176 Miscellanies. 



13. JVoiice of the culture of the potatoe in France; in a note to 

 the Editor, dated June 27, 1834, from Mr. Wm. Foster, of Bos- 

 ton — then in New Haven. — In 1796, living in a part of France 

 where potatoes were but little known, and less used, as food for 

 man, and having obtained some Irish seed, I gave them to a country 

 gentleman, at whose castle I was then residing, to plant. He asked 

 me what soil was the most suitable. I informed him, that on that 

 subject there were various opinions, but that I had known very good 

 crops, and of good quality, raised on moist ground. He told me 

 that he had one place that was moist enough, being nothing but bog 

 and water, and another dry enough, being nothing but sand or 

 gravel, and that he was willing to make the sacrifice of these two 

 places for the experiment, since the seed cost him nothing ; at the 

 same time saying, that he was not partial to Enghshmen or potatoes, 

 and reciting the following lines. 



Si vous allez en Angleterre, 



II faut louer jusqu'aux pommes de terre ; 



Mais, gardez vous de dire que Paris soit plus grande que Londres, 



Ou, ils seroient gens a vous tondre. 



By the side of the morass there was a gravel hill, without a sign 

 of vegetable earth in it. The morass was then frozen so as to bear 

 our weight. I proposed to him, (or he to me, I do not remember 

 which,) to imitate the process which one of the children had adopted 

 for his spring garden, in the house ; which was, sowing seeds in tow, 

 floated on water, and to use the dry gravel in the place of the tow, 

 as a mere receptacle, to hold the potatoes for vegetation. The plan 

 was adopted ; many wheelbarrow loads of gravel were placed at 

 proper distances on the bog, and the potatoes planted therein, under 

 my direcv n. The result was a very early crop of excellent pota- 

 toes, farl ^ous and large ; and the same process was continued for 

 years aft ;casionally adding a little gravel, when a part of the first 

 deposit h; jnk into the morass. The potatoes planted on the dry 

 gravel pre ed a few plants and bulbs, of a very bad quality. Their 

 producing ' thing must have been owing to the dampness of the 

 climate, a he copious dews which proceeded from the vicinity of 

 the moraj 



Is it no )bable, sir, that in New England, where good arable 

 land is no sufficient quantities for our wants, there are many such 

 morasses, / of no value, which might be made to produce pota- 



