THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
189 
For the Southern Cultivator. 
POTATOES. 
Mr. Editor:^ — 1 have been of opinion for se- 
veral years, that the potatoe crop was too much 
neglected in this section of countr3^ The crop 
that 1 have made this year, has confirmed me 
in that opinion. 1 planted a fraction more than 
tv/e acres. Three-fourths of the land was of se- 
cond year’s tending, and was so full of roots 
and stumps that we could not prepare it for 
planting to my satisfaction ; but after breaking 
up the land a time or two, the rows were run 
off in a horizontal position and beds thrown up 
with a turning plow, then a hand with a hoe 
made holes for every eighteen or twenty inches, 
in which the seed were dropped and covered — 
these were of the Spanish kind. The land is 
thin grey soil; growth post-oak and black-jack 
intermixed with pine. The other fourth of the 
ground planted, is cdd grey land, on which cows 
had been penned. This, and a small part of 
the fresh land, was planted with yam-slips. (I 
here remark, that I have found out long since 
that the richest land is not the best for potatoes.) 
We hauled home and put away six hundred and 
forty bushels, and I suppose there were fifty 
bushels left on the ground for the hogs to get, and 
we must have dug at least ten bushels previously 
dor table use, &c. At this, my crop from a lit- 
tle over two acres, is seven hundred bushels; 
but I will take it at 60d bushels, which at 20 
cents per bushel, amounts to S120. The same 
land in corn, under the most favorable seasons 
and best mode of culture, could not have made 
more than 80 bushels, that at 33 cents per bu- 
shel, (which is the settlement price,) amounts 
to $30.40. 1 will allow SIO fot the value of la- 
bor (which, IS more than enougli) expended on the 
potatoes, more than would have been required 
on the same land had it been in a corn crop ; and 
will allow ;11>5 for fodder that might have been 
produced with the corn. At this calculation, 
there is a balance left in favor of potatoes of ^74 
60. 1 may have priced the potatoes too high, 
. but will leave it to the readers of the Southern 
Cultivator to put their own prices on each ar- 
ticle-make their own calculations— draw their 
own inferences, and come to their own decisions 
as to the propriety of our planting more pota- 
toes than we have heretofore; and what we do 
plant, be sure to cultivate well, as they are a 
crop that is well worth our attention, it they 
were but to feed our stock on. They -wdll fat- 
ten a hog quicker than corn.; and for fattening 
an old ox or cow, 1 have never found iheir 
equal; as a change of food and for milch cows, 
there is scarcely anything better ; and for chil- 
dren, both white and black, they are the most 
healthy food we can give them. 
I am, sir, yours respectfully, &c., 
John Farrar, 
P. S. — I will say to you, that I seeded two 
small lots in red clover and blue grass, about a 
vear ago. As yet, they do not promise any big 
things. The clover, on a part of one of the lots, 
seems to be doing well, which is on the stilfest 
part of the land. On the softest part, the hot 
summer caused the most of it to disappear. 
There is a tolerable good stand of grass. Ano- 
ther year will prove whether it will succeed to 
much advantage. I have ordered one of Low's 
crushers, from Nashville, Tennessee. You have 
seen some account of it in the Tennessee Agri- 
culturist; and there was an extract respecting 
it in the Southern Cultivator some time the past 
summer. When I get it home and put in ope- 
ration, I will give you some account of its per- 
formance and utility. The present year has 
proved to me that potatoes do not require as 
much rain to make a good crop as I have 
thought they did, as our ground has not been 
wet but twice since July. 
f saw a potatoe the other day, at a friend’s, 
that weighed, in m.y presence, eight pounds — it 
was of the red skin kind. A yam of the same 
size would weigh, I expect, ten or eleven pounds. 
Stanfordvillb, Putnam Co., Ga , P J. F. 
November 16, 1844. \ 
From the Albany Cultivator, 
CONTINUANCE OF MILK IN COWS. 
Messrs. Editors ; — It certainly would be a very 
great advantage to those who wish to keep a 
cow or cows, solely for their milk, if any feasi- 
ble method could be adopted by which cows 
could be made permanent milkers, or theirown- 
ers particularly those who live in cities, be sa- 
ved the trouble and inconvenience of their bree- 
ding. There are two ways in which this seems 
practicable. The first method is to keep the 
cow in milk, from the bull, by constantly sta- 
bling her, after her first and second calf, and in 
this stale, milked regularly and well fed, she 
will continue to give milk for two or more years. 
She usually ends, however, by bcoming too fat 
lor profit as a milker, hermilk gradually failing, 
and she then goes to the butcher. The large 
dairies of London, have their cows treated in 
this manner, and in practice it is found far pre- 
ferable to the old one, of having them '■'■come irv' 
annually. 
There is another method of obtaining con- 
stant milkers which has lieen extensively prac- 
ticed in France, and known to some extent in 
this country. This is by spaying the cow some 
four or six weeks after calving, and thus by 
preventing impregnation, securing the cow in 
milk for several years. In the London Veteri- 
narian may be found a paper by M. Rogere, of 
Bordeaux, in France, who had for many years 
been engaged rn a series of experiments on this 
subject, that had been eminently successful. 
The cows operated upon were of various ages, 
some quite old. The operation of spaying was 
followed with a restricted diet to prevent the 
tendency of infla.timation. This had the effect of 
reducing the quantity of milk fur a few days, 
but the flow soon returned, and continued un- 
affected for a long time. No danger was in- 
curred by the operation when skilfully perform- 
ed, and when from age or failure of milk, it be- 
came desirable to make beef of the animal, she 
was found altogether superior for that purpose 
to the unspayed ones. 
In one of the earlier volumes of Ruffin’s 
Farmer’s Register may be found a paper on 
spaying cows or heifers, not only for milk, but 
for feeding. Mr. Tabb, of Virginia, under 
whose superintendence the operations were con- 
ducted, confirms the representations made of 
the value of milch cows so operated upon, but 
thinks it not less essential or important where 
cows or heifers are to be fed. The following 
extract is from Mr. Tabb’s paper: — “The ope- 
ration is performed on heifers not intended for 
milk when they are about a year old, and with 
the single precaution of keeping them entirely 
from food or water during twenty-four or thirty- 
six hours previous— is not attended with the 
least risk — is performed in the. same way, and 
may be done by any person in the habit of spay- 
ing pigs. They go to their food immediately 
after, and require no attention. We select the 
most indifferent heifers to spay, which is one 
way to improve the stock. You increase the 
size amazingly. They gradually become as 
large as ordinary oxen — ^^are easily kept — make 
the finest beet — and as they are not in perfec- 
tion uuti’i six or seven years old, we work them 
after three or four, to make them gentle, and for 
that purpose, consider them superior to the ox.’^ 
The practice of w'orking milch cows is eom- 
mon in Germany, as appears from the accounts 
of various travellers in thatcountry; and teams 
of spayed heifers have carried off prizes at the 
plowing matches of Agricultural Societies in 
England. The suggestion made above, by Mr. 
Tabb, as to the practice of spaying having a 
good effect in the improvement of stock, is an 
important one. If the breeders of stock could 
so lar forego the hope ofimmedi; te profit, as to 
be willing to submit all inferior heifciS to spay- 
ing, it is evident the chances of breeding infe- 
rior animals, would diminish rapidly. 
Mr. Winn, keeper of an extensive hotel at . 
Natchez, communicated to Judge Peters, of Pa., 
the result of experiments made by him in spay- 
ing cows for the purpose of securing permanent 
milkers, it appears from the paper as given in 
the Transactions of the Pennsylvania Agricul- 
tural Society that he had two cows, which after 
being spayed, gave milk constantly lor three 
years each. He preferred cows that had pro- 
duced two or three cal ves, as the bags of such 
would be more capacious, than if spayed after 
the first calf. 1 hope that some of our breeders 
or farmers will try this experiment, since if 
successful, there can be no doubt such cows 
would command greatly advanced prices in 
places where cow's are kept for their milk alone. 
Ontario, Oct., 1844. A Fariuer. 
“ Much increase is by the strength of the ox. ” 
IProv. XIV. 4. 
The following in substance, is Dr. Adam 
Clarke’s just commentary on this passage of 
Holy Writ. The ox deserves more considera- 
tion than he usually receives, for the reasons 
here so correctly given; “The ox is the most 
profitable of all the beasts used in husbandry. 
Except merely for speed, he is superior in al- 
most every respect to the horse. 1. He is long- 
er lived. 2. Scarcely liable to any disease. 3. 
He is steady, and always pulls fair in his gears. 
4. He lives, fattens, and maintains his strength 
on what horses will not eat, and therefore is 
supported at much less cost. 5. His manure 
is more profitable. And, 6. When he is worn 
out in his labor, his flesh is good for the nou- 
rishment of man, his horns of great utility, and 
his hide almost invaluable. It might be added, 
he is almost no expense in shoeing; and his 
gears are much less expensive than those of the 
horse. In all large farms, oxen for the common 
purposes of labor, are greatly to be preferred to 
horses. Have but patience with this most pa- 
tient animal, and you wall soon find there is 
much increase by the strength and labor of the 
ox.” 
Preservation of Pumpkins. — This fall lei 
every farmer gather as many of his best ma- 
tured pumpkins as will suffice to supply his 
stock with a mess daily through the winter, and 
deposite them carefully in a close and secure 
repertory, according to the following succinct 
and definite rules: 1st, lay a stratum of butts of 
straw from the threshing floor, one foot thick ; 
on this stratum deposite another of pumpkins, 
and cover them carefully with another layer of 
straw, and so on to the end of your heap. 
In this way, pumpkins may be preserved 
most of the year, as sweet and fresh as when 
taken from the field. Try it, friends, and not 
leave every thing to be discovered by accident, 
as is the case with experiments in agriculture 
generally . — Maine Cultivator. 
“Going THE hog” wholly. — An establish- 
ment, calculated for the slaughtering and pack- 
ing of 100,000 of the swinish multitude-— we 
mean those that goon “all fours!” — the pre- 
sent season, have been provided at Madison, 
Indiana. There will, beyond dispute, be a 
“ great cry there, but precious little wool I” 
