CULTURE OF POTATOES.-CULTURE OF SUMACH. 
61 
If the cups have sometimes overflowed I know 
not; yet I have often looked through the glasses of 
the hives to see, hut have never observed any syrup 
on the floor boards. This fact leads me to con¬ 
clude that 'when, by a sudden elevation of tempera¬ 
ture, a quantity is forced out by the expansion of 
air within, the vessel being partially empty, the 
bees from the same cause require a greater quantity 
of food, which compensates the supposed difficulty. 
The former season I surrounded the feeders with 
saw dust as a bad conductor ; the latter they had 
over them empty boxes only. The precaution is, 
however, to be recommended. Bevan recommends 
as the best spring food for bees and also the best 
substitute for honey in autumn, the following 
compound : one pound of coarse brown sugar and 
three-fourths of a pint of ale, boiled to the consist¬ 
ence of a syrup, to which should be added a tea¬ 
spoonful of salt. Philetus Phillips. 
Middletown Point , N. J. 
CULTURE OF POTATOES. 
The December No. of the Agriculturist contained 
a short article upon the Potato Rot, and an invita¬ 
tion to its readers to contribute facts relating to the 
cultivation of the potato. 
My farm is upon the banks of the Connecticut, 
and the soil is of alluvial formation. Such soils 
are not favorable to the production of potatoes, as 
they are too close, and harden from the influence 
of the sun after rain. The porous, moist, upland, 
is congenial to the potato. Upon our intervals 
[meadows or bottoms skirting the river] we pre¬ 
pare the potato ground precisely as we do for com, 
by spreading upon the green sward coarse and un¬ 
rotted manure from the barn yard, and turn under as 
early as we can. After rolling and harrowing, we 
plant upon the surface in hills about three feet 
apart in the rows, and make the hill as large as we 
can. We do not hoe more than once, except in 
wet seasons, when the weeds flourish. 
I planted one piece in the usual manner as early 
as the middle of April, and on the last day of May 
I planted another piece upon the same swell of 
land, turning under a good coat of grass to the 
depth of five inches. I then sharpened a stake 
(not very sharp), which was about three inches in 
diameter, and put an inch pin through it about ten 
inches from the bottom, so that stepping upon the 
pin I could easily perforate the sod. I then began 
making my holes between the two first furrows, 
about eighteen inches apart, and continued to do 
so in every fourth lap through the field. I then 
put one medium sized potato in each hole, forcing 
it down to the bottom of the sod, and covering it 
with my heel. After planting the whole field in 
this manner, I went over it with the roller, which 
left the surface perfectly smooth. After the tops 
were three or four inches high, I plastered them, 
and covered the plaster an inch or two with my 
hoe. Before the tops got to be too large, I went 
between the rows with a cultivator, and pulled the 
weeds out between the hills. The result of the 
experiment was very gratifying. The crop from 
this piece was almost twice as large as from the 
other. The potatoes were larger, and much finer 
for the table, and cost me not more than half the 
usual labor. I would observe that this experiment 
was made upon dry soil, and in a very dry season. 
The process of decomposition underneath the sod 
concentrated the moisture, and the unbroken sur¬ 
face prevented evaporation. When I harvested 
(which I think should be as late as possible and 
avoid the freezing), I found that the tops came 
from below the sod, but the potatoes were upon the 
surface, some of them out of the ground. I shall 
try this mode again, and place the potatoes twelve 
inches apart in the rows. 
I have escaped the rot, although all my neigh¬ 
bors have suffered from it the two past years. I 
cannot account for it, but reasoning from analogy 
I have formed the following opinion: That if the 
disease is caused by an insect, the plant may be 
too mature, or not sufficiently so when the insect 
appears, to suffer from such attack. Therefore we 
succeed best when we plant early , or late. This 
same theory would apply equally well to the sup¬ 
position that the disease is the effect of the damp, 
hot weather of August. In sowing wheat in the 
spring, we know that we escape both the weevil 
and rust, either by late or early sowing, and I 
have noticed that the blast in the potato, and the 
rust on the wheat, come together. 
W m. Bellows. 
Walpole , N. H., Jan. 13, 1846. 
CULTURE OF SUMACH. 
In September, 1843, I sent you an article on the 
cultivation of sumach, which appeared in your 
number for October. I am pleased to inform you, 
and the friends of American industry generally, 
that the quantity sent from the south for the past 
year, 1845, mostly from Virginia, has been equal 
to about 10,000 bags, equivalent to 700 tons, being 
nearly one-twentieth of the consumption of the 
country. 
I mentioned in my former essay, that the most 
astringent vegetables, or those containing the 
largest portion of gallic acid, are raised in warm 
climates. Now, although the sumach sent from 
Virginia has been used in place of Sicilian, yet that 
which can be raised in South Carolina, Georgia, 
Alabama, and more particularly Florida, would be 
of decidedly better quality. I would, therefore, 
call the attention of enterprising citizens of those 
States to the article, and can promise them they 
can cultivate no product that will pay them better. 
I stated in my article of 1843, “ that I had been 
informed sumach would not reproduce from the 
seed, it being a hybridous plant; but on consult¬ 
ing a Mr Woodward, who sent the seed of our 
sumach to England, he says it will reproduce, as 
much of the seed sent there produces bountifully.’* 
He states that it should be gathered as soon as ripe, 
and planted soon after, so as not to become too old. 
This I consider an important fact, and one which 
our southern planters should embrace; for by 
planting the seed, and mowing down the shoots 
three times annually, they might obtain from three 
to five tons per acre, with much less expense and 
trouble than by gathering and bringing home the 
natural growth scattered extensively over the coun¬ 
try. The sumach is perennial, and when once 
planted would last for ages, the crop when sowb 
