1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



561 



and the time has arrived at which Mr. Field was to 

 pcilbim ills part of the contract, and to-day he has 

 tinii^hcd putting the potatoes into my cellar, and 

 tliis evening we have Ijccn looking over our hooks. 

 I find lie has charged me only 23 cents per bushel 

 for potatoes. Now as 23 cents per Inishel is only 

 about one-tliird as much as Mr. Green Grocer asks 

 for them, I liavc come lo ihe conclusion that Mr. 

 Potato FiLld is the best man to deal with. And, 

 furthermore, Mr. Galen Speculator stands ready 

 to give me a good price for the potatoes, as he 

 wisLies to send them down for the good people of 

 the "Hub' to cat. So you see I might make a few 

 dollars for pocket money. 



I have Ibund jMr. Field honest and upright in all 

 dealings. In fact, I have such confidence in his 

 honcsiy, that I should not hesiiate to trust him in 

 any business transactions, never fearing but that 

 the side of my loss and gain account would show 

 a larger balance because of my dealings with him. 



Washinqlon County., Vt., Oct. 1867. c. 



Remarks. — Ptcv. H. W. Bcecher is reported to 

 have said that it may be true that clothes do not 

 make a man, still after a man is made bethought 

 he looked all the better for being dressed up. This 

 is as true of facts as of men. Even dry statistics 

 may be presented in an attractive garb ; and most 

 capitally has our correspondent succeeded in giv- 

 ing life and beauty to the dry bones of his potato 

 raising experiment. 



OLD PLASTEH, LIME, &C. 



I am repairing my house, and among the debris 

 are several loads of old plaster, mortar, &c. It is 

 said to lie a valuable fertilizer. But I am ignorant 

 of the proper meihod of its application. How 

 can it; be disintegiatcd for such a purpose ? Is 

 there any way liy which it can be profitably com- 

 posted with other inaredients ? s. h. 



Attkboro', Mass., Oct. 7, 1867. 



Remarks. — Such materials are valuable, as 

 they contain manj' excellent fertilizing properties. 

 On fair land, we should prefer a dressing of them 

 to one of good staVne manure, for a crop of wheat. 

 Still, we know of several heaps of such stuff, 

 which have been lying by the road side, on the 

 form, for several years. It is certainly time that 

 the common farmer should give more attention to 

 things of this nature. Our uorrespondentis a pro- 

 fessional man, but the moment a farm comes into 

 his possession, his inquiries commence as to the 

 value of things about him. And this is the only 

 way to proceed in order to make the labor applied 

 become profitahle. 



The plaster of an old house contains many val- 

 uable agents, besides mere lime, such as salts of 

 various kinds, soot, &c. In China, the plaster of 

 an old kitihen is so much esteemed as a manure, 

 that a farmer will be at the expense of replastering 

 an old cook house for the old plaster, that he may 

 employ what he takes off to fertilize Lis fields. 



In one of Prof. James F. W. Johnston's lectures, 

 delivered before the Durham County Agi-ieultural 

 Society, in England, some twenty years ago, he 

 Bays lime acts upon soils in two ways. It pro- 

 duces a mechanical alteration, which is simple and 

 easily understood ; it is also the cause of a series of 

 chemical changes, which are really obscare, and 



I are as yet susceptible of only partial explanation. 



In the finely divided state of quick lime, of 

 slaked lime, or of soft and crumbling chalk, it 

 stiflfens very loose soils, and opens the stiffer clays, 

 while in the form of limestone, gravel or shell- 

 sand, it may be employed cither for opening a clay 

 soil or for giving body and firmness to boggy land. 



The purposes served by lime as a chemical con- 

 stituent of the soil, are at least o*" four distinct 

 kinds. 



1. It supplies a kind of inorganic food which ap- 

 pears to be necessary to the healthy growth of all 

 our cultivated plants. 



2. It neutralizes acid substances which are nat- 

 urally formed in the soil, and decomposes or ren- 

 ders harmless other noxious compounds which are 

 not unfrequently within reach of the roots of plants. 



3. It changes the inert vegetable matter in the 

 soil, so as gradually to render it useful to vegeta- 

 tion. 



4. It causes, facilitates or enables other useful 

 compounds, both organic and inorganic, to be pro- 

 duced in the soil — or so promotes the decomposi- 

 tion of existing compounds as to prepare them 

 more speedily for entering into the circulation of 

 plants. 



All these theories are susceptil)le of quite satis- 

 factory illustrations or explanations, for which we 

 refer our intelligent correspondent to Davy's Ag- 

 ricultural Chemistry, Licbig's Natural Laws of 

 Husbandry, to the Lectures from which we have 

 quoted, or to Prof. Norton's Elements of Scientific 

 Chemistry. They will each pay well for a careful 

 perusal, and will interest and please while they 

 instruct. 



THE TOMATO. 



I have frequently been asked the question: How 

 long has the tomato been in use in this part of the 

 country ? I have also been infoi-nied that the subject 

 has been discusseel in some of the jiapers within a 

 short time. 1 therefore propose to give my own 

 experience in the niatter. 



The late Chief Justice Wm. M. Richardson of 

 Chester, N. H., was a member of the Congrei-s that 

 declared the war of 1812, and when he came home 

 from Washington he brought with him tiie seed of 

 the tomato, the martynia and rhubarb, to his father, 

 who was our nearest iieiglilior. He raised them 

 one year, and the next I procured the seed and 

 roots and they have all I)ecn in our garden ever 

 since. They were all raised as curiosities, not 

 knowing that they were of any use at all for several 

 yeiirs. 



In the year 1823 I was at school at the Greenleaf 

 Academy, Bradford, Mass., anil Mr. Kimball, the 

 man with whom I boartled, worked in Haverhill, 

 anel occasionally brought home a liandful of toma- 

 toes and used them sliced in vinegar, the same as 

 cucumbers. This was the first time I ever saw 

 them used, and here I fir-t learned to eat them. 

 Mr. Kimball called ihem Trcmardcrs. 



In the year 1829, I raised several bushels in the 

 town of Arlington, on the farm now owned by 

 Albert Winn, Esq., and sold tlicin in a green state 

 for pickles. I next raised them on the Longwood 

 farm in Brookline, for the Hon. David Sears ; he 

 having learned to use them in France. 



In the year 1833, 1 undertook to raise 30 bushels 

 for a Mr. Thomas Lewis, in Broad Street, Boston ; 



