170 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 21, 182; 



From Loudon's Gardener's Magazine. 



Restoring Vegetable Life. — This object may in \ 



On the Culture of the Potato, in respzct <o £<xWi. "'""y/ascs be effected by a powerful stimulant, 

 ness, the Curl, the fVorm, and other Circumstan. and, for all practical purposes, nothing is better 



It has been a very old custom to obtain potatoes 

 for sets from cold situations and pour soils, it be- 

 ing conceived that a change from such a soil nnd 

 jlimate would make them grow better and more 

 luxuriant in rich soils and warm siiuations, like 

 removing an animal from a cold coun:ry and short 

 pasture to the rich pastures in the vTOnii valleys. 



I have endeavoured to trace the effects, long and 

 well known, to their true causes, ard to combine 

 the whole in one connected system, which, if 

 correctly attended to, will produce every variety 

 of the potato si.'c weeks earlier than they arc at 

 jtresent obtained, without any additional trouble 

 •ir expense whatever. 



Obtaining a crop si.'c weeks eailier thai usual is 

 111 object deserving the highest consideration; its 

 (loming into use at the season of the year when 

 the poor man's garden affords him no new vegeta- 

 'tiles, when the stock of the old potatoe.s is become 

 Bhort and dear, and, withal, so bitter, unpalatable, 

 and unuholesome; to have then a crop of new 

 potatoes is a delicacy indeed, especially to the poor, 

 vlepending so much for their suppoit upon the 

 ^>otato; still more so to the Irish poor, to whom 

 Oie potato may be said to be the staff of lift 



than hot water, as any person may prove to him 

 self with a withered nosegay. Camphor, howev- 

 er, is a still more powerful stimulant ; and, by 

 combining this substance with water by the me 

 dium of alcohol, as much can be effected in the 

 way of restoration to life, as is practicable in the 

 vegetable kingdom. In the Transactions of the 

 Prussian Gardening Society directions are given 

 for dissolving the camphor in alcohol to satura- 

 tion, by adding it till it remains solid at the bot- 

 tom of the vessel. The alcohol so prepared is to 

 be added to water in the proportion of four drops 

 to an ounce, and the two fluids beat toi/ether, till 

 the flocculi of camphor disappear. Plants or parts 

 of plants arc then to be immersed in this liquid, but 

 not longer than four hours ; for, if the vital prin- 

 ciple cannot be restored in that time, they may be 

 considere'l irrecovertil!!.- 



li'alchina ilii .3u>a/./,i/(^ of iitr.i. — I'lie hive is 

 placed upon a weighing beam, sboui, three feet 

 eifflit inches long, with a board on the other end, 

 on which stones of the weight of the hive are 

 put. When the bees began to cast, (an ordinary 

 top swarm is between 41b. and 51b. wei ht,) and 

 when tiie fiist pound's weight of bees have left 



the hive, the beam will turn back a little, the 

 I have planted several ro.vs of early pink-eyes ■ ^^^^ ^^ ^ merchant's scale does on the coun- 



romnpetubprs,whicharenowcom,ngup,almost.jg^. ^^^ ^^^j^^^ ^j^^ ^^.,1^ rests, it forces out a 



man's Land paper slates, that the female convicts 

 lately landed " are quite of a superior class of so- 

 ciety," and many compliments on t! eir personal 

 appearance and accomplishments. — British Farm. 

 Chronicle. 



Porter plaster for bruises. — This simple, siugu- 

 lar, and safe remedy for bruises, is nothing more 

 tlian a gallon of porter simmered in an earthen 

 vessel, till, when cool, it will be of the consist- 

 ence of a plaster. This preparation v;as spread 

 on avi old glove, and applied round the ancle of a 

 coachman, who was thrd|in off his bo>;, and mis- 

 erably bruised. In three days it so effectually 

 performed a cure, that Coachce was enabled to 

 rs-mount his box, perfectly relieved from all swe!- 

 lirg and pain. — Eng. Receipt Book. 



Mechanical or Artificial Leeches. — This instru- 

 ment has been invented by Mr. Salandier, and 

 acts as an equivalent to leeches. Its advantages 

 consist in extracting the precise quantity of blood 

 thai is wanted to be taken from the patient ; — in 

 withdrawing the fluid with every desirable des- 

 patch and gentleness ; — in not causing that re- 

 pugnance, which naturally attends the application 

 of disgusting insects or worms ; — in not causing 

 any injury — and finally, in being practicable in. 

 every station, climate, situation, and country. — 

 this instrument is manufactured at 1 ans, by the 

 Engineer Dumoutiez. 



all curled. Not a curl appears upon any of the 

 3ame variety from unripe tubers, although planted 

 within a few yards of each other. The laslantumn 

 feeing W'arm and long, enabled the worm to grow 

 stronger and more vigorous to attack the potato, 

 4n which it made holes, and therein, perhaps, 

 deposited its eggs, which, nourished by the heat, 

 acquired life and strength ; and, after the potato 

 was planted and began to grow soft, it grew vig- 

 orous, and prf'yod upon its sap, rendering the 

 elant weak and curled. I am inclined to think 



trigger, like the pin of a mole-trap, which lets off 

 a small iron wire to a bell in the house, that gives 

 sufficient warning to the bee-mother to go and 

 take care of the swarm. The above method has 

 been practised for several years by Mr. Duncan, 

 gardener, near Ayr (Glasgow Chronicle.) 



SHEEP. 



Numerous droves of sheep, containing (alto- 

 gether) as many as five or six thousand li-'ad, 

 have been diiven through this town, westwordly, 



that the worm is the cause of the curl ; and that, | this fall. The who e number sold in this State 

 »f potatos intended for sets wer" taken up before I niay be computed at 20,000. The prices '.vhich 



tieinc ripe (before they are full grown), the worm 

 •vill not have attacked them ; and that, if it has, 

 exposing the potatoes to the sun, as I have des 

 Iribed (vol. ii. page 171.), will kill the worm be- 

 fore it has deposited any of its eggs. This hint I 

 submit to your intelligent readers I must own, 

 ♦lowever, that it requires more experiments than I 

 (have yet made, to come to a final conclusion on 

 • he subject. 



The worms prevailed last autumn in the potato, 

 fir that destructive degree, that they consumed 

 Biuch of the wheat sown upon the potato ground, 

 fiefore they were destroyed by the frost. In this 

 and the adjoining counties, in almost all the 

 ."tfound where potatoes were grown, large patciies 

 appear naked, without a plant of wheat, although 

 tte plants now remaining are strong and healthy. 

 Allow me to impress on the minds of your read- 



they have brought have been only from thirty 

 seven and a half to seventy-five cents, average 

 about fifty cents a head I — though a considerable 

 portion were much improved by the Merino cross. 

 Wliat would these animals have been worth, if 

 the farmer's Bill had passed the last Congress ? 

 Not less, we would judge, than two dollars c head. 

 Frankfort, (Ken.) Reporter. 



I CHILDREN. 



j The following from the Middlesex Gazette, upon 

 [he management of children is correctly conceiv- 

 ed : 



j Very few boys will bo insulting, or mischiev- 

 lous, or backward at school, who a.e properly man- 

 aged at home. And a mnjority of parents, being 

 tired of the nrise, rogu^■ry and ill behaviour of 

 their children at home, send them to school with 

 no rules or lessons for their conduct, e.\pecting 

 the master in the pienlitudc of his wisdom and 

 leisure to make them fine scholars, and fine gen- 

 tlemen, and amiable men and women all at once, 

 and all this is e.-cpected many times without a 

 frown or blow, as though it were perfectly easy 

 for a school teacher to make of forty boys at 

 school, what a parent cannot make of two at home. 

 " The milk of human kindness" in children is often 

 spoiled at home, and parents wonder they do not 

 grow right up at once, just as they ought to in 

 every particular, under the tuition of their teach- 



JVew South fValcs. — The cultivation of sugar 

 appears to make rapid progress in tliis colony. — 

 Two vessels laden with sugars of the new crop 

 sailed for England in June last. Mr John Macar- j 

 thur has been indefatigable in bringing forward 

 improvements in agriculture, and particularly the 

 wools of the colony. 17.j,000 acres of Ian I on this 

 side of the mountains are to be measured forth- 



with, and appropiated as a glebe to the Australian 

 ars the facts, that taking up the potatoes intended i Church. This quantity is independent of the grant, 

 (oY seed next year before they are ripe (before for the like use, over the mountains. 200,000 a- 



l^ey are full grown), and exposing them to the 

 iftfl for a month or six weeks, and, at planting 

 iaae, observing the eye cut and placing it up- 

 ward, will secure, without any other trouble or ex- 

 ^wse, a crop of every variety of the potato, six 

 vueeks earlier than the same variety of the potato, 

 ?• .^l.J'>w(?d to grow ripe, will produce. 

 ^ am, Sir, &c. 



A Denbighshire Gardcntr. 



cres also, at Van Dieraan's Land, are destined to 

 become the property of the Church. An order 

 was made by Sir Thomas Brisbane, previous to 

 his depa: ture, for the appropriation of 20,000 acres 

 of land to the VVesleyan Missionaries, wlio are 

 employed in the conversion of the aboriginal na- 

 tives of this country. In mentioning the improve- 

 of these distant colonies, we should undoubtedly 

 notice the advance in politeness. The Van Die- 



Remedy for Chilblains. — Soak them in warm 

 bran and water, then rub them well with mustard 

 seed flour ; but it will be better if this is done 

 before they break. 



MANAGEMENT OF PIGS. 



The following experiujent was made by a gen- 

 tleman of Norfolk. Six pigs of the Norfolk breed, 

 and of nearly equal weight, were put to keeping 

 at the same time, and treated the same as to food 

 and litter for about seven weeks. Three of them 

 were left to shift for themselves as to cleanliness; 

 the other three were kept as clean as possible by 

 a man employed for the purpose, with a curry- 

 comb and brush. The last consumed in seven 

 weeks fewer peas by fve bush'is, than the other 

 three ; yet they weighed more when killed by 

 two stone and four pounds [thirty-si.x pounds], 

 upon an average, or six stone twelve pounds [108 

 pounds] upon the whole London paper. 



