128 
RENOVATION OF THE POTATOE. 
change in the air, as well as in the level of the 
water. Each station has its guage minutely divid¬ 
ed, and the height of the water is duly registered 
each day. As far as possible, every emergency is 
provided for. By a convention with the Prussian 
overnment, if ever the water reaches a certain 
eight in the guage at Arnheim, a dam shutting up 
one of the old channels of the Rhine is to be cut 
through ; the river would then find its way to the 
sea by a new channel, overwhelming everything in 
its course. That this should happen, is by no 
means an improbable contingency; the water has 
already, several times, been very near the specified 
height. 
At or near each of the Waterstaat stations, are 
collected stores of clay, straw, willow wicker work, 
faggots, &e., &c., materials for strengthening the 
dykes. When the engineers apprehend danger, 
they immediately apply to the magistrates of the 
nearest village for men ; every other employment 
must give way to that of raising a temporary dyke 
upon the top of the threatened portion. The alarm 
bells are rung, and the whole country is in motion. 
Any troops who may be posted near, are required 
to repair to the scene of action, to maintain order, 
and assist, if necessary. The burgher force, a kind 
of militia, also is obliged to appear with arms, at 
once. 
The works erected at such times, are removed 
when the danger is over. Notwithstanding every 
effort, both the sea and the Rhine sometimes break 
hounds, and at such times the destruction-of life 
and property is enormous. The annals of one pro¬ 
vince, Friesland, present a series of no less than 
thirty-two inundations. In one of these, the Zuider 
Zee was formed, and eighty thousand persons lost 
their lives. The inundation which formed the 
Gulf of Dollart, in the province of Groningen, swal¬ 
lowed up forty-four villages. Even in the last cen¬ 
tury, fifteen hundred and sixty habitations in that 
province disappeared at once. The Haarlemer 
Meer, near Amsterdam, was also formed by an over¬ 
flow of the waters. Such is the existence of a 
great part of Holland, constantly struggling to keep 
above water. Habit accustoms the people to their 
position, and they can live tranquilly at the foot of 
one of their dykes, and hear the sea thundering on 
the outside, fifteen or twenty feet above their heads. 
In the draining of the Haarlemer Meer, and in the 
projection of still more gigantic works, they are 
once more laying bare the houses and the fields of 
their ancestors; once more endeavoring to confine 
an enemy, which before became, instead of a pris¬ 
oner, a conqueror. Modern science and resources 
will probably enable them to succeed better now; 
but for my own part, I much prefer living in a 
country where it is not necessary to fish up land 
from the bottom of the sea. John P. Norton. 
Utrecht, Jan. 2 d, 1847. 
A California Farmer. —An emigrant says his 
stock consists of 4,000 head of oxen, 1,700 horses 
and mules, 3,000 sheep, and as many hogs. They 
all pasture themselves in the rich prairies and bot¬ 
toms of the Sacramento, and are attended by In¬ 
dians, of whom he employs 400. His annual crop 
of wheat is about 12,000 bushels, with barley, peas, 
beans, &c., in proportion. 
RENOVATION OF THE POTATO. 
A potato that will not produce more than one 
hundred and fifty bushels to the acre, is not worth 
the farmer’s attention, much less if it be in a dis¬ 
eased state ; and, in my opinion, the old potato is 
not worth redemption from disease, even if it could 
be effected. The world, I conceive, is in immediate 
want of new varieties; new, in their origin from 
the seed ; new , in quality and productiveness. Such 
potatoes have been produced, and are in advance of 
the old crop in every important particular. They 
are cultivated by several persons in Europe, as well 
as in this country. A gentleman in Germany, near 
Hamburgh, says that he has practised raising pota¬ 
toes from seed for fifteen years, and has obtained 
splendid varieties, which are not attacked with the 
disease. I have practised the same method for seven 
years, and know, by my own experiments and ob¬ 
servations, that it is the true course to pursue. 
I am now making preparations for the culture of 
about thirty acres, the ensuing summer, for seedling \ 
tubers, and the seed of seedlings. The latter is in the 
fifth successive year from the old potato. I expect 
my seedling tubers will produce four hundred or five 
hundred bushels to the acre ; and from the seed of ; 
my seedlings I hope to obtain at least three hun¬ 
dred bushels per acre, the tubers weighing ten 
ounces each. I think this estimate a safe one, 
though much will depend upon the season. The 
summer droughts in this laky region operate very 
unfavorably to the potato crop. 
The coming season, I intend to gather a large 
quantity of seed from the balls of my seedling tub¬ 
ers, which grow on the vines in great abundance, 
while on many of the old varieties they have totally 
disappeared. Half an ounce of seed will plant a 
quarter of an acre. It can be conveyed in letters by 
mail with perfect convenience. The best, fully de¬ 
veloped, distinct varieties of tubers, selected with 
care, will probably be in market in September next, 
from which seedsmen and others can be supplied. 
Since the commencement of the potato malady, | 
some persons have produced seedlings from old 
tubers, have found them diseased the first year of 
planting, and have abandoned the experiment, pro¬ 
nouncing the method as useless. The first seedlings 
from a stock so deteriorated or diseased, if found 
perfectly health} 7 would seem a miracle. The per¬ 
fect redemption from the malady is to be looked for 
only through successive generations, by the conse¬ 
cutive planting and culture of seedling tubers, and 
the seed of the same. Every year’s experiment 
brings both the tuber and its seed essentially in ad¬ 
vance of its former condition. Seven years ago, I 
found great difficulty in preserving my new potato , 
plants from the frost and little black bugs. In the 
autumn, the product was so trifling that I was near 
ready to abandon the experiment. Last summer, in 
the fourth succession, I raised, from a thimbleful of 1 
seeds, twelve bushels of tubers. Some of the sin¬ 
gle plants had on their roots one thousand pota¬ 
toes, weighing, in a few instances, seven ounces 
each. N. S. Smith. 
Buffalo, N. Y., Feb. 2 6th, 1847. 
We recommend such of our friends as are in 
want of new seedling potatoes, to apply to our cor¬ 
respondent for them. 
