SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
IfiO 
Though too late for the present season, the follow- 
ing may be of service to our readers hereafter : 
CULTIVATION OF IRISH POTATOES. 
While recently in conversation with a friend of superi- 
or knowledge and ability, as well as of practical experi- 
ence and information, we gathered some ideas in regard 
to the cultivation of the Irish Potato, which we believe to 
be of value. They have so been pronounced by those 
competent to form a correct opinion, with whom we have 
since consulted. We will state them, for the information 
of our readers, briefly, but as clearly as we can. 
The basis of the plan is involved in the fact or idea, 
that the greater the length of the main stem or root that 
shoots upward from the seed, the greater will be the yield, 
the potato being found at intervals along the whole length 
of the said root. How, therefore, is the length of the root 
to be best obtained. If the seed be planted early, and bur- 
ied to the desired depth below the surface, it too often rots, 
the plant never making its appearance. If planted later 
with less depth, the plants are liable to be killed down by 
frost, and therebv materially injured. It is proposed to 
i^viate these difficulties in the following way: 
Let the seed be planted early in February or in Janu- 
ary, if preferred, in trenches, well manured if necessary, 
of sufficient depth to admit of successive coverings with- 
out greatly exceeding the surface. Cover the seed, in the 
first instance, to the depth of about four or five inches. 
After a sufficient length of time, and when, upon exami- 
nation, it is ascertained that the sprout is within about 
two inches of the ground, cover again to the same depth 
as at first. When, again, the sprout reaches the same 
distance from the surface, cover again. After this allow 
the sprout to come out. In most cases, the danger from 
killing frost will have passed before the potato has made 
its appearance above the third covering, and the double 
object of length of root and escape from frost has been ob- 
tained. They may then be cultivated in the usual way. 
This system of culture prevails, in substance in the 
N’orthern States, w'here the Irish potato is grown so suc- 
cessfully and to so great an extent. As we remarked 
above, we think the idea of practical utility, and we re- 
commend our friends whose efforts may have hitherto 
been unsuccessful in the production of this important 
vegetable, to give it a trial. Our friend to whom we are 
indebted for the information, has never failed to make a 
fiiir crop when adopting this plan. — Swmter {S. C.) 
Watchman. 
Items for House-Keepers. — Do everything in its 
proper time. Keep everything in its place. Always 
mend clothes before washing. 
Alum or vinegar is good to set colors of red, green or 
yellow, 
Sal Soda will bleach very white j one spoonful is enough 
for a kettle of clothes. 
Save your suds for garden and plants, or to harden 
yards when sandy. 
A hot shovel held over varnished furniture, will take 
out white spots. 
Ribbons of any kind should be washed in cold s lapsuds 
and not rinsed. 
If your flat irons are rough rub them well with fine salt, 
and it will make them smooth. 
If you are buying a carpet for durability, choose small 
figures. 
Scotch snuff put on the holes where crickets come out, 
will destroy them 
A gallon of strong ley put in a barrel of bard water, 
will make it as soft ac rain 
§^“He that is angry with his just reprover kindles the 
fire of the just avenger. 
[AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
It is a melancholy truth, and one that reflects much on 
the skill and fore^ight of American farmers, that while 
the wheat crop of England has increased at least fifty per 
cent in the last century, that of the United States has fallen 
off in nearly the same proportion. A century ago New 
England and Delaware raised wheat as an ordinary crop ; 
now a wheat field is a rarity in these States, and they 
may be considered no longer wheat-producing regions. 
Portions of New York that formerly produced thirty bush- 
els to the acre now seldom average over eight bushels; 
and Ohio, new as she is, with her virgin soil, does not 
average over thirteen bushels to the acre. - 
If we go on as we have for the past century, from bad 
to worse in our tillage, the lands in Ohio in half a cen- 
tury from this time will not produce wheat enough to 
supply our own wants. It is less than that time since 
Vermont was a large wheat-exporting State; now she 
does not export a bushel, but imports at least two thirds 
of all the flour consumed in that State. Instead of increas- 
ing the productiveness of our wheat land, as is done in 
England, our wheat region is diminished more than one- 
half, and the productive quality of what is still used has 
diminished in equal proportion. 
This is a practical, matter of fact view of the case, and 
one that addresses itself seriously to the common sense of 
the farmer and national economist. Instead of the vain 
boast that we can feed all Europe from our surplus wheat, 
we have got to improve our farming or swallow the 
unpalatable truth that we import our breadstuffs from 
England. 
We talk much of the worn-out lands of Maryland, Vir- 
ginia, and Carolina ; but New York, that has destroyed 
the productive quality ofher soil so that she can get but 
eight bushels where she formerly got thirty, and Ohio so 
she gets but thirteen bushels where she formerly got 
thirty-five, have the same prospect before them. The great 
question regards the future ; the past cannot be recalled 
nor remedied. 
One great source of deterioration in exhausting ou^soil 
has been in the manufacture of potash, and the export of 
it to foreign countries or to our manufactories. In this 
way our soil has been robbed of an ingredient without 
which no plant can mature and no cereal grain form. As 
our forests have disappeared, this source of deterioration 
must be cut off, but a serious injury has been inflicted, 
which nothing can cure but the re-furnishing of the potash 
to the soil. How can it be done I is the great inquiry for 
our farmers 
The export of our flour has been another source of ex- 
haustion to the soil, in taking away from it the phosphate 
of lime that is necessary to give plumpness to the kernel. 
This exhaustiion can be more easily remedied by the 
application of bone dust. For many years the English 
farmers have carried on a large traffic in old bones, pay- 
ing five dollars a ton for them. This has stimulated many 
to gather them up, and even to rob the bettle-fields of 
Europe of the bones of their brave defenders to enrich the 
wheat fields of England. By this course the fields of 
England have been made moie productive, while the 
countries from which the bones are taken have been per- 
manently injured by their loss 
The English, too, have sent to every island of South 
America to procure niire, in the form of guano, to fertil- 
ize their fields, while the Americans not only import lit- 
tle, but negligently wa^te that which Nature forces on 
them. — Ohio Farmer. 
Hopes and cues, an oeiies and tears, divide our 
life. Would you be free tiom 'hese anxieties! think 
every d^iy will be your last, and then the succeeding 
hours will be the more welcome, because unexpected. 
