1862. 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMEE. 



321 



first insist on the importance of using only i 

 land that has had but one crop of the small | 

 grains since it was in grass ; this is the first \ 

 dogma in our creed to the successful grow- ; 

 ing of this crop. Such land should be fall- 

 plowed, and, if for an early crop, need cot 

 be plowed again in the spring, but marked 

 off, as before described, and planted in the 

 the same manner. This is done early in 

 April, and so soon as the plants begin to ap- 

 pear above ground, should be thoroughly 

 harrowed. 



The potatoe is so much more healthy in 

 this sod land than in the old land that we 

 wonder that farmers do not oftener regard 

 it. We usually plant from five to ten acres 

 of potatoes, and always on this kind of land, 

 and while our neighbors are seriously trou- 

 bled with the rot and failure of crops, our 

 crops are always fair. This year the aver- 

 age is not large, onl}^ about one hundred 

 bushels to the acre, though two men could 

 easily did one hundred bushels a day. We 

 thus have demonstrated by actual experi- 

 ment during several years that our practice 

 has the merit of profit, and superior to any 

 other now in use. 



VALUE or VARIETIES. 



For the main crop we cultivate but few 

 varieties. 



Garnet Chili 182 bushels at the rate 

 of 155 bushels to the acre. Pink Eye 

 eighty bushels to eighty-seven bushels per 

 acre, purple Neshannock, sixty-five bushels 

 per acre ninety-seven bushels. Carter one 

 hundred and thirty-five bushels, seventy- 

 five per acre. Neshannock (Mercer) fifty- 

 five bushels, eighty-eight bushels per acre. 

 The Garnet Chili is very productive, but 

 only second rate for the table ; but its great 

 productiveness and immunity from the rot 

 will make it popular. 



The pink eye, when in new land, and 

 well cultivated, is second to no other for the 

 table, but rambles so in the hill that far- 

 mers dislike it. The Purple Neshannock is 

 one of the most valuable for the table, and 



for spring and summer superior to any varie- 

 ty that we have ever grown; in this respect 

 it stands at the head of the list. This has 

 no blue or purple streaks in the flesh, but 

 is of a pure starchy white. "We have seen 

 potatoes called blue and black Neshannock 

 but which are unfit for the table. The Car- 

 ter is an excellent potatoe for the table, but 

 housekeepers dislike it on account of the 

 numerous deep eyes it contains. The Ne- 

 shannock or Mercer has stood at the head 

 of the list for an early market variety for 

 the past thirty years, and is as yet unsur- 

 passed in this reapect. We have often 

 raised two hundred bushels to the acre. Un- 

 fortunately it is very liable to the rot, and 

 on this account is not so much planted for 

 the main crop as formerly. For the early 

 crop in Egypt it has no equal. The purple 

 Neshannock being little liable to the rot, 

 yielding a fair crop, and being so valuable 

 for spring and summer use, we have placed it 

 prominent for that purpose. This article 

 might appear out of season, but such is not 

 the case ; for having just closed the harvest- 

 ing of the crop, all that pertains to it is yet 

 fresh in our mind, and we are thus capable 

 of correcting the errors of the past. W^e all 

 know that it will not do to manure the 

 land for this crop, as that induces the rot, 

 and on old lands we have too many weeds, 

 land not in good order, and the yield small. 

 On the contrary, the sod land, called by far- 

 mers, second sod, or the second year that it 

 is cropped after breaking up, whether of 

 prairie, hurd grass or clover, will be more 

 free of weeds, and rich in vegetable mold, 

 we cannot well fail of a crop ; and it is on 

 this soil that the potatoe is most exempt 

 from the rot and other maladies. These are 

 sufficient reasons for calling the attention of 

 the readers of the Farmer to the subject 

 now, when it is the proper time to not only 

 select the potatoe patch for next year, and 

 plow the land, but to select and save the 

 proper varieties for seed. Before the sea- 

 son for planting arrives we shall give full 



