MEW ENGLAND FAHMER, 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY GEORGE C. BARRETT, NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultural Warehouse.) — T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL. XIII. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 29, 1835. 



NO. 43. 



POTATOES. 



The following communication is in answer to many 

 md importunate inquiries addressed to its author from 

 ill parts of the Union, and we are among the first wJio 

 lave been instrumental in giving it publicity. We have 

 carcely yet had time to peruse it with the attention it 

 leserves, and shall therefore submit it without com- 

 nent ; merely premising that some of JMr B.'s theories 

 vith regard to mixing the sorts of potatoes in the field, 

 ,nd bringing seed potatoes from the north do not coincide 

 vith those of our best cultivators. 



[From the Vergennes Gazette.] 



Mr Blaisdell — In your paper of the 21st 

 )ecember last, I published the result of some ex 

 )erimenis made during the season, in growing 

 'oTAToES. The quantity produced was such as 



cause considerable excitement with agriciil- 

 urists, and I have been called on by public Jour- 

 als and private letters from Maine to Georgia anc 

 rom Quebec to Maiden, for information respecting 

 ny manner of cultivating them. The respecta 

 'ility of the sotirces from which these inquiriti 

 manate, and the very polite and flattering terms 

 t which they are expressed, forbid the idea of 

 isfusal. I therefore embrace the first opportunit; 

 ly health admits of attempting to gratify their 

 ashes, to the extent of my limited powers. 



From the remarks of some of my corre""?' 

 ents I am inclined to believe they misconstrued 

 le statement made in the publication above allu- 

 ed to. By reference to the statement it will be 

 mnd that I did not say, or expect to be urder, 

 ood by field culture, that 1,800 bushels of po- 

 itoes would be raised upon an acre. I ther said 

 3 I now say and believe, that 1000 bushels can 

 e grown upon a single acre at less than hdf the 

 tpense and labor they are produced from four 



1 the common manner of culture. 



PREPARATION FOR PLANTING. 



Whatever soil may be selected for this pu-pose 

 > insure a large crop, it should be highly manured 

 ith compost, decomposed vegetables or barn- 

 ird manure, the latter I consider preferable when 



can be obtained with convenience ; if nw or 

 aarse be made use of, it should be spread imme- 

 lately before the first ploughing, on the same 

 ly, to prevent the evaporation of its best quali- 

 es, which will rapidly depart if left exposfd to 

 le sun and atmosphere. 



The first should be deep ploughing, and raiy be 

 jne as early as suits the convenience of thi cul- 

 rator. If a stiff marl or clay soil, it wotld be 

 ell to have it ploughed late in the fall prei-ious 



planting. Where compost or other substmces 

 )t liable to fermentation are intended as d ma- 

 ire, it is better the spreading should be onitted 

 Jtil just before the last ploughing, after whch it 

 lould be thoroughly harrowed fine and snooth 

 I possible, then take a narrow light cultivator, or 

 nail plough, calculated for turning a deep nar- 



w furrow, with this instrument lay your land 



drills, twenty inches asunder and four iiches 



depth, running north and south if practicible. 



to admit the rays of the sun to strike the plant 

 equally on both sides ; put into the bottom of the 

 furrows or drills about two inches of well rotted 

 barnyard manure or its equivalent, then drop your 

 potatoes, if of the common size, or what is more 

 important, that they contain about the usual quan- 

 tity of eyes ; if more, they should be cut to pre- 

 vent too many stalks shooting up together. Put a 

 j single potato in the drills or trenches 10 inches 

 apart ; the first should remain uncovered until the 

 second one is deposited. Place them diagonally 

 in the drills, which will afford more space be- 

 tween the potatoes one way, than if laid at right 

 angles, in the rows. The covering may be per- 

 formed with a hoe, first hauling in the furrow 

 raised on each side the drill, then carefully take 

 from the centre of the space the soil to finish the 

 covering to the depth of 3i or 4 inches. By taking 

 the earth from the centre of the space on either 

 side, to the width of 3 inches, it will leave a drain 

 of 6 inches in the centre of the space, and a hill 

 of 14 inches in width, gently descending from the 

 drill to the drain ; the width and depth of the 

 drill will be sufiicient to protect the plant against 

 any injurious effects of a scorching sun or drench- 

 ing rain. The drains in the centre will at all 

 times be found sufiicient to admit the surplus 

 water to pass off. I am not at all tenacious about 

 the instruinout fo be made use of for o])eniiig the 

 trenches to receive the manure and potatoes ; this 

 work should be well done, and may be performed 

 with a common hoe, with much uniformity and 

 accuracy, by stretching a line to direct the opera- 

 tion : it is true that the labor cannot be perform- 

 ed with the same facility as with a horse, but it 

 can be better done, and I think at less expense, 

 taking into consideration the labor of the man to 

 hold, the boy to ride and the horse to draw the 

 machine. 



DRESSING, HOEING ETC., 



When the plant makes its appearance above the 

 surface, the following mixture may be used : For 

 each acre, take one bushel of plaster and two 

 bushels good ashes and sow it broad cast as even 

 as possible. A moist day is preferable for this op- 

 eration, for want of it a still evening will do. 



I consider this mixture decidedly more benefi- 

 cial and much safer than plaster or ashes alone. 

 The alkali and nitre contained in the ashes lose 

 none of their fertilizing qualities in a moist season, 

 and the invaluable properties of the plaster are 

 fully developed in a dry one, by decomposing the 

 atmosphere and retaining to a much later period 

 in the morning the moisture of the evening dews. 

 There are but few plants in our country that re- 

 ceive so great a share of their nourishment from 

 the atmosphere as the potato. The time for 

 dressing or hoeing will be found difiicult to de- 

 scribe and must be left to the judgment of the 

 cultivator; it should however, in all climates be 

 done as early as the first buds for blossoms make 

 their appearance. 



The operation of hilling should be performed 

 once and once only during the season, if repeated 



after the j'otalo is formed it will cause young 

 shoots to spring up, which retards the growth of 

 the potato and diminishes its size. If weeds 

 spring up at any time, they should be kept down 

 by the hand or hoe, which can be done without 

 disturbing tin; growing stalk. 



My mKuner of hoeing or hilling is not to haul 

 in the eailli from the spaces between the hills or 

 rows, but to bring on fresh earth sufiicient to raise 

 the hill around the plant 1^ or 2 inches. In a wet 

 season, the lesser quantity will be sufiicient ; in a 

 dry one the larger will not be found too much. 

 The substance for this purpose may consist of the 

 scrapings of ditches or filthy streets, the earth 

 from a barnyard that requires levelling, where 

 convenient it may be taken from swamps, marshes, 

 the beds and banks of rivers or small slug- 

 gish streams at low water. If planted on a clay 

 soil, fresh loam taken at any depth from the sur- 

 face, even if it partakes largely of fine sand, will 

 be found an excellent top dressing. If planted on 

 a loamy soil, the earth taken from clay-pits, clay 

 or slaty soil will answer a valuable purpose ; in 

 fact, there are but i'ev/ farms in the country but 

 what may be furnished with some suitable sub- 

 stance for top dressing if sought for. The hoeing 

 and hilling may be performed with facility by the 

 aid of a horse and cart, the horse travelling in the 

 ecu 11. ■•'*■'" 1 rr^'ice between tlie drills, the cart 

 wheels occupying the two adjoining ones, thereby 

 avoiding any disturbance or injury to the growing 

 plants. The time for collecting the top dressing 

 may be regulated by the farmer's own convenience; 

 the earlier the better. Deposited in large piles in 

 or near the potato field, is the most suitable place 

 for distribution. 



I have fi-equently tried Bed-planting, (or plant- 

 ing in beds) with uniform success. On moist 

 lands in a stiff or heavy soil, I consider it prefer- 

 able to any other mode; to do it properly lay 

 your land in beds of from 10 to 20 feet in width, 

 raised in the centre with a plough by back furrow- 

 ing, after the last harrowing which should be thor- 

 oughly done is ])erformed and left crowning with 

 a gradual dcsent from the centre to the alleys; the 

 proper width and heighth of the beds must de- 

 pend on the situation of the land and may be reg- 

 ulated by the judgment of the cultivator. In 

 clearing the alleys, which need not exceed 16 or 

 18 inches in width, the laborer should stretch two 

 lines the proper distance on each side the alley 

 and throw upon the beds with a shovel the earth 

 necessary to be removed. 



The use of lines may be by some considered a 

 useless expenditures of labor, — not so, — the reg- 

 ularity and neatness of appearance will be an 

 abundant remuneration for the trifling time occu- 

 pied in stretching the lines. 



After the land is jjiepared for planting, strike it 

 out in drills or trenches as before directed ; 12 in- 

 ches asunder, in these drills, drop the potatoes 12 

 inches a part (diagonally,) to be covered, hoed, 

 dressed and managed in the same manner as in 

 field culture, with the exception of making an un- 



