32 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JU1,Y 31, 1839. 



POTATOES. 



The potato is unquestionably the most valuable 

 root cultivated by man. It is grown with little 

 care, yields good crops, can be grown in almost 

 every variety of soil, and its nutritive properties are 

 not exceeded by any other root either for man or 

 beast. Though it can be cultivated with little 

 care, and though almost any soil will produce pota- 

 toes, there are few crops that in both quantity and 

 quality better repay any extra attention they may 

 receive than this root. 



The potato, like most other cultivated plants, 

 delights in a strong rich loam, and other circimi- 

 stances being equal, such a soil will usually pro- 

 duce one-fourth more than one very tenacious and 

 heavy, or very light and sandy. In new settled 

 districts large crops of potatoes are grown in the j 

 soils that contain great supplies of vegetable mould, 

 but experience -would seem to justify the opinion 

 that in such soils the quality of the potato is rarely 

 first rate. A grass ley — clover is the best— has 

 been found, when properly prepared and manured, 

 to be excellent for this crop ; and if the soil is rath- 

 er moist than otherwise, it is considered as increas- 

 ing the chances of a good yield. Countries that 

 have naturally a cool tiioist atmosphere, are found 

 to produce far better potatoes than those that have 

 a dry and high temperature. Thus Ireland, sur- 

 rounded as it is by the ocean, and necessarily of a 

 low and equable climate, is famous for its potatoes ; 

 and of tliis continent, the part most famed for the 

 quality of this root is New Brunswick and Nova 

 Scotia, which districts are noted for the moisture of 

 the climate. With any part of the northern or 

 middle States, however, tlie fault of not having 

 good potatoes, or not having them in sufficient 

 quantity, must be traced to the negligence oi" the 

 farmer rather than to any deficiencies of soil or cli- 

 mate. 



The preparation of a field for the polato is sim- 

 ple. If a grass ley be sufl^ciently rich without ma- 

 nuring, (a rare case with this crop,) the sod may be 

 carefully turned over, rolled dowii, and then the 

 surface earth loosened with a fine harrow, in which 

 the tubers or sets are to be planted. If it requires 

 manuring, let the manure, and this should be long 

 rather than short, be evenly spread over the ground ; 

 with the plough make a furrow, and into this let 

 one hand haul the manure to the requisite width, 

 ■while another drops the seed potatoes on the ma- 

 nure so placed in the furrow. This row is cover- 

 ed by tlie plough, and the operation is repeated till 

 all are planted. Corn on the ley is generally pre- 

 ferred, and roots well manured after the corn. — 

 The first in the rotation may depend on conve- 

 nience, as the turf is excellent for either. 



A multitude of experiments have been made and 

 recorded both in England and the United States, to 

 determine the best method of planting the seed, 

 whether in whole tubers or in roots cut into two or 

 more pieces, called sets. The results of these ex- 

 periments have been somewhat contradictory, yet 

 they seem to have e.^tablished the fact tliat wh<de 

 tubers will produce rather more potatoes than sets, 

 but not mure than sufficient to balance the extra 

 quantity of seed required where whole potatoes are 

 used. There are many farmers who prefer sets al- 

 together, and the probability is, that twenty bush- 

 els of large potatoes cut into sets and planted with 

 a proper number in a hill, would produce more po- 

 tatoes than the same quantity planted whole, but 

 the space of ground planted would of course be 



more extensive with the first than the last. Mr 

 Rhodes, of Skaneateles, an observing and very in- 

 telligent farmer, says he would not use whole po- 

 tatoes could he have them given him, for seed ; 

 and his success with sets would seem to justify 

 the preference. 



It was once the fashion among farmers to make 

 little mountains of their potato hills ; but that seems 

 to have been useless labor, and extra hilling is dis- 

 jiensed with. The ground after planting should be 

 kept free from weeds, the earth stirred with the cul- 

 tivator or the hoe, but after the tubers have begun 

 to form the plough should not be used, as it frequent- 

 ly cms so deep as to disturb the young plants, 

 breaking off the little tubers, or causing the forma- 

 tion of m'w roots, processes decidedly injurious to 

 the crop. The general length of the vines must 

 determine the distance at which the rows are to be 

 planted, and this of course varies greatly in the sev- 

 eral kinds commonly cultivated. If potatoes are 

 planted in the rows nearer one way than the other, 

 the rows should run north and south, that the sun 

 may produce its proper effect on the leaves of the 

 plant, and on thi- surface of the earth between the 

 rows ; and the same remark will hold good of corn 

 or other plants, the rows of which should always 

 run north and south, when the make of the land 

 will permit. 



When it is foimd that potatoes yield large quan- 

 tities of balls, it is considered by many farmers, a 

 proof that the potato has reached its maturity and 

 begun to degenerate ; the production of seeds in 

 all plants being indicative of this fact. Mr Knight, 

 the celebrated writer and gardener, maintained 

 the certainty of the arrival at maturity, and conse- 

 quent degeneration of all varieties of plants, the 

 potato among the rest, and the necessity of occa- 

 sionally renewing them from the seeds, which is 

 the process nature herself employs for preventing 

 the degeneracy or ext'nction of plants. 



There are few districts in our country where fa- 

 vorite varieties of the potato are not cultivated, and 

 not iinfrequently the same kind is known in differ- 

 ent places by different names. The Pinkeye, the 

 Sardinia, the INIecca, or Chenango, the English and 

 Irish whites, and the several varieties of the red and 

 black potato, are the best known. The Rohan po- 

 tato, lately introd'iced into this country from France, 

 promises to be a great acquisition both for produc- 

 tiveness and quality. But we have yet seen no po- 

 tato that for the table, could be compared for ex- 

 cellence with the Pinkeye. It cannot be consider- 

 ed a great bearer, though it yields well ; but for 

 flavor, and amount of nutrition, wo think it unri- 

 valled. 



The production of early potatoes for the markets 

 of our cities and villages, is becoming yearly a 

 matter of more interest to the farmer; by practis- 

 ing the mode adopted in England of selecting the 

 earliest kinds, and then treating them in the follow- 

 ing manner, described by Loudon, important im- 

 provements might doubtless be effected. The cul- 

 tivators in Lancashire have found that there is a 

 fortnight's difference between the ripening of pota- 

 toes grown from opposite ends of the same potato; 

 that part to which the root is attached being the 

 latest in ripening, while those that spring from the 

 nose end, are found much in advance of the others 

 in vigor, early maturity and in size. Ea^ potato 

 is therefore by the gardeners divided into three 

 parts, which are planted by themselves, and thus 

 they ripen and are fit for the market together. 



The potato being in its native state a. poisonous 



plant, like many others of the tropical climates from 

 which wholesome nutriment may be derived, it 

 should not be cooked until ripe, or becomes mealy. 

 The value of a potato depends in a great measure 

 on the starch it contains, and of course the nutritive 

 matter greatly varies in the several varieties, and in 

 the same varieties at different times. Perhaps 

 there is no method that develops the quality of a 

 potato more fully than baking. We have seen a 

 very fine early variety, and also some superior 

 specimens of the Pinkeye, when exposed to the heat 

 of the oven, expand and burst like parched corn, in- 

 to a thousand fragments. Such roots contain little 

 else than pure starch ; and the experiments of Ras- 

 pail on the nutritive action of the potato, show that 

 in such plants it is found in the most abundant 

 quantity. Next to baking, steaming is the prefer- 

 able method of preparing this root, and experience 

 shows that it should never be given to any animal 

 unless in a cooked state, if we would derive from 

 it its full value. 



Cellars in which the temperature is but a few 

 degrees above the freezing point, or from 40° to 

 4.5^, are the best for roots, and particularly for the 

 potato; but they keep no where so well as in pits, 

 covered with just enough earth to keep out the 

 frost. Light and exposure to the air, are injurious to 

 roots, and in pits tliese are excluded. To have 

 these roots then in their excellence in the spring, 

 enough should he pitted for use as well as for 

 planting. Some writers in the Quarterly Journal 

 of Agriculture, have strenuously recommended that 

 potatoes intended for seed, should be gathered be- 

 fore they are fully ripened, as being less subject 

 to failure or to disease. But we have never known 

 in this country any thing to justify such a course, 

 and besides it is, we think, contrary to the course 

 pointed out by nature herself. The average crop 

 of potatoes per acre in the S-tates is not large, ow- 

 ing to the imperfect and careless method of cul- 

 ture. In Susquehannah county, Pa., in 18^8, the 

 average of 2400 acres was 170 bushels per acre, 

 which we pi^sume exceeded the average of many 

 other sections of our country. Now inordinary 

 seasons and witli decent culture, the average should 

 not be less than '100 bushels per acre ; and when 

 we remember that many instances have occurred 

 of from 500 to 1000 bushels per acre, such an av- 

 erage could not be deemed extravagant. More 

 manure and less land, would doubtless increase our 

 potato crops, as well as most others. — Genesee Far. 



Table Beer. — The Southern Cultivator gives the 

 following recipe for making table beer: 



" To make a cheap and wholesome table beer, 

 take eight bottles of water, one quart of molasses, 

 one pint of yeast, one table spoonful of cream of 

 tartar. These ingredients being well stirred and 

 mixed in an open vessel, after standing twentyfour 

 hours, the beer may be bottled immediately-" 



Disease of Cattle — its remedi). — Numbers of cat- 

 tle during the last winter, died from over feeding, 

 or other obstruction of the intestines : the symptoms 

 were a protruded size from swelling, sometimes 

 very suddenly. A sure remedy has been found by 

 the farmers in Bradford, Hillsborough, and some 

 other towns in this State, by mixing a quantity of 

 apple cider with old cheese made from the milk of 

 the cow — say half a pound or more of cheese grated 

 in a pint of cider. This mixture poured down the 

 throat of the swelled animal, has been known to ef- 

 fect a cure by carrying off the swelling in a few 

 minutes. — Farmei^s Monthly Visitor. 



