312 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



July 



mer, except perhaps, to know where he can get 

 a ton of hay the cheapest. 



Other things being equal, a resolve to be a 

 successful farmer, involves no more difficulties 

 than cluster around all occupations. Too 

 much land, and too many irons in the fire 

 make the labors on a farm distasteful and un- 

 remunerative. 



Cultivate less land. Concentrate your 

 forces, for skilful, intelligent labor will win 

 every time. Pursue some specialty. You 

 will get an experience in a few years that is 

 immensely valuable. The succesEfiil business 

 man, or the man of leisure always buys a farm 

 as a finality. It matters not whether reared in 

 city or country, the yearning for land comes 

 with mature years. Wisely planted for a be- 

 neficent purpose, let us accept the condition. 

 Bringing the same skill to bear as in other pro- 

 fessions, we may, like them, reap, some sixty, 

 some ninety and some a hundred fold. 



L. W. Puffer. 



NoriJi Bridgewater, Mass., April, 1870. 



CtJIiTIVATINQ THE POTATO. 

 Enclosed I send you an article that I wrote 

 for the New Hampshire Sentinel, which you 

 are at liberty to publish in the Farmer. 



The raising of potatoes is the most lucrative 

 branch of farming to which those of us who 

 live in the hill towns of New England can turn 

 our attention, and every farmer who produces 

 this crop for the market wishes to plant that 

 variety which will yield the greatest net profit. 

 In order to do this, he must understand which 

 variety is best adapted to his soil. It is well 

 for farmers to try different varieties, and un- 

 derstand which have the most desirable qual- 

 ities combined. 



It is usually the early potato that commands 

 the highest price. But the earlier a potato is, 

 the quicker it loses its good eating qualities ; 

 or in other words, the longer any potato is in 

 maturing, the longer it will retain its good 

 eating qualities. The late varieties are not 

 as liable to be cut off by the drought as early 

 ones, for we seldom have a drought last 

 through the whole season. Early varieties 

 will be much better planted as late as the mid- 

 dle of June, in this section of the country. 

 We usually have considerable dry and hot 

 weather from the 15th of June to the 25th of 

 July, that frequently injures the early potato. 

 If planted late there is more cloudy and rainy 

 weather in August for th^m to grow in. 



There is no branch of farming where so 

 great a diversity of opinion exists as in the 

 seeding and cultivating of potatoes. Some 

 say, if you plant small ones, you will get small 

 ones ; others, if you want large ones, plant 

 them. I have owned a farm and worked upon 

 it for the last twenty- four years, and have al- 

 most invariably planted small potatoes — have 

 planted the Davis Seedling fifteen years, with- 



out changing the seed, and seeded with small 

 ones, and never raised larger ones than last 

 year. Care should be taken to seed light with 

 the small ones. I planted a potato in my 

 garden last spring, not larger than a marble 

 that produced but one eye, and from it I raised 

 2| pounds of large size potatoes. My rule is 

 to cut two eyes on a piece, and put three 

 pieces in a hill, three feet apart, or in drills 

 the same proportion. Those that I wish to 

 plant early, ht fore the eye would naturally 

 start in the cellar, I bring up to the light, that 

 I may know that my seed is all in good shape, 

 and am particular to cut the seed myself the 

 day it is planted, (as it injures the seed to 

 heat, after it is cut.) Three or four vines in 

 a hill are a plenty ; you will get about the 

 same number of pounds, with less small ones. 

 If your ground is mellow, one eye on a piece, 

 with four pieces in a hill is enough ; if tough 

 and soddy, more seed will be needed, for 

 some will not come up. 



The eyes of a potato are all connected to- 

 gether by roots running through the potato, 

 and if disconnected, every eye will start, while 

 on the whole potato only a part will start. 

 Potatoes should be planted on about a level 

 with the top of the ground ; (vary a little 

 from this rule if the piece be wet or dry.) 

 Hill them up just enough for the potato to 

 grow in and no more. Hoe them when very 

 small, have plenty of dirt between the hills 

 and rows. Potatoes have two sets of roots ; 

 one that the tubers grow on, and numerous 

 other roots that run from one hill to the other, 

 near the top of the ground, drawing in food 

 and moisture — hence the injury of hoeing them 

 late. If the ground is left nearly level these 

 little roots will much more readily drink in the 

 dews and showers that fall, and of course will 

 not dry up as much as if hilled up. The po- 

 tato plant needs considerable light and air, 

 and by seeding light the vines grow more 

 erect, and give a better circulation of air, 

 which has a tendency to preserve them from 

 the rot. N. W. Hardy. 



Nelsoti, N. E., April 29, 1870. 



Watering Horses. — Horses should be 

 watered from a brook, pond or river, and 

 not from wells or springs, as the well water is 

 hard and colder, while the running stream is 

 soft and rather warm. The preference of 

 horses is for the soft, even though it be muddy 

 water, to that which is hard. Horses should 

 be allowed in summer time at least four wa 

 terings a day, and a half a bucketful at a time 

 and in winter a pailful may be allowed morn 

 ing and evening, which is sufficient to assuage 

 their thirst without causing them to bloat or 

 puff up. Care, however, should be taken that 

 the horse is not put to work immediately after 

 drinking a full bucket of water, especially if 

 recjuired to go fast, because digestion and 

 severe exertion can never go on together, and 



