1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



451 



THE POTATO ONION. 



In a late paper I noticed a communication from 

 South Danvcrs which spoke of the culture of the 

 potato onion. I am curious to know how exten- 

 sively this variety is grown ; and whether there is 

 any prohability of its supplying the want of on- 

 ions raised from the seed. The writer speaks of 

 its having been grown by Mr. P. L. Osborn and 

 several others, but to what extent it is grown no 

 intimation is given. If anything can be discov- 

 ered that will restore the onion crop, it will be 

 hailed as a God-send throughout the land. 



August 20, 1862. Inquirer. 



Remarks. — We join our correspondent in this 

 inquiry, and shall be glad to receive a full ac- 

 count of the culture of the potato onion from Mr. 

 Osborn, or any other gentleman possessing the 

 facts. 



MINERALS IN MUCK. 



In draining a swamp, I threw from the ditches 

 a kind of muck, which, after being for a time ex- 

 posed to the atmosphere, frosted over with a sub- 

 stance which tastes like alum. No vegetation 

 starts upon it. Is it of any value as a fertilizer, 

 and if so, how should it be used ? 



West Brookjield, Aug., 1882. W. B. Stone. 



Remarks. — We have often cases such as you 

 describe. The muck is strongly impregnated with 

 some mineral substance which is sufficiently pow- 

 erful when the muck lies in mass to prevent any 

 vegetable growth upon it. It may, however, be 

 very useful when used in small quantities on land 

 unlike itself; but this will depend upon what the 

 substance is. Will you try it, in a small way, on 

 a piece of grass land, this fall ? We should be 

 glad to receive a sample of it, if you can send it 

 ■without trouble. It would not be safe to mingle 

 this muck with barn manures, or to use it exten- 

 sively until its qualities are ascertained. 



MILK FROM THREE AYRSHIRE COWS. 



I send you a statement of the milk from three 

 Ayrshire cows, not because the amount is extraor- 

 dinary, but to elicit information, and thus give 

 your readers an opportunity to compare the yield 

 of milk with that of other breeds. 



"Beauty," 8 years old, imported by me when 

 one year old, average weight of milk for seven 

 days, fi;om June 19 to 2.5, 44 pounds. Calved 

 Miy 1. 



"Bessie," 4 years old, bred by me out of a cow 

 I imported, average weight of milk same time for 

 seven days, 47| pounds. Yield for one day, 49 

 61-100 pounds. Calved May 12. 



"Tulip," 5 years old, bred by me out of a cow I 

 imported, average weight of milk seven days from 

 June 28 to July 4, 42 pounds. Calved May 31. 

 Total 133^- pounds, the three averaging a trifle 

 over 44.^ pounds each per day. 



It should be borne in mind that the Ayrshire 

 cow is not large. The only one I ever weighed 

 was "Beauty," whose live weight, two years ago, 

 ■was 860 pounds. The other two may be some- 

 thing heavier. L. S'CvEETSER. 



Amherst, Aug. 8, 1862. 



THE TOOLS GREAT MEN "WORK WITH. 



It is not tools that make the workman, but the 

 trained skill and perseverance of the man himself. 

 Indeed it is proverbial that the bad workman 

 never yet had a good tool. Some one asked Opie 

 by what wonderful process he mixed his colors. 

 "1 mix them with my brains, sir," was his reply. 

 It is the same with every workman who would ex- 

 cel. Ferguson made marvellous things — such as 

 his wooden clock, that accurately measured the 

 hours — by means of a common penknife, a tool in 

 everybody's hand, but then everybody is not a 

 Ferguson. A ])an of water and two thermometers 

 were the tools by which Dr. Black discovered la- 

 tent heat ; and a prism, a lens, and sheet of paste- 

 board, enabled Newton to unfold the composition 

 of light and the origin of color. 



An eminent foreign savant once called upon 

 Dr. WoUaston, and requested to be shown over 

 his laboratories, in which science had been en- 

 riched by so many important discoveries, when the 

 Doctor took him into a study, and, pointing to an 

 old tea-tray, containing a few watch-glasses, test- 

 papers, a small balance, and a blow-pipe, said : 

 "There is all the laboratory I have." 



Stothard learnt the art of combining colors by 

 closely studying butterflies' wings ; he v.^ould often 

 say that no one knew what he owed to these tiny 

 insects. A burnt stick and a barn door served 

 Wilkie in lieu of pencil and canvas. Bewick first 

 practised drawing on the cottage-walls of his na- 

 tive villatje, which he covered with his sketches in 

 chalk ; and Benjamin West made his first brushes 

 out of the cat's tail. 



Ferguson laid himself down in the fields at 

 night in a blanket, and made a map of the heaven- 

 ly bodies, by means of a thread with small beads 

 on it, stretched between his eye and the stars. 

 Franklin first robbed the thunder-cloud of its 

 lightning by means of a kite made with two cross- 

 sticks and a silk handkerchief. 



Watt made his first model of the condensing 

 steam-engine out of an old anatomist's syringe, 

 used to inject the arteries previous to dissection. 

 Giftbrd worked his first problem in mathematics, 

 when a cobbler's apprentice, upon small scraps of 

 leather, which he beat smooth for the purpose, 

 while Rittenhouse, the astronomer, first calcuhited 

 eclipses on his plow-handle. — Smiles' Self-Help. 



The Chrysanthemum. — Unusual importance 

 attaches to the cultivation of chrysanthemums, 

 from the facility with which they may be grown in 

 the very heart of large towns, as has been proved 

 by the efforts of Mr. Broome, in the Temple Gar- 

 dens, where he has grown all the best varieties in 

 a manner which has astonished many who have 

 examined his collection. The flower is of easy 

 culture, and cuttings may be struck almost up to 

 the time of flowering, and nothing is finer than the 

 display of its flowers in October and November, 

 ranging as they do from pure white to a deep 

 orange, from a pale blue to deep red and crimson ; 

 but, like the dahHa, the first frost sadly spoils its 

 bloom. When the collection is a choice one, 

 they are best trained against a wall or in beds, 

 where protection can be easily applied. By means 

 of pot culture, which is now extensively used, a 

 splendid show of flowers may be preserved even 

 up to Christmas, with comparatively little trouble. 



