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 : 
