NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



32.: 



lailk into a pan jast taken out of boiling water, 

 nd covering it with another of the same. 

 ' It is said that a table spoon full of powdered 

 jaltpetre, stirred, a few hours before churning, 

 :nto as much cream as makes I'J lbs. of butter, 

 jirill prevent the flavor of wild onion, and pro- 

 jiahly any other taste o( foul pasture. 

 I The cream that rises first makes the choicest 

 .utter ; what comes afterwards is of an inferior 

 luality. We may thus make two qualities ot 

 Hitter. 



Butter cannot be made till the cream is somc- 

 vhat sour ; if you begin to churn before that 

 ime, half your' labor is lost in souring H, which 

 rouble a little vinegar, or one day's keeping 

 vill prevent. 



The following receipt makes a sort of cream 

 lighly relished in every English farm house : 

 Take common skimmed milk, beginning to 

 our, put it into a churn, and the churn into a 

 larrel, which till with hot water as high as 

 he milk in the churn ; cover all with a thick 

 ;loth, and let it stand six or eight hours. You 

 ,vill then (ind a thick sourish cream at top, 

 vluch is esteemed a great delicacy when eaten 

 A'ith sugar. Underneath is a thin watery liquid 

 vhich you separate from the cream as you 

 .ilease, but the best way is to draw it oft" by a 

 Spigot at the bottom of the churn. Nearly 

 Kilfthe milk becomes cream, the goodness of 

 ivhich depends upon the sourness of the milk 

 jsed, and the heat of the water in the barrel. 

 For these no positive direction can be given, 

 jut a few trials will easily determine. 



AGRESTIS. 



NEW ENGL-IND FARMER. 



SATURDAY, MAY 10, 18'23. 



The Farmer^s and Gardener"'} Remembrancer. 

 MAY. 



Plant more Potatoes. — Notwithstanding we 

 are very friendly to Indian corn, as well as a 

 variety of other crops which come into the cus- 

 tomary rotations of our New England farmers, 

 sti'l we think the potatoe on the whole, the 

 most valuable plant, which the bounty of Prov- 

 idence ever yielded to the necessities of man. 

 In some situations, and on some accounts, we are 

 inclined to the opinion that oats are a very prop- 

 er crop to precede potatoes. A writer in the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Repository (vol. t, 

 p. 331, 332,) says, '• It appears to us best, all 

 things considered, that the first crop at'ter turn- 

 ing over sward, should be oats. The reason 

 why an oat crop should precede a potatoe crop 

 is, that it not only pays well by its product for 

 the year's labor, but chiefly because it enables 

 ihe husbandman to deepen his ploughing, pre- 

 paratory to the second year's series in the ro- 

 tation." Mr. Henry Stevens, likewise, of Bar- 

 net, Vermont, who appears to be a very judi- 

 cious and experienced cultivator, in a commu- 

 nication, published in our paper (No. 33, p. 

 i^o8,) says, " I make oats, principally, and gen- 

 erally speaking, my first crop in the line of ro- 

 tation of crops ;" and it appears from the same 

 valuable communication, that corn, potatoes or 

 turnips were, generally, his second crop. Po- 

 tatoes, however, will answer a very good pur 

 pose as a first crop after land is broken up. 



We have already, in No. 36, p. 286, given 

 pretty copious observations relative to planting 

 potatoes ; etill, we believe something more may 



be prodtably said on tliis subject. The land 

 should be ploughed deep for this crop ; because 

 roots will commonly grow as low as the soil is 

 stirred, and no deeper. Anil the more the 

 ground is pulverized before planting the better 

 the crop. 



Perhaps green sward ground ought to be men- 

 tioned here as an exception. I have had the 

 largest crops on such land even with one plough- 

 ing, and that just before planting. 1 account for 

 it thus : Potatoes want air ; such land affords it 

 from the hollows under the furrows in no small 

 quantity, both fixed and putrid, and in the great- 

 est abundance towards the end of the summer, 

 when they require the greatest quantity of 

 nourishment. Those roots are accounted best 

 for eating, which arc raised without dung. 1 

 once had a middling crop, by putting a handful 

 of old weather beaten salt hay in each hill. 

 New land burnt, produces excellent roots, and 

 a large crop, without any manure but what was 

 made by the burning ; sometimes not less than 

 a peck in a hill.* 



It is a fashionable, and we have reason to be- 

 lieve it to be a profitable mode of raising Indian 

 corn and potatoes together in the same piece 

 by planting rows or drills of each alternately. 

 The advantages of this mode of culture are said 

 to be these. Indian corn, in order to afford the 

 greatest quantity of ears, requires to stand more 

 widely separated, than it is when grown in the 

 usual way ; while, at the same time, other plants 

 of smaller growth may be raised in the inter- 

 vals, without essentially injuring the growth oi 

 the corn. In this way, we are told, that nearly 

 one fourth additional product may be obtained. 

 We should, undoubtedly, be ridiculed if we 

 were to direct to soak potatoes in water before 

 planting them. We shall, therefore, give no 

 such directions, but merely state a fact. A per- 

 son told us he planted some potatoes which had 

 been accidentally water-soaked by water run 

 ning into his cellar early in the spring. He 

 could not say how long they were immersed in 

 water, but he said they were not fit for eating, 

 andhe apprehended that the vegetative principle 

 was destroyed. He planted them, however, to- 

 gether with some of the same kind, from the 

 same heap, which had remained above water, 

 and marked the hills where the soaked potatoes 

 had been planted. The soil was dry, and the 

 season, which followed, uncommonly so. The 

 potatoes which had lain in the water flourished 

 much better and produced much more abun- 

 dantly than those which had remained dry. 

 This accidental discovery, may, perhaps furnish 

 a hint leading to a useful result. We would, 

 at least, recommend to wet seed potatoes, in- 

 tended for a dry soil, and then to roll them in 

 plaister immediately before planting. 



There have been many complaints that the 

 best kinds of potatoes degenerate by being 

 planted m<\ny years in succession, and it be- 

 comes necessary to seek new varieties. These 

 may be obtained from seeds, but it is a trouble- 

 some process, and we believe, not alwa3's suc- 

 cessful. We are assured by a practical fanner, 

 that by selecting the largest and finest potatoes 

 for seed, for a series of years, he found the 

 kind to improve under cultivation. Here then 

 is an important tact to corroborate what is stat- 

 ed in N. E. Farmer, p. 286, recommending the 

 best and largest potatoes for seed. 



Mr. Bordley says, " if maize [Indian corn] is 

 •1 feet apart in the rows, and the interval ground 

 between the rows 7 feet, the clusters or hills of 

 maize are 15.'J0, say loOO on an acre. Between 

 the hills of maize, in the rows, may grow cab- 

 bages or potatoes. One cabbage in that space ; 

 or two hills of potatoes, a foot apart. Along 

 the intervals turnips 10 or 12 inches apart; or 

 ruta baga the same distance, sown in May be- 

 tween the slope or space instead of cabbages." 

 The intervals themselves may be sowed with 

 turnips or ruta baga after the last hoeing of the 

 corn, at any time previous to about the first of 

 August. 



A writer tor the Bath Society papers, vol. 

 iii, page 106, says, " The potatoe sets should 

 be cut a week before planting, with one or two 

 eyes to each, and the pieces not very small ; 

 two bushels to an acre of unslacked lime should 

 be sown over the surface of the land as soon as 

 planted, which will effectually prevent the at- 

 tacks of the grub." Another writer in the 

 same collection, vol. vi, p. 346, says, " Lime, 

 marie, chalk, soaper's ashes and rags, do but 

 little good; and in some instances do harm." 

 We have no doubt but quick or caustic lime, 

 put into the hill at the time of planting, or in 

 any way coming in contact either with the seed 

 potatoes or the growing plants, will corrode and 

 injure them. But if applied to the top of the 

 soil at the time of planting the potatoes, it will 

 become so mild or effete as to do no injury to 

 plants, but in many cases produce a great bene- 

 fit as well to the soil as to crop. And if quick 

 lime effects nothing more than the destruction of 

 insects, its application is highly expedient. 

 Some other writers recommend lime as a ma- 

 nure for potatoes on cold moorish soils. We 



* Deane's N. E. Farmer, Art. Potatoe. 



think it worth the trial, with the precaution^ 

 mentioned above. 



Another British writer advises to cut large 

 potatoes, when planted, into slips of about two 

 Gun'"es in weight each, and says that "large po- 

 tatues planted whole at any distance, and whole 

 potatoes or pieces at a nearer distance than 

 twelve inches in the row, send forth so many 

 stems, that like cattle on over-stocked pastures, 

 they starve each other, and the produce is 

 dwarfish. Shoots, small pieces, and potatoes 

 confined to one stem, or a very few, resemble 

 cattle upon pasture not nearly stocked; which 

 therefore, cannot make proper returns to the 

 owner." He likewise asserts that " an acre of 

 'jerij large potatoes would require a quantity of 

 seed so great as to deter any person from plant- 

 ing them ; nor is it likely, that the productive- 

 ness of potatoes will continue to increase with 

 their size. There is certainly a maxirnmn and 

 minwuim, a ne plus ultra in the quantity of pota- 

 toe seed, as well as in every thing else. The 

 middle sized of the human species, as well as 

 the ditTerent species of other animals, are the 

 best calculated to undergo labor and fatigue ; 

 they are, therefore, more ])erfect in their kind, 

 and consequently fitter to answer all the purpo- 

 ses of their creation. May we not argue from 

 analogy, that potatoes of a moderate size are 

 the most perfect in their kind, and consequently 

 the best fitted to send forth those vigorous 

 shoots, which ensure a healthy progeny ? This 

 reasoning, he says, is confirmed by a great num- 

 ber of experiments made with whole potatoes, 

 cut potatoes, and large and small potatoes," We 

 do not wish to be responsible for the correct- 



I 



