369 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
these. A layer of bricks may be substituted for 
stones. 
The plaster is prepared, by mixing one part of 
the cement, with two parts of dry sharp sand, the 
more gritty and coarse the better. The mixing 
should be done in the dry state, and then suffi¬ 
cient water added, to make it of the right thick¬ 
ness to be spread easily with the trowel. As it 
sets very quickly, but a small quantity can be 
mixed at a time. It should be applied immediate¬ 
ly, and smoothed off. The thickness of the coat, 
will depend somewhat upon the situation of the 
cellar, and the uses you desire to make of it. If 
a cart is to be driven upon it, it 
should be at least five or six 
inches thick. If the cellar is 
surrounded with springs, and it 
is desirable to keep out water, it 
should also be made thick, and 
the plaster should be laid on in 
three successive layers, each lay¬ 
er having time to dry, before it is 
followed by another. The sides 
should also be cemented two or 
three feet high—or to the top if 
water is likely to ooze in. With 
such a cellar all the liquid manure 
can be saved, and in case the 
superincumbent mass of muck and stable manure 
ferments and dries, water can be added, or the 
liquid at the bottom can be pumped up on top. 
The root cellar should also be cemented and 
made both rat and frost proof. The destruction 
of roots, occasioned by rats is very great, and 
cement is the best safeguard we have ever tried. 
Cement stops every crevice, and virtually makes 
a large stone jar, inaccessible to all vermin. It 
makes a smooth bottom, that may easily be kept 
dean. 
The house cellar should also be treated in the 
same way. The comfort of the housekeeper will 
be very much increased, to know that every thing 
left in the cellar is perfectly safe from depreda¬ 
tors. Cisterns for the barn and house are also 
needed, and for the preparation of these, cement 
is indispensible. Rain water is much better for 
washing than well water. It is also much better 
lor cattle, and saves a great deal of time, in 
watering them. Make a reservoir under the barn, 
to catch all the rain that falls from the roof. 
---«——*«>»■—» — 
Potatoes Mixing in tlie Hill- 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
This question has been recently started in the 
Agriculturist, and is one worthy of being thor¬ 
oughly investigated. In the face of your em¬ 
phatic declaration that, potatoes mixing in the 
hill, or, as I should say, mixing at the root, “ is 
contrary to reason and general experience,” I 
am willing to enter the lists in defence of the 
affirmative of the proposition. 
Your correspondent, I. S. Merrill, has given a 
case in point, and while I have no doubt of the 
fact as he has stated it, I apprehend his conclu¬ 
sions are at fault, when he says, “ that the mixing 
was produced through the blossoms I readily ad¬ 
mit.” Now, if this is correct, how do you account 
fqr the fact that sweet potatoes, a plant that has 
never been known to bloom in this latitude, are 
very readily mixed at the roots 1 I will undertake 
to do it to order, from pure seed of the red and 
yellow varieties, to be furnished by yourself or 
any other gentleman, and pledge myself before¬ 
hand that the product shall be as “ ringstreaked 
and speckled” as Jacob’s sheep, by a process most 
simple; just try it yourself. Take a sprout of 
each variety, and place the two in the same hill, 
and, my word for it, you will have as perfect a 
mixture as you can desire. Plant a dozen hills, 
and at least half of them will be mixed. This is 
a fact which is familiar to almost every sweet po¬ 
tato-grower in New Jersey, and has repeatedly 
come under my notice for nearly 50 years. I have 
had a perfect mixture of the Mercer and Foxite 
varieties of the common potato at a distance of 
8 or 10 feet. a. b. 
Gloucester Co., N. J., Aug. 10. 
-—.-—-©«——— »■■—-- 
We present above a cut of a recently improved 
implement for digging potatoes, got up by R. L. 
Allen, of this city. The form of the instrument 
is so well shown by the engraving, 1 hat a brief 
description will suffice. The lower part or share, 
is of cast iron, in shape like a flat double mould 
board plow. The prongs are of wrought instead 
of cast iron, and each is bolted, independently, 
on to the share. In these respects, as well as in 
their greater length and the turn given them, we 
think the improvement is very decided over any 
previous implement of the kind. By running the 
Digger under the center of the rows, and just be¬ 
low the potatoes, the soil and the potatoes are 
turned flat over, leaving the latter on the top. 
We have not yet had an opportunity of seeing it 
work, but understand from several farmers in this 
neighborhood, who have used it for a few weeks 
past, that the operation is highly satisfactory. 
This implement, as will be seen from its form, 
would make an excellent cultivator for stirring 
the soil. 
Top Dressing and re-seeding old Meadows. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
I attended to this operation last week for a small 
bit of meadow, and the benefit is already so appa¬ 
rent, after a Summer shower, that I am con¬ 
strained to say a few words about it. The com¬ 
mon practice of taking up meadows every few 
years, for the purpose of manuring them, and 
stocking them anew, is a very expensive one. It 
is the practice of some cultivators in England, 
and of not a few in this country, to keep a por¬ 
tion of their meadows perpetually in grass. This 
is the natural crop of the soil, and if there be any 
exception to the economy of a rotation of crops, 
it would seem to be this. I have now in sight, 
from my window, a meadow that has not been 
plowed for the last thirty years, and yet it pro¬ 
duces annually not far from four tons to the acre. 
It is always mowed twice and sometimes thrice 
in a season. 
It will perhaps be objected to the Summer dres¬ 
sing, that rpuch of the manure will be evaporated 
by the sun. This might be the case if green 
stable manure were applied. But compost, such 
as is prepared in the open yard, or pig sty, is not 
liable to lose much of its strength, even in the 
heat of Summer. The muck absorbs the ammo¬ 
nia and salts, and holds them until they are re¬ 
leased by the rains, and carried down to the roots 
of the grasses. The first heavy shower, after the 
dressing, will change the grass to a deep luxu¬ 
riant green. The compost should be made as 
fine as possible before it is spread. Where there 
are bare spots, or where the grass is thin, seed 
should be sown. The compost may be more uni- ( 
formly distributed by going over the ground with 
a bush harrow, after it is spread. This will also 
bury the seed, and help its germination. Ifmead- 
ows were top dressed, every third or fourth year, 
there would probably be little occasion for re¬ 
seeding. It is upon poor thin grass that the 
worms prey most, and that the Winter frost has 
the worst influence. Abundant fertilizers make 
strong roots, which take a deeper hold upon the 
soil. 
Farmers, who have the usual means of making 
compost—a good stock of animals and a muck 
swamp—have no excuse for neglecting their mead¬ 
ows. From my own experience, and observation, 
I am persuaded, that top dressing is one of the 
best uses, to which yard and compost manure can 
be put. 
It will cost the farmer say fifteen dollars for 
ten cords of compost, made upon his own premi¬ 
ses ; and two dollars more for a pet!k of herds grass 
seed, and eight pounds of clover seed. This, 
spread upon almost any acre of meadow yielding 
less than a ton of hay, would increase the pro¬ 
duct at least a ton, annually, for three years. Es¬ 
timating this at eight dollars a ton, standing, and 
we have twenty-four dollars for the sixteen ex¬ 
pended, or 50 per cent. This is a better return 
than the farmer often gets for his manure. 
The best crops of grass grown in this vicinity 
are secured by judicious top dressing. ft makes 
a thick strong turf, very smooth, and just the 
place for the use of the mowing machine. The 
first part of the present month is a good time to 
apply the dressing, and the seed. The roots will 
become established before the Winter sets in. 
Eastern Connecticut. 
Remark. —We have usually advised burying 
manure in the soil rather than exposing upon the 
surface to sun, wind and rains. Still there are 
many instances, like those referred to above, 
where, on the whole, it is better to top dress a 
meadow than to be at the expense of plowing or 
re-seeding; provided always, that it be done on 
soils which absorb all the rains that fall upon them. 
If water at any time runs over the surface, into 
open ditches or elsewhere, much of the manure 
will be washed away and wasted. The time of 
application also makes some difference. Manure 
placed upon the surface in Autumn is sooner 
washed into the soil by frequent rains, and is less 
exposed to evaporation, than if applied in the 
Spring to lie upon the surface through the Sum¬ 
mer.— Ed. 
Reports on Crops-—A Model- 
We are glad to get as many reports of the state 
of the crops as possible, but too frequently they 
are so “ long drawn out” that it is half a day’s 
work to get at the essence of twenty or thirty 
letters that arrive in a morning mail. The fol¬ 
lowing postscript to a business letter printed just 
as received, we consider a good model. 
“ Sennett, Cayuga Co., N. Y., Aug. 7 ." —Our 
