G.—No. 37. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



293 



'l\iti lorination of a ii.nv territorial government 

 west of Lake Huron or the territory of Michigan, 

 is contemplated. Micliigan will soon claim ad 

 rnis-sjon in the union «s an indepemienl State. The 

 increase of this republic in wealth and population 

 is unparalleled. In .1 few years, at least three 

 more States will be added to the confederacy ; — 

 Michiijan, Ark.insas, and Florida. And west of 

 the two former, new territoria. governments will 

 necessarily be established. So we are destined 

 to progress, until the whol<> country between this 

 point and the mouth of Columbid river will be 

 divided into States, and subject to the doDiinion 

 of civilized roan. — Kentucky paper. 



Potatos. — Mr. Wm. Wilson states in the New 

 York Farmer, as the result of twenty years' ex- 

 perience, that the driest and best flavored potatos, 

 and the most abundant in crops, are produced on 

 strong heavy loams. He tried seven years to raise 

 them on sandy soil, but did not succeed ; the drier 

 the season, the more soft and watery was the pro- 

 duce of the sandy soil. 



Cornish copper mines — In the parish of Gwennap 

 alone, the copper ores sold in the last seven years 

 amount to £1,92'),0(IO. The last year the amount 

 was upwards of Jt;;J7.000; — besides what was re- 

 ceived for tin, fluor-spar, &c. and which may be 

 estimated at £50,01)0 more. 



Cost of iron in Europe — Russia old sable iron 

 costs from 57 to i62 per ton — the freight is ifiKt 

 the duty $18, and it sells from 95 to $100 per ton. 

 Swedes iron costs t57 per ton — the freight is $7, 

 the duty .$18, and it sells from 94 to $98 per ton. 

 Rolled iron costs in Englaml $44 per ton — the 

 freight is $3, the duty $30, and it sells at about 

 $82 per ton. The annual consumption of iron in 

 the United States is 97,000 tons — and of this, 

 29,635 tons are imported. 



Mode of keeping apples. — It seems not to be ge- 

 nerally known, that apples may be kept the whole 

 year round, by being, iiuincrsed in corn. If the 

 American applies were packed among grain, they 

 ^vould arrive here in much finer condi ion. In 

 Portugal it is customary to have a small ledge ;n 

 every apartment, (immediately under the cornice) 

 b.irely wide enouirh to hold an apple ; in this way 

 the ceilings are fringe.! with fruit, which are not 

 easily got at without a ladder ; while one glance 

 of the eye wi'l show if any depredations have been 

 committed Lon. Quart. Jour. 



Teasels are becoming quite an article of trade. 

 A single woollen factory, in the flourishing and 

 active manufacturing village of Sommersworth, 

 N. H. which consumes annually 100,000 lbs of 

 wool, uses 900,000 teasels a year, worth, at $3 a 

 thou.^and, $2,700. 



JVeio potatos were brought into this market and 

 sold, (says tne Pennsylvnnia Gazette of the ■i2d of 

 March,) iwo or tliree days ago. We have before 

 us a dozen, all about the size of walnuts. They 

 were raised in Jersey, three miles from this city, 

 in the open ground, in the ordinary way, without 

 .irtificial heat or forcing. Shad, also, are abund- 

 ant, at 37^ cents each. 



Improvement .in stock. — Mr. Erastus Harris, of 

 Chesterfield, has raised a bull calf, which on the 

 6th inst. (at the age of one year) weighed, alive, 

 seven hundred and thirty-two pounds. 



Dag Mill. — .\n ingenious Mechanic — Mr. Math- 

 ias, of this city, has in operation in King-street, a 

 Mill for sawing timber for Sashes and Window- 

 Blinds, driven not by steam power nor water, nor 

 cattle power, but by Dog power. Four dogs be- 

 long to the establishment. They are worked two 

 at a time, for about fifteen minutes, when the 

 team is taken ofi", and a relay of the two other dogs 

 put to labour. They travel on the circumference 

 of the inside of a wheel about 12 or 15 feet in di- 

 ameter, which gives motion to the machinery 

 which drives a circular saw with great velocity. 

 It requires some days and some art to break a dog- 

 1)1. It is really amusing to observe the sagacity 

 of these animals. They are taught a practical 

 lesson that, indus'ry is necessary to animal wel- 

 fare. The cost of keeping' four dogs is estimated 

 at only 6d. per day. — Troy Sent. 



Esser Beef. — A yoke of o.i;en seven years old. 

 from West Newbury, were slaughtered at New- 

 buryport last week, and sold at seven dollars per 

 hundred. The nett weight of one was 1509 lbs. 

 The other, 1571 lbs. and each had upwards of 180 

 lbs. of tallow. 



The Mercer Potato. — The best of all roots of the 

 potato kind, called by this name, is the production 

 of a neighboring St.ite It has been a question 

 amon.' our farmers for many years, whether it was 

 produced by an improved mode of raising them, or 

 whether it was a foreigner. We are at length 

 enabled to settle this question, by the assistance 

 of a kind friend. He says the species of potato 

 called Mercer, was originally raised in Mercer 

 county, Penn, by a gentleman of the name of Gil- 

 key, and are there called Nophaiinocks, from the 

 name of a creek which passes through that coun- 

 ty- About twenty years since, this gentleman 

 planted the apple, or ball of a potato, from which 

 has sprung this delightful root — Dela. Jldv. 



where in the worl.l to the same degree of perrec 

 tion as in Irehind and Lanca,>5hire, and not even in 

 the South of England, so well us in Scotland and 

 the north and western counties ; all which is, in 

 our opinion clearly attributable to the climate." 



Although a /(g/i( lo:im is a proper soil for the 

 potato in a cool and moist cliuiale, a strong and 

 heavi/ loam is most suitaole for the same root in a 

 dry and hot climate. In a paper read before the 

 New York Horticultural Society, in 1023, by Wm. 

 Wilson, an e.xperienced horticulturist, are the fol- 

 lowing remarks on this subject: "Those soils, 

 which prove the very bane of the potato here [in 

 the United States] are just such as prove the most 

 congenial for them in BritMJn. And so on the con- 

 trary, the h.'st soils, by tar for producing the driest 

 and best flavored potatos here, and altogether the 

 most abundant crops are those of a strong heavy 

 lo:im." These assertions are corroborated by a 

 number of experiments, mentioned in the paper 

 from which tliey are e.\tractcd. Mr. Buel of Al- 

 bany, likewise asserts, that "the best potatos, pre 

 grown upon cold, moist, but porous and rioh 

 soil.'." 



Methods of Planting. These are various. If 

 the land is rough, hard, or strong, the common 

 mode of planting in hills, is, perhaps, the most ex- 

 pedient, liut if It be somewhat mellow, drills arc 

 to bn preferred. Dr. Cooper says, "if your soil is 

 stiff and wet, plough it in ridges ; if sandy and 

 dry, plough it flat. Plough it deep. Plant your 

 sets in drills marked out by the plough or the h"-^. 

 The plants should be dibi,led in, six inches deep, 

 on long dung, scattered not sparinsly, along the 

 drills — then covered with about four inches of 

 mould. 



The drills should be in threes - one foot 



apart ; the plants should be eight inches apart, 

 with an Bilerval, on each side of each set of three 

 drills, of two feet, which will admit of horse hoe- 

 ing between the sets of drills, and of hand weed- 

 ing between each drill. 



Good Beef. — Mr. Artemas Lawrence, of Jafi'rey, 

 N. H. has raised, and lately butchered a row and 

 her calf, weighing as follows : The cow, 9 years 

 old, hide, 100— tallow, 15.'>— quarters, 995— total, 

 12.5<5 pounds. The heifer, 30 months olil, hide, 

 104 — tallow, 56 — quarters, 677 — total, 877 lbs. 



NB'W ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 1828. 



POTATOS. 



(Concluded from page 286.J 

 Soil. "The soil," says Loudon, "in which the 

 potato thrives best is a light loam, neither too dry 

 nor too moist, but if rich so much the better. — 

 They may, however, be grown well on many other 

 sorts of Lnnd, especially those of the mossy, moory, 

 and other similar kinds, where they are free from 

 stagnant moisture. The best flavored potatos are 

 almost always produced from a newly broUen-up 

 pasture ground not manured ; or from any new 

 soil, as the site of a grubbed up copse or hedge, 

 or the site of old buildings or roads. The best 

 climate for the potato, is one rather moist tiian 

 dry — and temperate or cool rather than hot. — 

 Hence the e.\cellence of the Irish potatos, which 

 grow in a dry loamy, calcareous soil, and moist 

 and temperate climate ; and hence, also, the infe- 

 riority of the potatos of France, Spain, Italy, and 

 even Germany. In short, the potato is grown no 



To have a good crop, you must not spare dung, or 

 spare labor in weeding. Some persons prefer sets 

 of four or five drills instead of three ; or where 

 horse-hoeing is not convenient, the intervals may 

 be reduced to one foot between each set of drills 

 for the convenience of hand weeding ; but upon 

 the whole, the method here first proposed is as 

 good aa any. Forty loads of dung per acre will 

 pay better than a less quantity. 



If small potatos are wanted for feeding, the sets 

 may be at six inches apart, and the rows at nine 

 inches ; but the method first here proposed, ad- 

 mits what is essential, accurate weeding, and suf- 

 ficient air to circulate between the plants." 



Dean says the sets may be either in single rows, 

 three feet or double, one font apart, and from 

 seven to nine inches asunder in the rows. 



"An expeditious way of planting potatos, is as 

 follows : After the ground is prepared, by plough- 

 ing and harrowing, cut furrows wilh the horse 

 plough, forty inches apart, drop the sets in the 

 furrows ; then pass the plough along the back oi 

 each furrow, which will throw the earth ot both 

 furrows upon the sets ; and afterwar Is level the 

 ground with the back of the harruw, or with a 

 harrow that has short tines ; but it is of no great 

 consequence whether it be leveled atoll. Anoth- 



