1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



99 



feiTed to fence the road themselves, and feel that 

 it was safe and secure, rather than have it done by 

 the landowners, who might not in all cases be re- 

 liable and responsible persons. 



There are two railroads passing through the 

 town of Leominster, from North to South. The 

 Fitchburg, upon the east side of the Nashua River, 

 and the Fitchburg and Worcester, upon the west 

 side of it. The former was constructed previous 

 to the year 1846, and the latter since that period. 

 But is "this a sufficient reason for obliging the far- 

 mers along the route of one road to fence it, (or 

 sutler the consequences of neglect,) while those 

 upon the other are subject to no expense or re- 

 sponsibility ? But on the other hand if their an- 

 imals happen to trespass upon the road and are 

 injured or destroyed, they can recover reasonable 

 damage for the loss thus sustained. 



It seems to me the statute which makes so ivide 

 a distinction between two railroads so near togeth- 

 er is, to say the least of it, unjust ; and for one I 

 rejoice that a petition is to be presented to the 

 present Legislature praying for the enactment of 

 a law which shall be more just and equal. 



As this is a subject in which many farmers must 

 be more or less interested, at least so far as the 

 Talue of a portion of their land is concerned, I 

 hope it will be considered by other and abler cor- 

 respondents. A. c. w. 



Leominster, Feb., 1863. 



JFor the Xew England Farmer, 

 CULTUBE OF THE SWEET POTATO. 



Me. EdiTOR : — Early last spring, I gave you 

 my ideas of the cultivation of the sweet potato in 

 our Northern climate, and promised to give my 

 experience, after a season of experiments. As I 

 stated before, the potatoes or tubers were obtained 

 from Ohio, and immediately placed in a common 

 hot-bed to sprout. They were cut lengthwise, 

 ** each into two pieces," and placed with the cut 

 side down over the surface of the bed, and about 

 tlu-ee inches apart. Two inches of fine soil was 

 then sifted over them ; when the sprouts were 

 about four inches high, they were broken from the 

 potato, the stem being well supplied with fibrous 

 roots. They should be pressed from the pota- 

 to, by keeping the finger of one hand down against 

 the potato, while pressing the root or sprout ofl' 

 with the other. The sprouts were then transplant- 

 ed to the ridges prepared for them, the soil being 

 a sandy loam ; the ridges were prepared by plow- 

 ing a shallow furrow. I then spread into the fur- 

 row a slight dressing of common horse and cow 

 manure, mixed, and threw two heavy furrows to- 

 gether, forming high ridges, four feet apart from 

 centre to centre. 1 then drew a mark with a stick 

 along the centre on the top of the ridge, scatter- 

 ing in a mixture of Coe's phosphate and wood 

 ashes, " about two quarts to a running rod," flat- 

 tening the top of the ridge with a hoe. The plants 

 were set one foot apart upon the ridge. Nothing 

 more was done to them, except to keep the weeds 

 down, until digging in the fall. My lot measured 

 three-fourths of a rod square. I dug Hi bush(^. 

 13^ bushels were very large and tine, many weign- 

 ing from five to six pounds, and our market-deal- 

 ers pronounced them in size and general appear- 

 ance, far superior to any they had ever raised, 

 " North or South." The quality was excellent, 

 and 13 bushels v.-ere sold for $21 41. The expense 



of cultivation, manure, &c., was $3 20, yielding a 

 large profit. 



Being pleased with my experiment, I was deter- 

 mined to keep my seed for next spring planting. 

 I therefore procured four boxes containing about 

 one peck each, and packed them with small pota- 

 toes in dry sand, placing the boxes in diflerent sit- 

 uations ; one was buried four feet deep in the side 

 of a hill, the second was placed in a warm room, 

 the third was put on a shelf in my seed-store, and 

 the fourth was placed in the green-house. Upon 

 examining them, I find the one in the wann room 

 is keeping well, while the others have all decayed, 

 except the one buried, which I have not examined. 

 I think one great requisite is, to have the potatoes 

 dug before they are injured by frost, or by remain- 

 ing in cold soil, after the vines are killed, and 

 cease to keep the tubers in a growing condition. 

 Another very important item, is to have them care- 

 fully handled. I am fully convinced that the 

 Nansemond is the variety of sweet potatoes for 

 our Northern climate ; -it is an old and thorough- 

 ly bred variety, having been cultivated in Virginia 

 and New Jersey for half a century. A very fa- 

 vorable peculiarity of the Nansemond is its being 

 good when comparatively immature — in fact, fit 

 for the table as soon as the tubers obtain size 

 enough to tempt one to dig them. I Avas very 

 much pleased Avith the result of my experiment, 

 and feel confident the sweet potato crop will yet 

 be made a profitable field crop even farther north 

 than Essex county. The slips can be transplant- 

 ed a thousand miles with safety and success. I 

 shall cultivate them largely the coming season, and 

 can spare a few slips to any who may like to try 

 the experiment, at the time of transplanting. 



Salem, Feb., 1863. J. S. Ives. 



Remarks. — We have frequently raised the 

 sweet potato with success. The soil should be a 

 sandy loam, in a hot position, and made deep and 

 mellow, and rather rich. Mr. IVEs' favorable re- 

 port will undoubtedly induce many to attempt 

 its culture next spring. We shall be glad to re- 

 ceive slips. 



Why Salt is Healthful. — From time imme- 

 morial it has been knoAvn that without salt, men 

 would miserably perish ; and among the horrible 

 punishments entailing certain death, that of feed- 

 ing culprits on saltless food is said to have pre- 

 vailed in barbarous times. Maggots and corrup- 

 tion are spoken of by some writers as the distress- 

 ing symptoms which saltless food engenders ; but 

 no ancient or unchemical modern could explain 

 how such suffering arose. Now we know why the 

 animal craves salt, why it suffers discomfort, and 

 why it ultimately falls into disease if salt is for a 

 time withheld. Upward of half the saline matter 

 of the blood — fifty-seven per cent. — consists of 

 common salt ; and as this is partly discharged 

 every day through the skin and kidneys, the ne- 

 cessity of continued supplies of it to the healthy 

 body becomes sufficiently obvious. The bile also 

 contains soda as a special and indispensable con- 

 stituent, and so do all the cartilages of the body. 

 Stint the supply of salt, therefore, and neither will 

 the bile be able properly to assist digestion, nor 

 the cartilages to be built up again as fast as they 

 naturally would waste. — Prof. Johnson. 



