1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



133 



I urged as palpable mistakes in profitably growing 

 the stalwart plants— jj/an^jH^r too early and hilling 

 it up at all. 



And now, gentlemen, if you see fit to have this 

 appear in the columns of the Farmer, I will at a 

 future day endeavor to offer you my reasons for 

 such notions, and point out other mistakes, and 

 set forth some most effc;ctual remedies. 



Rockford, III, Dec, 1869. J. Weldox. 



Remarks.— We shall be pleased to present the 

 views of our correspondent more fully, and if he 

 can suggest any mode or means that will increase 

 the corn crop of New England, we can promise 

 him open ears for every word he has to utter. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH POTATOES. 



I have raised this season about 2400 bushels of 

 potatoes, consisting of Early Rose, Early Prince, 

 Vandervere's Seedling, Bresee's Prolific, Climax, 

 Harrison, Gleason, Calico, Excelsior, King of the 

 Earlies, &c. 



I paid $60 for one bushel of Bresee's Prolific last 

 spring, and have raised 145J bushels of good sound 

 potatoes from them. They are the handsomest 

 lot of potatoes I ever saw. From one peck of the 

 Climax I raised twenty six bushels. The yield of 

 the Bresee's Prolific, I ihiok is the largest I ever 

 read or heard of, — I mean from a bushel's plant- 

 ing. I have heard of some people planting a few 

 pounds and doing the best they could with them, 

 and getting a larger yield in proportion. All the 

 manure that was used on the Bresee's Prolific was 

 about half a shovel full of stable manure in the 

 hill with one tablespoonful of E. F. Cce's Super- 

 phosphate, except about two hundred hills which 

 had a light coat of manure ploughed in. I planted 

 them about the 8th of June, and hoed them only 

 once. 



1 paid $0 for one eye of the King of the Earlier 

 and raised one bushel from it this season. I plant- 

 ed the eye the 3d day of April, and after it came 

 np I propagated from cuttings in a hot house, as 

 all amateur gardeners will understand. This ex- 

 periment beats W. C. Strong's experiment at 

 Brighton last year with the Eany Rose. He states 

 that he raised eighty bushels of potatoes from six 

 pounds of seed. He believes the result is unpre- 

 cedented, being nearly ten times larger than the 

 hundred fold of Scripture. According to his state- 

 ment he did not get half as large a yield in pro- 

 portion to the seed as I got, if his potatoes were 

 of medium size. 



I have experimented this season with six kinds 

 of superphosphate, using about forty barrels, on 

 fourteen acres of potatoes, and will give you the 

 result soon. Moses H. Husset. 



North Berwick, Me., 1869. 



FARM HELP. — SUCCESS IN FARMING. 



I have read much of late in the F'armer in re- 

 gard to hiring help, and the most profitable kind 

 to employ. 1 have been reminded of the old story 

 of the chatneleon. A employs a wide-awake 

 Irishman, who does everythmg well and in proper 

 time, and in short, is faithful to every trust that 

 is committed to his care. 



B sees the success of his neighbor and thinks he 

 will try one of the same race, but unfortunately 

 ootains an individual of dilTorent character and 

 habits. He does all his work wrong and leaves 

 everything at loose ends, ihc larnier comes 

 home to find his cattle in the corn field, or his 

 cows and calves in one pen, or his horse in the oat 

 field, and all because the gale was left open or the 

 bars down. 



>Jow it so happens that A and B both are men 

 that attend agricultural couveatious, una la tuu 



course of the session of one of them the question 

 comes up what kind of help is the most profitable 

 to employ. Now who will doubt the position that 

 each of these men will take ? or that both are 

 honest in their convictions, though directly op- 

 posed to each other ? 



I am satis-fied that little depends on the accident 

 o{ birth, as regards the faithiulness of a man. I 

 have had the charge many times of mixed gangs, 

 and I say give me anything but the eye-servant if 

 I have a hard job to do. 



Again, success in fiirming depends a great deal 

 on plan and management as well as on help. This 

 is true in all kinds of business and professions. 

 While taking the testimony of an important wit- 

 ness, you do not find the attention of a successful 

 lawyer diverted by every little noise that may be 

 made in the court room, or resting his head list- 

 lessly on his hand. On the contrary, he throws 

 his whole so7il into the case, and gains it. So with 

 the successful physician at the bedside, with the 

 mechanic on "a job." Only live men succeed, — 

 only those who give their minds to their business. 



Winchendon, Mass., Jan. 15, 1870. L. 



DRAINAGE OF LAND. 



When Daniel Webster was on the stage of polit- 

 ical life, I remember a conversation between a 

 couple of men in relation to him. One remarked 

 that Mr. Webster knew a great deal about govern- 

 mental affjirs. The other replied he must be a 

 dull scholar if, after twenty-five years' experience 

 in political matters, he did not. So we may say of 

 farmers, mechanics or professional men, who have 

 hacl a lifo experience in their respective callings. 

 But is there not some danger with all men of fall- 

 ing into old ruts or practices, and foliowiug the 

 beaten paths, till they come to regard all improve- 

 ments as innovations ? Thus some farmers think 

 they know all that can be known of ploughing, 

 manuring, planting, haying, seeding, &c. Fur one 

 I confess my ignorance, and feel that I have yet 

 much to learn. 



I have in my mind a large number of acres of 

 interval land which are yearly covered four or live 

 feet deep by the rise of the river. When the stream 

 settles away, water remains in holes and ponds to 

 he evaporated by the sun or filtered into the soil. 

 This might be drained off in most cases, wiih a 

 small amount of labor. But it is believed by some 

 farmers that this water does lictle or no harm, or 

 that water within one or two or more feet of the 

 surface is not injurious to crops. What is your 

 opinion, Mr. Farmer, of the effect of cold water 

 lying so near to the surface, on corn, potatoes, 

 grass, &c. ? H. M. E. 



Fisherville, N. H., 1869. 



Remarks. — The suggestions contained in the 

 above letter indicate thought and good sense. The 

 being tied up to usages, the "falling into old ruts," 

 is one of the greatest obstacles to improvement in 

 any pursuit. The farmer should stueiy the condi- 

 tions of his soil, and be governed by those condi- 

 tions in its treatment. Soil such as you describe 

 can bear nothing better than swale grasses. If it 

 is ploughed and manured, and sowed to sweet 

 grasses, you may get one or two crops of good 

 hay, and then the sour meadow grasses will begin 

 to show themselves, indicating its natural ten- 

 dency. Draining so deeply as to take off the wa- 

 ter below the roots of the grasses is the only rem- 

 edy for this state of things, and this is a sovereiga 

 remedy. It is useless to attempt to cultivate corn, 

 potaioea and other tield crops, where the cold 



