522 



From the Farmer and Planter. • 



Rainy Days' Employment. 



Mr. Editor : — As we should always be 

 usefully employed, and use our time to the 

 best possible advantage (this evening being 

 two wet for out of doors' work), I propose 

 to W'fite a short article on the above sub- 

 ject, which you can publish if you think 

 tit. 



All must acknowledge that it is to the in- 

 terest of each and every one, at all times 

 to be usefully and profitably employed; 

 especially if he would desire to thrive and 

 prosper in the world. No one has any 

 time to lose or idle away unimproved. We 

 should work while it is day, for the night 

 Cometh when no man can work. 



The farmer, as well as the man of any 

 other vocation, can work or use his time 

 profitably on rainy days. Because it is 

 too w^et to work out, it is no reason why 

 he should not work at all. He may rest 

 assured that he has a plenty, and more 

 than he can do if he will. 



Every farmer should have some kind of 

 lumber house, or work shop, in which his 

 tools should be kept. On wet days let him 

 repair thither and make or repair all such 

 tools as are needed on the farm ; such lor 

 instance, as plow stocks, harrows, axe han- 

 dles, and many other things that cannot 

 be enumerated. A farmer should plan out 

 and arrange his business so as not to be 

 com))elled to stop his hands out of the 

 field when the weather is favorable for out 

 of doors' labor, ' in order to attend to all 

 those numerous jobs which can be accom- 

 plished as well on wet days as dry ones. 

 He can do or have done all of liis shoe- 

 making and mending, coopering, &c., on 

 rainy days. He can also have his corn 

 shelled and sent to mill when the ground 

 is too wet to plow. In a word, a farmer's 

 labor is almost endless if he tries to man- 

 age and keep up everything pertaining to 

 a farm. And, when he can do or think of 

 nothing else to do on a rainy day that 

 would be more profitable to him for his 

 neighbor, then let him pick up the Farmer 

 and Planter, and read a few articles in its 

 pages, which will employ and invigorate 

 his mind lo do something both profitable 

 and useful when the rain shall have ceased 

 falling. T. F. A. 



Calhoun June Isf, 1858. 



Do Potatoes Mix in the Hill. 



In the Valley Farmer for June we gave 

 our views in full on this question, based 

 upon physiological laws and reason, yet 

 we failed to convince some, as will be 

 seen by our August number, that potatoes 

 would not mix. The following communi- 

 cation on the subject we find in the Coun- 

 try Gentleman, by E. C. Goodrich. The 

 writer has probably produced more new 

 varieties of potatoes from the seed, and 

 experimented with a greater number of 

 kinds together than any other man in the 

 United States, if not in the world, and yet 

 from all his experience in planting differ- 

 ent varieties he has yet detected no mix- 

 ing in the hill. We publish the article 

 for the benefit of the still unbelieving: 



I. Physiological Reasons. 



All the various sorts of potatoes culti- 

 vated in this country are, so far as I can 

 judge, not only of one genus, but also of 

 one species, according to botanical classi- 

 fication. Under this one species, however, 

 are included almost numberless varieties. 

 Among the many thousand that have 

 grown up under my experiments in the 

 last few years, I have seldom seen two 

 whose vine and tuber looked exactly alike, 

 or if they did, they would vary in color 

 of blossom or position in the soil. In 

 1858 I sowed the seed of one ball alone, 

 and got 10 varieties of which no two were 

 alike, though most of them had a family 

 likeness. The same year I got nine vari- 

 eties from another ball, produced by a 

 diflferent variety from the foregoing. — 

 Among these nine, no two were quite alike, 

 though, as before, bearing a family resem- 

 blance. Among potatoes, if anywhere, we 

 might suppose such mixing as that now 

 contemplated might occur. 



1. The first effect of blossoms o!i one 

 impregnated by those of a different varie- 

 ty, is felt on the seed. In 1844, I crossed 

 a seven-year pumpkin's staminate flower 

 with the pistillate one of a green fleshed 

 melon. The result, as a fruit, was still a 

 seven year pumpkin, although the seed 

 was changed, and the next year it produced 

 that excellent variety since called the 

 Honey Squash. Other flowers on this 

 vine not so crossed, produced the ordinary 

 seven year pumpkin fruit. 



2. A Damson plum may be grafted with 

 a fine variety of plums., and the fruit will 



