286 CULTIVATION OF FLAX. 



ral experience is, and it is favored by the nature of the case, that much is to be gained by ob- 

 serving them. This year, 1850, I planted a very dark variety of potato, which I had obtained 

 two years since. It was planted as an outside row of a patch of the Early Shaw. This patch 

 was lost by the gangrene; it was not worth gathering. This outside row, however, was found 

 to be free from disease ; some three or four potatoes partly rotten were found ; whether they 

 were the old seed could not be determined, but the rotted ones were so few that no notice 

 would have been taken of them, had I not been upon the look out for diseased ones. Two 

 other kinds were planted upon the same patch, for trial, and which had the reputation of being 

 proof against gangrene, but they were entirely destroyed ; they were not as good as the Early 

 Shaw, a variety which I have found very excellent in quality, as well as ability to resist the 

 disease. This patch, however, was soaked several times with water, which stood upon it for 

 two days after the cessation of rain, so that there was every reason to expect the result I have 

 stated. 



The strong points in the evidence that the disease is a sequence to certain states of the 

 weather, are the very constant results which have followed those states, both as it regards the 

 potato and other vegetables. It is a mode of reasoning which would be regarded as legitimate 

 in other cases, and to which it seems we may assent, and especially where there are no other 

 proximate causes which have an equal claim to our belief. By far the greater number of the 

 causes which have been suggested have been entirely disproved by observation and experiment. 



The subject might be discussed at length, but I deem it sufficient to state briefly the views 

 which I have entertained, and which have become fixed in my mind, and the more strongly in 

 consequence of a repetition of the same facts, followed by the same results. The cultivation 

 of potatoes, carrots, beets and rutabaga, require essentially a mellow soil ; but none of these, 

 except the potato, are subject to disease, and hence, when it is designed to feed stock it will 

 be safer to raise a greater proportion of them of the tap-rooted vegetables, to replace the potato. 

 It is true that the beet and rutabaga contain rather more water, are not so good, really, to sus- 

 tain and fatten stock ; yet, for the purpose of change, and to obviate some of the effects of hay 

 or dry food, they form an important addition to the resources of the farmer in wintering his 

 cattle. In a mellow, rich and deep soil all of these tap-rooted plants yield immense crops. In 

 hard impervious soils they contain but little farina or nutriment, and much tough fibrous matter, 

 almost useless as food, or for any other purpose. High cultivation, therefore, is far the most 

 profitable course to be pursued in the cultivation of roots. An acre should yield from 900 to 

 1000 bushels. 



CULTIVATION OF FLAX. 



The whole plant contains expensive elements, it therefore exhausts the soil. The lint, the 

 woody fibre and the seed, are rich in phosphates. It is less exhausting, of course, when raised 

 for lint, and is not suffered to stand till the seed is ripened. The adjustment of the soil to the 

 production of the best kind of flax is more difficult than the preparation for corn. It requires 

 manure, but it should not be over supplied, as in that case the texture of the lint will be coarse : 



