AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
165 
cart directly into the ditch. With a passage-way 
beneath, the small stones perforin an excellent of¬ 
fice in making a larger passage for the watei in 
time of heavy rains, and in furnishing the roots 
of plants with air and moisture in dry times. If 
the filling in with small stones retains the water 
in only three inches of the soil, at the bottom of 
the drain, the farmer loses a part of his labor. 
There is so much dead, inert sub-soil over the 
whole area of his field that would be available if 
the drainage were properly' performed. I would 
advise to use small stones only over drains and 
not in them. Connecticut. 
The Mowing Machine Discussion. 
A BIT OF A CHALLENGE. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
Being a subscriber to the American Agri¬ 
culturist (through the Chester County Agri¬ 
cultural Society) I see communications in the 
Feb. and March numbers over the signature of 
“ H. L.” who appears to be very much interested 
in some particular mowing machine other than 
the Prize Mower, and its half-brother. Why does 
he not come right out and let us know who he is ? 
I will just inform him that I have both the Prize 
Machine and its half-brother, and if he thinks he 
has a machine that will beat either, in any re¬ 
spect, all he has to do is to come to Chester Co. 
near West Chester, and I will be ready to give 
him a trial, in any kind of grass—and let the 
farmers be the judges ; we have some of the tall 
grass in Chester Co.—and heavy too. I will mow 
with him in lodged, clover as well as in straight 
Timothy. Edge T. Cope. 
East Bradford, Chester Co., Pa. 
[If H. L., or any other correspondent, prefers to 
discuss the merits of a public trial without pro- 
c'aiming their own personality, there can be 
no objection to the course. It certainly argues 
well for the fairness of H. L’s criticisms that 
neither Mr. Cope nor any one else, so far as 
we have heard, is able to judge from his ar¬ 
ticles what machine he is interested in if he 
be interested in any one. In order that what 
he might say should appear in connection with 
Mr. Cope’s letter we forwarded him a proof 
cf the above, and received what follows. 
—Ed.] 
To lie Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
In reply to Mr. Cope's proposition, I will briefly 
pay, that as announced in my articles, I am an 
r.aiateur in this matter, and cannot personally en¬ 
ter the lists, but I will, with great pleasure, find a 
friend to meet Mr. Cope on the following con¬ 
ditions : 
1. At any nearly half-way ground he may 
choose between my residence and his ; or, if more 
convenient to him, in the immediate vicinity of 
Albany or New-York cities. Such place to have 
wet meadow (fresh or salt) as well as dry, with 
pure clover growing on some of them, and mixed 
grasses on others, so as to be ab,e to give 
the machines a fair test. I to have two weeks 
notice through yourself, and the trial to come off 
during the month of July. 
2. He to select five acres of different kinds of 
grass and on different kinds of ground, and my 
friend to do the same ; and these different lots to 
be divided as equally as possible between them for 
the performance of the respective machines. 
3. Whichever machine is judged to do its 
work best—with the greatest ease to the team and 
driver, with the least injury and wear to the ma¬ 
chine. with the fewest stoppages and least extra¬ 
neous assistance—to be declared the victor. 
4. The time allotted for cutting the grass to 
be at the rate of one-hour-and-a-quarter per acre. 
5. Each party to bring two judges with him, 
and if they cannot agree, they shall then select a 
fifth from among the spectators of the trial to 
act as umpire. 
6. Whichever party is beaten, to pay all his 
own expenses and those of the victorious party— 
the same not to be over $300. The latter sum to 
be deposited with yourself in advance, to be for¬ 
feited to one party in case the other should infringe 
on any one or more of these conditions. 
7. My friend will select one of the following 
machines which received no prize at the Syracuse 
Trial; viz., Ketchums, Allen’s or Burrall’s, as he 
may think proper. H. L. 
Syracuse, May 19th, 1858. 
Do Potatoes mix in the Hill ? 
Onew’ould suppose that this question had been 
settled long ago; yet it continues to be asked. 
We repeat, therefore, that they do not and cannot 
mix in the hill. Why not 1 Because it is an in¬ 
variable law of nature that one variety cannot be 
crossed with another except through the flower 
and fruit. All plants of the same family can be 
hybridized with each other, if they blossom at the 
same time. This crossing often takes place nat¬ 
urally, i. e., without the use of any artificial 
means. The wind often blows the pollen from 
the stamens of one plant-flower upon the pistils 
cf another, and an intermixture ensues. This is 
also done by bees and insects, and it may be done 
by the hand of man. Potatoes can be “mixed ” 
in this way. But remember that the mixing 
does not take place between the tubers under 
ground, hut in the blossoms and subsequent 
seed balls on the top of the plant. Plant two 
kinds of potatoes in adjoining rows, and if they 
blossom at the same time, the pollen of one flow¬ 
er will undoubtedly be carried to the pistils of 
another. In the Fall, save the seedballs and 
plant them and your potatoes will be a “ mixed ” 
variety. But if you continue to plant the tuber 
(the potato itself,) you will get no change of va¬ 
riety. 
It is in this way that corn, melons, cucumbers 
and squashes become mixed with other varieties. 
The hybridization goes on through the flowers, 
and appears in the seed, and not in the root. 
Potato Experiments with Sundry 
Fertilizers. 
John Perene, of Montville Ct. sends an account 
of five experiments last season in which he plant¬ 
ed the “ Silver Lake, or Mercer potatoes” on five 
plots of ground, 24 feet square, manuring in the 
hill with different fertilizers—6 lbs. of the several 
manures to each plot. 
No. 1 with Coe’s superphosphate yielded 49 lbs. 
2 with De Burg’s... 37 “ 
3 with Peruvian Guano....29“ 
4 with broken bones.23 “ 
5 with no manure...20“ 
The vines in No. 3 were green after the others 
were dead, and previous to digging he had decid¬ 
ed in favor of the guano, but was disappointed at 
the final result. Such experiments are seldom 
satisfactory, at least until they are continued 
through a number of years. The very next sea¬ 
son, on another soil, the results are likely to differ 
materially. The manures manufactured under 
the same name are seldom uniform in successive 
years. The guano may have been too much con¬ 
densed in the hill. The bones, if merely broken, 
would produce very little effect, while if finely 
ground they w’ould perhaps have excelled all the 
other manures. Coe’s superphosphate when made 
of dissolved unburned bones, was doubtless good, 
and for aught we know it may yet be made thus. 
A succession of experiments like the above would, 
in the course of years, impart valuable information 
—if the manures should continue uniform. 
---- 
Root Crops for Stock—The positive Side. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
Your correspondent, L. F. A., is quite certain 
that roots will not do for stock. If I had a four 
year old steer that would consume eight bush¬ 
els of roots in one day, or even four bushels, I 
would drive him off my farm, as not worth keep¬ 
ing. Mr. L. F. A., says he was determined to 
give his animal a fair trial. I think he did try him 
at swallowing, but not as to flesh and tallow. 
This story puts me in mind of a four year old 
Durham bull I once knew, that ate a barrel of In¬ 
dian meal in one night. The owner thought him 
lost, but by running him in the street he got clear 
of the meal after a while. I presume Mr. L. F. 
A., had to do the same with his steer to save his 
life. The barrel of meal did the bull no good, nor 
would the eight bushels of roots do the steer any 
good. 
Flesh and fat are what we want to make good 
beef, which takes time to put on. Among sev¬ 
eral others I may note one yoke of oxen which I 
put to stall feed, and noted particularly how I fed 
them, and how much. I commenced in October, 
after they had worked on the farm all Summer, 
and kept them up three months. I gave them one 
bushel of rutabaga turnips each, daily, about one 
peck of oats in the straw, each, and as much good 
hay as they would eat. I gave them some pota¬ 
toes to slightly scour them, and no water. I put 
five inches in girth on them, and the beef was 
covered with fat and well mixed. 
Large quantities of roots should not be given t< 
stock at a time. The weather and size of the eat 
tie should also be taken into account. It is bet¬ 
ter to feed them in warm weather and during the 
warm part of the day. I think bushels of roots 
is as much as should be given to a seven feet girth 
ox, with a few potatoes if he dont scour enough, 
and H peck of oats, or half the quantity of Indian 
meal. I know but little about theory in agricul¬ 
ture, but claim to know experimentally and prac 
tically, about farming in our section. 
U. D. Witherspoon. 
Butter Island, Me., April 23, 1858. 
“Poke Root” for Garget in Cows. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
I saw in the May number of the Agriculturist, 
a request from J. & K., of Mason Co., Ill., for a 
remedy for what you, I think justly, called garget 
in the udder of his cow. I had a cow affected 
like his for some length of time, until I read in an 
agricultural work that garget or poke root, ( Phy¬ 
tolacca decandra,) put in the dewlap, the same a9 
a rowel, would effect a cure. We accordingly 
tried it about one year ago, and found immediate 
relief. We made an incision in one side of the dew¬ 
lap a little forward of the breast bone, sufficiently 
large to put in a piece of root of the size of a 
man’s finger, and half as long, then inserted a 
couple of stitches and in a short time the dewlap 
commenced to swell, and the swelling in the ud¬ 
der began to subside. Since that time we have 
had no trouble with her. I. G. D. B, 
Coxsackie, N. Y., May 12, 1858. 
