174 



NEW ENGLAND FARCER. 



April 



genus and order, we will take him for the prin- 

 cipal subject of our first two numbers. 



If a civilized, merciful and Christian man 

 can possibly have an enemy so detestable and 

 vicious that he would be justified in seeking to 

 destroy him by the aid of cats, dogs, weasels 

 and ferrets ; by all kinds of traps and snares ; 

 by poison, by fire and water, by starvation, 

 fright and torture ; such an enemy must be 

 found in the rat family. 



Yet in fairness, it should be admitted that 

 this rodent is not thus obnoxious to man's ex- 

 treme displeasure, simply because he is a sneak- 

 thief, murderer, and rat cannible ; but chiefly 

 because he preys upon and defiles the stores 

 which man has hoarded for his own special use. 



And it may also be said in behalf of the rat, 

 that he is a thief from necessity ; for were he 

 ever so much inclined to pursue an inoffensive 

 course of life, and to earn his subsistence by 

 honest and honorable toil, all avenues to such 

 a course are to him effectually closed. And 

 he seems to understand and accept the situa- 

 tion, well knowing and fearing the impending 

 penalty for his acts, and ambitious in nothing 

 but the attainment of a bad eminence in his 

 profession. We do not know whether he ever 

 repines at his lot, or presumptuously inquires 

 ■why he was made a rat, and not rather some 

 more favored animal. If so, we advise him to 

 read Pope : — 



"Then in the scale of life and sense 'tis plain 

 There must be, somewhere, such a link as rat." 



But perhaps it is a question more interesting 

 to man than rat, why there must be such a 

 link in the "vast chain of being." While we 

 are in no doubt as to the wisdom and benevo- 

 lence of the Creator of all things, our knowl- 

 edge of the vai'ious dependencies and relations 

 of the countless forms of animal and vegetable 

 life, is too limited to enable us to compi-ehcnd 

 clearly the necessity or utility of many of these 

 forms. A very common solution of the ques- 

 tion before us is, that vermin are given for our 

 discipline, by calling into exercise our inircnti- 

 ity ibr their destru<'tion, or our patience in en- 

 during their depredations. Perhaps some m.ay 

 think that th;;y are consequent to man's fall(>n 

 condition, and should be incltemi nts to the 

 "seekin'4 of a better country" free from moths. 

 Without criticizing too severely tiie above so- 

 lution, we may be allowed to say tiiat any view 

 of the animal world which restricts it to the 

 use, advantage or disadvantage of man, must 

 be extremely narrow and seL'ish. If we may 

 believe the nuords of geology, the republic of 

 animals was large and prosperous before the 

 introduction and reign of man. And before 

 we can a[)[)roach a true solution of the f|ues- 

 tion, w(! mu t admit that animals as well as 

 men have ^oine rights whii'h we are Itound to 

 respect ; nnd Ihat animal life and enjoyment, 

 irrespccti\(! of man, is of some little importance 

 in lh(! economy of nature. 



But since many species and even whole 



genera of animals, from time to time In the 

 past ages, and some Indeed within the historic 

 period, have become extinct without any sen- 

 sible disturbance of the balance of power, or 

 apparent shock to the great animal fal)ric, per- 

 haps we may safely proceed to exterminate one 

 or two species of vermixi by way of experiment. 

 And as the Norway rat is an interloper, having 

 come to America about 1775, we may the more 

 properly take him as the first example. But 

 '■'■Facilis descensus — sed revocare gradumlioc 

 opus, hie labor est.'''' His introduction was 

 easy — to exterminate him Is a hard job ; and 

 Avill probably never be attempted on any plan 

 sufficiently comprehensive to be successful. 

 And therefore rats and men must submit to live 

 together as best they can, hating and being 

 hated. But if these detestable gnawers can- 

 not be utterly destroyed, they may be dimin- 

 ished, partially excluded or frightened away, 

 and compelled to change their base. And this 

 brings us to a more practical consideration of 

 the subject, which will be pursued In our next 

 number. 



Wllkinsonville, Mass., 1867. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 AMOUNT OF SEED FOB POTATOES. 



IlaA'ing become convinced by repeated ex- 

 periments that one can obtain more bushels 

 and better sized potatoes by planting the butts 

 of large potatoes than other descrlpnons of seed, 

 I tried an experiment last year, Mith a few hills, 

 to ascertain the quantity of seed necessary to 

 a hill. The result was in favor of a much more 

 liberal seeding than Is commonly practiced. 



To put the matter beyond all reasonable 

 doubt, I have this year tried an experiment on 

 a more extensive scale. I planted 780 hills as 

 follows : — Commencing at one end. In the first 

 row, I put 3 butts In a hill. In the second row 

 •4 butts in a hill, and so on through the piece. 

 Every odd row had 3 butts in a hill ; every even 

 row had 4 butts in a hill. I dug each row sep- 

 arately and weighed the product. The result 

 was ; — 



39!) hills with 3 butts yielded 1401 lbs. 14 oz. 



390 hills with 4 butts yielded 15G9 lbs. l-j oz. 



This would leave a gain of 17 1-3 bushels per 

 acre hy ])lanting 4 butts in a hill instcnd of 3. 

 Take out 10 bushels for the extra seed, and it leaves 

 7 1-3 bushels clear gain over and above the extra 

 seed. 



After finishing my other planting, having a 

 pile of nmd on hand, for which I had no Iiume- 

 diate use, I leveled it down, putting it in an 

 oblong sijuare form, leaving tlu; mud about 18 

 inches deep. Here I i)lanted V2 rows, with (i 

 hills in a row. From necessity 1 i)lante(l small- 

 er ])otatoes, 5 being about e(iual to -1 of the 

 others. Here every odd row had 4 butts In a 

 liiil, and every even row had b butts in a hill. 

 On digging, 



30 hills with 4 butts in a hill violiled l'2/)ll)s.4oz. 

 36 hills with 5 butts in a hill yielded 136 lbs. 12oz. 



