262 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



valued at 4s. 6d. an acre to the out-going tenant, is 

 rented by the in-coming tenant at 20s. an acre on 

 a lease of 14 years. 



On a small field of very retentive clay, of an 

 hungry and bastard kind, intermixed with rusty 

 gravel, I tried six years ago the experiment of 

 trenching with the spadi; after close and careful 

 draining; I buried the surface soil, which ivas poor 

 and exhausted, and I brought thu subsoil to the 

 top from the depth of 18 inches. I limed this land 

 and sowed it out with rape and grass seeds. It has 

 been very unproductive ever since, and all my ex- 

 penditure upon it hitherto, has been thrown away ; 

 for, though dry, it bears no more grass than before 

 the draining. I think, however, that the surface- 

 soil is now mellowed by exposure to the atmos- 

 phere ; and I am about to break up this lield and 

 to put it through a rotation, in tlie confident hope 

 of increased production. I have also ordered a 

 field of 20 acres of dry and good land, cropped out 

 by a bad tenant,- to be treated with a view to this 

 experiment on subsoils. The field lies in two 

 ridges on the bank of the river Esk : the soil is al- 

 luvial deposit : on the lower ridge next to the river 

 the surface is a fine loam of 12 inches deep, incum- 

 bent on a subsoil of sandy loam 16 inches deep. — 

 On the upper ridge the loam does not exceed 8 in- 

 ches, but the subsoil is a good clay 13 inches deep ; 

 in the hands of tenants up to the present time, the 

 depth of the furrow ploughed has never exceeded 

 6 inches. I have ordered \liie lower flat to be 

 trench-ploughed to the deptWof 14 inches, bring- 

 ing the virgin loam to the top: I have ordered the 

 upper flat to be stirred with iVIr Smith's subsoil 

 plough, thus breaking the lower crust without chang- 

 ing the surface. The whole is to- be manured 

 equally with bone-dust, and a crop of turnips is to 

 be taken. 



I shall be happy, at a future time, to communi- 

 cate the comparative result of this different treat- 

 ment ; and 1 trust I may be pardoned for my present 

 intrusion, which arises from my anxiety to fix the 

 attention of the farmer on this question of the treat- 

 ment of subsoil, which by judicious management, I 

 think, may add to the power of production without 

 cost; especially »vhen the surface by long and re- 

 peated cropping has been exhausted and has be- 

 come comparatively sterile. At the commence- 

 ment of our publication I could not omit an oppor- 

 tunity of endeavoring to use it for the legitimate 

 purpose of inviting accurate experiment, with the 

 view of circulating and extending agricultural 

 knowledge. 



I have the honor to be, sir. 



Your faithful servant, 



J. R. G. GRAHAM. 



JVetherby, 2Gth January, 1839. 



Education. — I have ever thought the prohibi- 

 tion of the means of improving our rational nature, 

 to be the worst species of tyranny that the inso- 

 lence and perverseness of mankind ever dared to 

 exercise. This goes to all men in all situations, to 

 whom education can be denied Lavater. 



roodR, and cutting do., at 6d. per rood, gives 



per acre 1 15 \0 



5 12 4 

 Ploughing with the Deanston plough, with 4 



horeei 1 CO 



Frnm the Albany Cultivator. 



EXPERIMENT WITH POTATOES. 

 Messrs Editors — Farmers are generally aware 

 that the potato is not produced on the proper roots 

 of the plant, or those devoted to nutrition, but on 

 side shoots from the main stem, above the roots 

 proper, and nearer the surface of the earth. It 

 has been stated that De Candolle, taking the hint 

 from this production of the tubers, and conceiving 

 that the shoots still farther from the roots on the 

 main stem if covered with earth, would furnish tu- 

 bers instead of leaves, actually succeeded in grow- 

 ing thfm, fur considerable distances on the main 

 stems, by repeated coverings of them with earth — 

 A writer on vegetable physiology, in the Farmer's 

 Register, basing his opinions, it is presumed, on this 

 peculiar law of the plant, recommended the follow- 

 ing method as probably the best for the cultivation 

 of that root : 



" Let the ground be prepared in the usual way ; 

 lay the potatoes in the bottom of the furrow, and 

 cover them to the depth of three or fourinches with 

 coarse manure or leaves, and then with two or three 

 inches of earth. After the stalks are six or eight 

 inches above ground, cover all except their ends in 

 the same manner; and perhaps this process may be 

 advantageously repeated a third time ; after which 

 they should be suftered to go to seed. The first 

 covering should, unless the land be very rich, con- 

 sist in part of manure, in order to furnish nourish- 

 ment to the plant ; the second and third may con- 

 sist of straw or leaves, as the principal object is to 

 keep the earth loose, and protect the tubers from 

 the action of the sun." 



In order to test the correctness or fallacy of 

 these opinions, I determined last spring to partially 

 repeat the experiments of De Candolle, and selected 

 for the purpose two hills on my bed of early pota- 

 toes in the garden. The ground was highly ma- 

 nured, having' the lant year been occupied by a 

 mound of manure, on which cucumbers and melons 

 were grown. This was thoroughly incorporated 

 with the garden mould by ploughing, and in this po- 

 tatoes of the common early variety were planted in 

 hills at the distance of about three feet. Taking a 

 barrel, I sawed it in two in the middle, and placed 

 one half over each hill of potatoes, sinking the rim 

 some two or three inches in the earth ; the heads 

 of the barrel of course were out, and the hills were 

 covered in the usual manner by being slightly 

 rounded. 



When the plants came up and had attained a 

 height of about ten inches, I filled the half barrels 

 with the same rich mould, merely leaving the tips 

 of the plants insight. The growth of the plants 

 was most luxuriant, thelength of the stems far ex- 

 ceeding those in the same earth near them, and 

 they continued green and flourishing long after the 

 others had ripened and died. At the time of dig- 

 ging, the half barrels were taken away and the 

 earth carefully removed, without disturbing the 

 stems. Not a trace of a tuber was to be found, ex- 

 cept on the shoots below the natural surface of the 

 ground, not differing in this respect, in the least 

 from those around them. The shoots that came 

 out above these, from the main stems, showed no 

 disposition to produce tubers, but reaching the sur- 

 face, rivalled in vigorous growth the original stems. 

 The yield from the hills was a little more than from 

 those around them, owing perhaps to the longer 

 period of their growth, or the greater supply of nu- 

 triment afforded by the additional mould. 



Whatever may be the cause, my experiment has 

 not resulted as did De CandoUe's, in the formation 

 of tubers above the original or first crop, and would 

 seem to add but little force to the arguments used 

 by some in favor of deep hilling, at the second or 

 latest hoeing. A rich friable earth, in which the 

 roots find sufficient nutriment, and the tubers en^ 

 large at their pleasure, and a covering of sufficient 

 depth at the first, would seem to be about all that 

 is required, with a clean surface, for the productioa 

 of the potato. H. M. G. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN FLAX. 



We know of no plant which seems to better de- 

 serve an effort for its introduction into the class of 

 cultivated vegetation, than the one above named. 

 The common flax plant is an annual ; is exposed to 

 the depredations of many insects ; to get the full 

 amount of the crop it is necessary it should be pull- 

 ed, and yet with all these drawbacks, it is a valua- 

 ble crop, and indispensable for many purposes. If 

 a plant possessing the same valuable qualities as 

 the common flax, yet which would be perennial, 

 and could be cradled or mown at maturity — (thus 

 giving an annual succession of crops from the same 

 root) — could be discovered and brought into use 

 among us, and particularly in the fertile valleys 

 and prairies of the western States, the advantages 

 would certainly be very great. Such a plant is 

 the Flax of the Rocky Mountains; and the indivi- 

 dual or the sotiety that shall introduce it into cul- 

 tivation, should it answer present indications, will 

 be considered as benefitting the agriculture of the 

 country essentially. Of the various notices which 

 we have seen of this plant, we select the following' 

 as more particularly describing its appearance, and 

 the extent of its growth in those regions. 



Mr Parker, in his excellent narrative of his jour- 

 ney across the Rocky Mountains, from the Missis- 

 sippi to the Pacific, says, •' Flax is a spontaneous 

 production of this country. In every thing, except 

 that it is perennial, it resembles the flax that is cul- 

 tivated 'in the United States — the stalk, the bowl, 

 the seed, the blue flower, closed in the day time 

 and open in the evening and morning. The Indi- 

 ans use it in making fishing nets. Fields of this 

 flax might be managed by the husbandman in the 

 same manner as meadows for hay. It would need 

 to be mowed like grass ; for the roots are too large 

 and run too deep in the earth, to be pulled as ours 

 is ; and an advantage that this would have, is, that 

 there would^e a saving of ploughing and sowing." 

 This was on a branch of Lewis or Snake river, of 

 the Columbia. 



In a late journal of a passage across these moun- 

 tains, by Mr Oakley, of Illinois, under date of the 

 21st of July, 1839, occurs the following : " Encamp- 

 ed to-night in a beautiful valley, called Bayou Se- 

 lard, 28 miles from the head of the south fork of 

 the Platte. It is a level prairie, thirty miles long 

 and three wide, and was covered with a thick growth 

 of flax, which every year springs up spontaneously." 



Whether the Rocky Mountain flax will prove to 

 be as near the common flax as is supposed by Mr 

 Parker, may be doubted ; but that it is unlike, and 

 far superior, to the two or three kinds of native wild 

 flax that have before been discovered in the Uni- 

 ted States, would also seem to be clear. A tract 

 of 90 square miles of flax, such as Mr Oakley de- 

 scribed, would be a sight in any country, and 

 would rival the grass covered prairies of Illinois, — 

 Albany Cultivator. 



