AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
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AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHY , THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN. - Washington. 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY ALLEN & C0„ 189 WATER ST, 
VOL. XII. — NO. 6.] NEW-YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1854. [NEW SERIES.-NO. 32. 
FOR PROSPECTUS, TERMS, ^c., 
SEE LAST PAGE. 
RAISING POTATOES-PREVENTIVES AGAINST 
ROT. 
We were recently infonned by the proprietor 
of one of our largest hotels in this city, that he 
is paying Jive dollars per barrel for potatoes, 
and that by contract for his entire supply of not 
less than twenty-five barrels per week. A pay¬ 
ing price this, one would think, for an article 
which, intelligently cultivated, will yield from 
75 to 200 barrels per acre. But we must add, 
that this large price is due principally to the ex¬ 
tensive rot, which so generally prevailed last 
season. 
The prevention of this blighting curse—the 
potato rot—how shall it be accomplished ? A 
great desideratum truly, and one that has en¬ 
gaged the sage and the simple, the philosopher 
and the peasant, for the last ten years; yet ap¬ 
parently with no more success than that for 
squaring the circle, or the transmutation of 
metals. A thousand suggestions have been 
made, and ten thousand experiments tried, and 
yet no solution of the enigma. 
We shall attempt to offer no panacea for this 
disease, but simply suggest some of the circum¬ 
stances in which fine crops of potatoes have 
been secured, when adjoining fields have been 
sadly blighted, or wholly failed. 
And first of seed. Fields have been found to 
escape rot when seed has been early dug, (per¬ 
haps before being fully ripe,) and exposed for a 
time to the sun, then buried in a layer of sand, 
mold, or ashes, in a dry, cool cellar, and each 
bulb separated from the other. A better way, 
it is claimed by some, is to leave the potatoes in 
the hills where grown, under a covering of 
straw, as a protection from frost. 
2d. The use of an old, well-drained meadow, 
rich in vegetable mold, freshly upturned, and 
without the addition of putrescent or barn-yard 
manures, has been found one of the safest pre¬ 
cautions against rot. 
3d. If a resort is had to recently-tilled fields, 
the mineral manures only should be applied to 
the land, such as lime, plaster, salt, ashes, or 
perhaps bone dust, or its substitute, super-phos¬ 
phate of lime ; or it may be guano, in limited 
quantity, intimately mixed with the soil. If a 
resort is had to stable manure, it should be 
thoroughly rotted previous to applying it. 
In all cases, only dry soils should be used. 
The planting of early potatoes is one of the best 
safeguards against rot; and early digging and 
safely storing in dry, cool places, is a good pre¬ 
caution against disease. 
A word as to planting. Let the ground be 
thoroughly and deeply plowed. The use of the 
sub-soil plow can never be injurious, and is gen¬ 
erally beneficial for preparing the ground not 
only for a potato crop, but for all others. By 
this means a depth of earth is secured for the 
range of the fibrous roots, to supply them with 
abundant and wholesome food—not confining 
them to the inert or effete superficial soil, a 
thousand times previously used; a ready escape 
is afforded for the surplus water of heavy rains, 
which, followed by the intense heat of summer, 
is, in our opinion, one of the most efficient 
causes of rot; and in case of drought an abun¬ 
dant supply of moisture is secured for the con¬ 
tinued growth of the crop. 
If the soil be light and dry, and especially if 
inclined to sand, we recommend planting so as 
to leave a level surface when the seed is buried, 
nor would we recommend much hilling in their 
subsequent cultivation. If the soil be heavy, 
wet, or inclined to clay, we advise planting 
near the surface, and throwing the earth over 
the seed, and hilling them in the process of hoe¬ 
ing afterwards. 
But especially do we urge upon farmers the 
great utility of selecting the most hardy varie¬ 
ties of seed, and such as experience has shown 
to be least susceptible to disease. Such varie¬ 
ties are to be had, and those who wilfully or in¬ 
dolently neglect to procure them, deserve the 
loss which they might have possibly avoided. 
-♦- 
THE NATIONAL POULTRY SOCIETY.—No. 2. 
"We are not going to talk now of fowls as eco¬ 
nomical things, or as a branch of domestic or 
farm stock. This question, we take it, has been, 
from time immemorial, settled in the affirmative. 
For present purposes we are content to consider 
them as an amusement, an ornament, as a sub¬ 
ject of beauty, of interest; and as a study for 
the leisure hours of the country resident, or the 
town, or city resident either, if opportunity fa¬ 
vors their keeping. Nor are we about to find 
fault with, or to criticise the taste of any one in 
the selection of a variety, or of the several va¬ 
rieties that he may keep ; although we frankly 
confess that we never affected the monstrous 
Asiatic fowls that are at present so highly pop¬ 
ular. We admire the medium-sized, and more 
graceful birds, that show finished breeding and 
high quality, as we would prefer the refined and 
blood-like Arabian to The huge Clydesdale or 
the Conestoga draught-horses. Such, however, 
is only individual opinion, and the wherefore 
need not, at this time, be discussed. 
The great show at Barnum’s, contrary to gen¬ 
eral expectation, brought out altogether the 
finest, largest, and choicest exhibition ever wit¬ 
nessed in America. Of their kinds, there were 
scarcely a pair of inferior birds in the collec¬ 
tion—and many fowls came five hundred miles 
for the occasion. This very fact shows that the 
poultry fanciers within striking distance of 
New-York, had confidence in the Society, in its 
managers, in the ability of Mr. Baenum to carry 
it out, and in his integrity to do what he pro¬ 
mised. So far all was well—as of course it 
should be. 
As an evidence of the interest felt among the 
fanciers of all ranks, and all fortunes, except 
the really low and worthless, (not an individual 
of these, have we learned, that made an offering 
for the occasion,) they sent their birds, gener¬ 
ally attended themselves, and took a lively in¬ 
terest in every thing that appertained to the 
proceedings. We saw highly distinguished 
scientific gentlemen, lawyers and statesmen of 
great repute, grave divines,—“wise with the 
lore of centuries,”—merchants, and commercial 
men,—called by way of eminence, “million¬ 
aires,”—artizans, farmers, men of no occupa¬ 
tion,—sometimes styling themselves, by way of 
notoriety, “gentlemensingly, and with their 
wives, and daughters, and little children, all 
eagerly threading their way through and by 
each other, themselves constituting a crowd, or 
stopping to gaze at the coops and cages; intent 
on seeing every thing, examining carefully a 
great many birds, and holding spirited talks at 
various points and angles of each of the great 
halls where the chickens were congregated; 
and not once only, but repeatedly, day after 
day during the show, did we see some of the 
same individuals, groups, and families. 
Now this means something. People would 
not congregate at this inclement season, from 
fifty to five hundred miles distant, to witness a 
“ Chicken Show” in New-York, unless there 
was “ something in it.” There is something in 
it. There is a study in it; a subject for inves¬ 
tigation ; a delightful contemplation in natural 
history, to speculate upon the almost number¬ 
less varieties that are produced, and their beau¬ 
tiful, harmonious arrangement of plumage, 
shape, and all the wonderful qualities they 
possess. They are a thing to love, to intex - est 
young minds, and old ones too, who have 
enough of the natural left in their artificial 
thoughts to appreciate any thing. They are 
among the things which make country life inte¬ 
resting, and attach people to home, and make it 
pleasanter to them than all the world beside. 
It shows, too, that the world is growing better 
in domestic feeling and home attachment—that 
little things arc worth looking after, and al¬ 
though of no great magnitude, that one had 
better feel interested in a chicken, goose, duck, 
or pigeon, than not to be interested at all—and 
children, and young minds, if not amused by 
