vol.. XIII. so. 31. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



245 



pumpkins, on raw apples he would live tolerably, 

 on the boiloti and combined he fattens kindly and 

 rapidly. 



The result with me h.ns become an anxious de- 

 sire to ascertain tlie simplest, and most economical 

 mode of steam boiling food on a.Iarge scale, say 

 pumpkins, potatoes, (Sec. Some of your readers 

 may have seen, or be in possession of some plan 

 not generally known, and valuable. 



I have no hesitation in saying that the individ- 

 ual whose talents would devise some plan which 

 would come within the reach of every description 

 of planters, uniting economy in the expenditure 

 of capital, with despatch, would confer a solid 

 benefit on our country. — Southern Planter. 



POTATO CROP. 



A writer in the Maine Farmer communicates 

 the following account of his experiments in raising 

 Potatoes : 



« I broke up a piece of land in my mowing 

 field in the flill of 1833, that was completely bound 

 out. It was never ploughed before. In the 

 spring of 1834 I harrowed it down with a he.avy 

 harrow that cut about as deep as the plough went"; 

 it was furrowed out, and a good sliovel full of 

 manure from the barn windows put into the hills 

 of all the rows but four. Into three of the re- 

 maining rows I put a table spoonful of plaster or 

 gypsum; the remaining row was left without 

 cither manure or plaster. The seed was the 

 largest potatoes of the pink-eyed kind that I 

 raised in 1S33, and all planted alike and hoed once. 

 When they were dug we measured the basket 

 and then proceeded to measure the potatoes in 

 tlie different rows, and the result proved tliat the 

 plastered rows produced on an average, a bushel 

 from eleven and a half hills; the manured rows 

 produced a bushel from fifteen iiills ou an average ; 

 and the row that was neither manured nor plas- 

 tered, averaged sixteen hills to the bushel. The 

 land was a hard wood growth, naturally rather 

 moist. The next experiment was on a piece of 

 pasture land that had been pastured three years. 

 It was partly broke up in the fall of 1833, and the 

 remainder the next spring. It was of a mixed 

 growth — a strong soil — was never ploughed before, 

 and rather stony. I harrowed it as I did the first 

 piece, and was under tlic necessity of cross- 

 ploughing a part of it ou account of a num- 

 ber of hemlock stumps in the way. I then 

 furrowed it out, and mama-ed four rows through 

 the middle of the piece with chip or door dirt, 

 the remainder I plastered. The seed was a kind 

 of black potato that I obtained of John Beunoc, 

 Es(|. of Orono. The remainder was a mixture 

 of ])iuk-eycs and white ones, the largest I raised, 

 cut in the middle and put two halves in the hill. 

 Planted abput the eighth of June, and hoed once. 

 Before digging I had one acre measured out ac- 

 curately, in order to offer it for premium. Out of 

 one hundred hills of plastered ones we got three 

 pecks more than we did out of the same nimiber 

 of manured hills. Some of the potatoes grev/ 

 ;out of the ground, and the frost bit them so much 

 Ithat we liove them away and they were not mea- 

 |3ured, but there were measured four hundred and 

 sne and a half bushels. For this, crop I obtained 

 Jur Society's first premium on potatoes, viz : one 

 volume of the Maine Farnjer and four dollars. 1 

 lad seven hundred bushels in the whole off of 

 me acre and about three-fourths." 



THK ROLIiBR. 



Mr IIo'..jiEs : In your useful paper I have 

 seen the Roller mentioned as a necessary tool, in- 

 strument or machine, on a farm ; and I last year, 

 for the first time, ma<le one, having before been 

 convinced, by borrowing, that they were useful. 

 I have thought that a description of mine (simple 

 as it is) might be a benefit to those who have not 

 used them heretofore. I took a piece from a 

 hard wood tree as large as I could find, took off 

 the bark and rounded the log, cut it four feet and 

 ten inches long. I then took two spare harrow 

 teeth, rounded them at the end and drove them 

 well into the log exactly in the centre. I took 

 two pieces of hard wood joist, bored them sufii- 

 ciently large to receive the rounded end of the 

 harrow teeth, framed those pieces of hard wood 

 into another piece of larger hewed hardwood 

 stick; morticed through that, and put in a suitable 

 tongue for the cattle to haul by. The roller is 

 upwards of two feet in diameter, and it answers 

 well. Plank might be pinned on, had the stick 

 been smaller, thereby enlarging it. The advanta- 

 ges of the roller are many, and will bettsr be 

 learned by experience than I can describe. I 

 hope no farmer will be without one any longer. — 

 Me. Farmer. 



PORK. 



The dissemination of agricultural information 

 being always beneficial, and to the great mass of 

 readers very acceptable, and as there are few sub- 

 jects in which farmers are more interested than in 

 pork, which furnishes the main source of animal 

 food for family consumption and of farm profits 

 by way of sale, the following statements are made. 

 The facts may be relied on as the result of actual 

 experience. There are four farmers in the town 

 of Saratoga, the average weight of whose hogs 

 when killed and dressed for market this fall were 

 as follows : 



Thomas Smith, 

 Jesse Mott, 

 W. & A. Bennett, 

 H. & I. VVagman, 



6 hogs, av. weight 543i lbs. 

 19 do. do. 480 

 16 do. do. 455 

 16 do. do. 403 

 The weight of Mr Smith's six hogs were, 440, 

 520, 532, 570, 576, and 623 lbs. total 3261. Aver- 

 age as above, 543i, and neither of them were over 

 twentyone months old. These productions, though 

 enormous, are not' very unusual with them, as 

 most of these formers liave been, for many years, 

 in the habit of killing very heavy pork. The sys- 

 tem adopted !)y them, and which redounds to their 

 credit, as well as general benefit, is such that the 

 expense is not much more than that in ordinary 

 use. They have so improved their breed of hogs 

 by selecting and crossing with great care and at- 

 tention, that the Saratoga hogs have become mat- 

 ter of general notoriety, and the demand for the 

 breed has greatly increa.sed, and the pork sought 

 for by dealers in the article, and generally brings 

 an extra price. - 



An enterprising agricultural gentleman of the 

 city of Albany, {Gen. S. Van Rensselaer, jr.) who 

 takes pleasure in improving his stock, and whose 

 short horned Durhams, are the best of their kind, 

 has lately procured a stock of these hogs, and under 

 his judicious management they will probably be im- 

 proved. It is hoped that a statement of the above 

 facts, together with the process pursued in rearing 

 and fattening, will be prepared and furnished for 

 the next meeting of the state agricultural society by 

 some of these gentlemen. — Alha/ny ArgKS. 



MAJVAGEMENT OP UEES. 



The Kennebec (Maine) Agricultural Society, at 

 their meeting last autumn, awarded their premium 

 on Bees to Col. John Gihiiorc, who furnished the 

 Society with the following statement : 



" Having entered my name for premium on 

 honey and a hive of bees, I will inform you how 

 I have managed them for a few years past. I 

 keep them in boxes — my boxes are thirteen 

 inches square on the outside, and from six to seven 

 inches high, with thin slats across the top about 

 an inch wide, with just space enough to let thn 

 bees pass between them. For a young swarm I 

 fasten two boxes together with a board on the top, 

 put in t!ie swarm, and Avhen I set them on "the 

 bench put imder as many more as I think they 

 will fill — a large early swarm will fill four or more. 

 I had some this .season that filled three in about a 

 fortnight, and then swarmed, and the young swarms 

 have filled four boxes. After my old hives swarm 

 once I usually put under one or more boxes. I 

 prefer that course to letting them swarm again, for 

 second swarms are generally worthless. When 

 the weather becomes cool, if the hive is well filled 

 with honey, the bees will all leave the upper box ; 

 it can then be taken off without disturbing tho 

 bees in the hive. I usually take from my old 

 hives and early swarms one box containing from 

 twenty to twentyfour pounds and leave enough for 

 the bees to live on through the winter, or I can 

 take a part and return the box if I think tho 

 remainder is insuflicieut for them. If my bees 

 grow lazy after the swarming season is ovei', and 

 hang out on the hive, which is in consequence of 

 the hive being full, I add more boxes. I had a 

 few small swaniis which I have taken up other- 

 wise. I have not destroyed any bees. I have 

 taken up on my own farm this season 289 lbs. of 

 good honey in the comb, and I now own, including 

 those that I have taken up, twentysix hives." 



SWEET POTATO. 



The cultivation of this delicious root is rapidly 

 extending in New England. It does, to be sure, 

 require a little more care than the common potato, 

 but when properly managed will yield a j)lentiful 

 crop. A gentleman who has resided in Georgia, 

 says, through the cohinnis of the Genesee Farmer, 

 that the modes of cultivating it adopted at the 

 north, are not in his opinion the most judicious. 

 He recommends that the slips bo planted in a hot 

 bed in March, three inches apart ; about the first 

 of May, having prepared a jjicce of ground of a 

 sandy soil, clip the vines into pieces fifteen inches 

 long .and set those pieces in hills three or four li-et 

 apart by burying the middle three inches deep, 

 and leaving the two ends 'out of the ground. 

 Five pieces of vine may be inserted in a hill, hut 

 not very near together. In ten days they will 

 take rt)ot, and by the first of November the hills 

 will be tilled with large potatoes. When the 

 vines arc ail set out, the seed jiotatocs should be 

 set in hills to produce new vines, which in the 

 middle of June may be cut and set as before. 

 This will produce s.mall potatoes, or slips for seed. 

 The slips must be kept dry and free from frost 

 during winter or they will decay. The best way 

 is to pack them in dry sand, not allowing them to 

 touch one another, and put them in a dry warm 

 cellar. — Greenfield Gazette. 



Handle your tools withojt mittens ;- 

 gloves catches no mice. 



-a cat in 



