in by the 

 hoe, or even spade — they must be raised like 

 the carrot by the dung-fork. 



REPORT 

 OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, 



^ippoinled by the Legislature ofjVtw York. 



We have received, by the kindness of some friend, 

 (to us unknovfn) a long Report submitted by Mr. BuEi. 

 to the House of Assembly of the State of New York. — 

 It is a production of great merit, but its length pre- 

 cludes its insertion, entire, in our columns, at present ; 

 though we hope to find room for it hereafter. Ihe 

 following summary sketches of its contents, are taken 

 from the Albany Argus. 



On Friday last, Jan. 17, Mr. Buel, from the 

 standing committee on agriculture, made a long 

 and interesting report. This document occupies 

 twenty-two pages of manuscript, and is too long 

 to be published entire in a newspaper. We 

 shall endeavor to present an abstract that will 

 shew the substance and general objects of the 

 report. 



In the introduction, the report notices the im- 

 portance and necessity of having agricultural 

 pursuits aided and protected i<y the legislature, 

 it mentions the great excess of the value of im- 

 ports in our country, over thai of our own pro- 

 ductions exported ; and the inpiriou^ consequen- 

 ces to be apprehended, unless proper measures 



are adopted to preveni them ; ;in(i .n- -i-;. il.at 

 among Ihe measures best calculate! lo e.Tect 

 a reform, are — the improvement of agriculture — 

 the protection and encouragement of domestic 

 manufactures — a rigid economy in every depart- 

 ment of the government. 



The report next states, as a subject of regret, 

 that so little has been done for the encourage- 

 ment of agriculture, while almost every other 

 pursuit in life, has experienced the liberal and 

 fostering care of government. 



" If, then, agriculture is the fountain from 

 whose abundant streams every portion of our 

 country is watered and refreshed, — how impor- 

 tant is it that we should watch over it with pa- 

 ternal care — that we should disseminate its im- 

 provements, and endeavor to multiply its bles- 

 sings; — that we should elevate it to the rank of 

 a liberal and fashionable study, and call in the 

 aid of science, and of approved experience, to 

 enlarge the sphere of its usefulness. To effect 

 these desirable ends, your committee respectful- 

 ly recommend, that a law be passed, for estab- 

 lishing a school of agriculture, for the education 

 of our young men in the practice and theory of 

 husbandry." 



The report shews, that in no country are the 

 inducements to disseminate knowledge among 

 the agricultural class, so strong as in the United 

 States. And, anticipating the objection, that 

 the project of establishing an agricultural school, 

 might be considereil as an untried experiment, 

 states — that though in Great Britain no such 

 school has been established, yet that its place 

 has there been supplied by the liberality and 

 enterprise of several of the great land holders 

 of that country, and refers to several strong ca- 

 ses to illustrate the benefits which that country 

 has derived from the patronage these large land 

 holders have bestowed on the pursuits of hus- 

 bandry. 



The report next shews that the experiment 

 would not be altogether new ; that agricultural 

 schools have been established in Switzerland, 

 France, Prussia, Italy, and the Austrian States ; 

 and notices, particularly, the very celebrated 

 school at Hofwyl, in Switzerland ; which is ar- 

 ranged under the following heads : 



" 1. A pattern farm, designed to serve as a 

 model. This exhibits " the principle and the 

 application of all that has been found advantage- 

 ous, and, at the same time, the most accurate 

 practical details." 



" 2. An experimental farm, designed to ad- 

 vance the progress of the science and Ihe art, to 

 assist the labors of the pattern farm, and to give 

 exercise and instruction to the pupils. 



" 3. A manufactory of implements of hus- 

 bandry, of the most apjjroved models, for the use 

 of the school and for sale under the care of a 

 skilful mechanician. 



" 4. A school of industry for the poor. The 

 boys belonging to this school, taken from the 

 most indigent classes, are gratuitously instructed 

 by a competent master, who is constantly with 

 them. They are kept by themselves — receive 

 a good education, and are taught agriculture, 

 and some mechanic art, in shops attached to the 

 establishment, where most of the useful trades 

 are carried on. 



" 5. A boarding school for the children of 

 affluence, who are sent thither from the German 

 states as well as from the neighboring cantons. 

 The very complete education which these re- 



