288 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



the season varies, as near as I can tell, thi-ee or more weeks. The more 

 starch in the tree the faster it will rot; water and warmth will change its 

 condition in a few hours, and with it the organic structure of the tree." 



Mr. W. S. Carpenter. — The time to prune depends entirely upon the 

 object. If it is to produce an increased growth of wood upon the tree, 

 pruning may be done in autumn or earlj^ winter. 



White Willow. 



Mr. Samuel W. Langley, Henderson, Ky., wants to know where to get 

 white willow, and when to plant it. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — I believe the ordinary willow growing in large 

 trees in this part of the country is the same kind as that about which such 

 2i furore has been raised in Illinois. But no one has thought of cutting up 

 limbs into short pieces, and selling them at seven dollars per thousand. 

 The right time to plant such cuttings is from the time the ground thaws 

 out in spring till the leaves begin to grow. 



R.OT IN Potatoes. 



Dr. Samuel Heirston, of Chester county, Penn., thinks that if sound seed 

 is planted in good land, without manure, there will be no disease — that it 

 is always more prevalent upon low land, and always accompanies high 

 manui'iug. 



Mr. Robinson. — Now, to offset this theory, I will reiterate the fact that 

 I have stated here before. In 1861 I planted sound potatoes upon a gentle 

 slope to the southeast; soil, di-y loam, deeply worked; was in sod two 

 years previous; was dressed with muck and bore corn; the next year 

 dressed with well-rotted stable manure, and bore cucumbers and turnips; 

 then was plowed and subsoiled, and planted with potatoes, without manure, 

 except salt scattered along the row below the seed. The plants were 

 dressed during growth with plaster and wood ashes, and ground kept 

 clean. The varieties were Prince Albert, White Mountain, Davis's Seed- 

 ling, and a few experimental hills of half a dozen other sorts. I had had 

 no rot the year before, and therefore know the seed was sound. The crop 

 rotted worse than any other I ever grew. The Prince Alberts were nearly 

 all lost. 



Mr. Carpenter. — I think the trouble with Mr. Robinson was that his 

 potatoes were all old varieties; the way to escape the rot is to plant jione 

 but new sorts. I believe that all potatoes have their period of existence, 

 and then they rot and pass away. As soon as I find a variety begin to rot 

 I discard them. I approve of the new seedlings. I would send to Mr. 

 Goodrich, in this State, or Mr. Bulkeley, of Williamstown, Mass., for the 

 varieties of the new kinds they are introducing. 



Mr. Robinson said that the six sorts alluded to were all new seedlings, 

 and all rotted equally as badly as any of the old varieties. 



International Agricultural Exhibition at Hamburg. 



Messrs. Austin Baldwin & Co., the agents for this exhibition, having 

 called the attention of the Institute to the importance of having a full 



