1863 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
343 
produce more abundantly than the former, and 
will get mixed with others, by careless hands. 
Sometimes a lot of one kind of potatoes is left 
in the ground over Winter, and next year we 
find them mixed with others—“ mixed in the 
hill,” indeed. Then, in the haste of gathering 
and housing, it is not strange that one sort gets 
mixed with another. And then in the Spring 
planting, when the different kinds are cut up 
and carried to the field, hired men will some¬ 
times mix the kinds without knowing it. In 
fact, it is almost impossible to prevent this 
where small potatoes are used for planting, be¬ 
cause the kinds are then not easily distinguished. 
Facts will always show that potatoes do not 
mix in the hill, unless it is done by the planter. 
Celery in the Trenches. 
It is much the best way to get a winter sup¬ 
ply of this delicious salad, to make late plant¬ 
ings any time this month, nothing is easier, af¬ 
ter you learn how, than to grow it in perfection, 
tender, crisp, and juicy. The more rapid its 
growth the better. No plant delights more in 
moisture, and if the trenches are in well-drained 
soil, it is well to water copiously every other i 
day. Stir the ground often, and do not begin to 
earth up much until the plants are a foot high 
or more. If the plants show any lack of vigor, 
top dress with compost from the sty or hennery. 
Bare Spots in the Garden. 
Sow them with spinage early this month, and 
you will have greens in September. If sown the 
latter part of the month, and covered with 
straw, prairie or sedge hay, a nice spinage 
bed is ready to be drawn from in May and June. 
Or the vacant places may be sown with quick 
growing flat turnips for late Fall use or for 
feeding. Even ruta bagas will grow to a good 
eating size if sown on rich soil the first of Au¬ 
gust. Radishes and lettuce may be sown at any 
time during the month for a late crop, and black 
onion seed may be sown late in August, or early 
in September, and left to grow thickly for seed 
for early rare-ripes in the Spring. Peas may still 
be sown, with a reasonable prospect of a crop be¬ 
fore frost. Asparagus may be sown as soon as 
the seed is ripe, and one year will be gained in 
the future growth, as good strong roots will be 
ready to transplant one year from the following 
Fall or Spring. 
Natural Products of Colorado Territory. 
Grasses. —These are divided into lowland and 
upland: of the former there are two species— 
the jointed, coarse, tall, and the broad-leaved and 
soft. They are both cut for hay. The upland, 
are the bunch, and buffalo grass. Besides these 
we have wild oats, barley and rye in the valleys 
and on the mountains. 1 have seen the latter 6 
feet high, with heads 13 inches long, at an alti¬ 
tude of 9,000 feet above the Missouri river. The 
oats, barley and rye are not worth cultivation. 
Our highland grasses have a peculiarity un¬ 
known in the tame grasses. They ripen and 
cure on the ground, retaining a large part of 
their capacity to sustain and fatten stock. We 
can show you any day in Denver market, beef 
fatted on grass, and fed during the whole Win¬ 
ter on dry grass, equal to any grain and stall-fed 
cattle East, and doubtless more healthy. Fifty 
pounds kidney fat is not extraordinary here; 
this too from cattle worked across the plains 
. the same year, and all our cattle are selected for 
work and not for beef. Poor stock of all kinds 
not only live through Winter, but absolutely 
fatten on our dry grasses. 
Our cows show the superiority of these grass¬ 
es in the quality of the milk. No better butter 
can be produced on the continent than here. I 
have a cow which has been milked all Summer, 
and all Winter, so far, without feeding hay or 
grain, and to-day she is fit for the knife. .It niay 
be added that she has had no shelter for two win¬ 
ters. At this date, January 8th, cattle teams are 
almost daily arriving in good order, having- 
drawn loads 700 miles over the plains and sub¬ 
sisted on dry grass alone. If these statements 
are correct, you see how little feed is necessary 
for unworked stock. 
The priqjjpal and best of these grasses is the 
Buffalo grass, so-called from the fondness of our 
wild cattle for it. I esteem it almost equal to 
oats in the sheaf. When it can, be had stock 
leave all others and go miles to obtain it. It 
grows thriftily on the lower range of mountains 
and is greatly improved by proper soil and cul¬ 
ture. In favored spots it produces a crop for 
the scythe. It is eminently adapted to our soil 
and climate; the roots retain theft- vitality in 
the dry sandy soil during all the fore part of 
the season, until the periodical showers come, 
wheh a seed stalk is thrown rapidly up, from 6 
to 18 inches, bearing one to three small seed 
heads, standing at right angles to the stalk. 
There are no blades on the stalks, while the 
body of the grass is too short for any thing but 
sheep. This and other grasses are the princi¬ 
pal reliance of our stock Summer and Winter. 
I think the Buffalo grass is, in many respects, su¬ 
perior to the famous blue grass; for winter feeding 
for sheep it has no equal, always furnishing- 
food when the snow is off or not immoderately 
deep. It is certainly worth a trial, and if it 
grows well north and east, would be a valuable 
acquisition. I have demonstrated.its capacity 
for improvement, and am well satisfied that it 
is eminently adapted to sandy and dry soils. 
Here it gets a little snow in Winter, and no rain 
in Summer, except about 4 weeks. I wish you 
could see the mutton fattened on this grass; 
you could form so much better an estimate. 
Fruits. — Raspberry. —Mountains and valleys. 
Chiefly in the mountains, north-hill sides and 
burned districts. Berry red, juicy, good size, 
sometimes quite large, flavor excellent, prolific, 
continuing in bearing 5 or 6 weeks, 6 to 18 inch¬ 
es high, improved by culture,—excellent fruit, 
worthy of adoption. Will send you some ber¬ 
ries if possible.* A superb wine is made from 
them. In the natural state they yield immensely. 
Currants. —Black, Yellow and Red. The 
red is sweet—small—growing in the mountains, 
prolific, but of doubtful utility. Black and Yel¬ 
low, large, thick skin, slightly astringent and 
very sour until fully ripe—about equal size, 
large berry, prolific, greatly improved by culture, 
and pleasant when fully ripe. I esteem the 
black best, and consider them superior to any of 
the cultivated varieties. But few are allowed to 
mature, as our people are crazy after fruits in 
the Summer. The specimens I send are from a 
stunted bush in dry ground.f The bushes fre¬ 
quently grow 6 to 8 feet high, and furnish fruit 
5 to 6 weeks. A valuable acquisition. I may 
add here that all native products are hardy, 
Cherry .—Commonly called Choke Cherry, 
but really a pleasant fruit when ripe; free from 
* Berries received, flavor good, bdt in the transporta¬ 
tion, converted into '‘jam.’’ 
t The currants arrived in good order, and are as rep- 
I resented. 
insects, size of large wild cherry, black, heart- 
shaped, bushes 10 inches to 10 feet high, prolific, 
and really more pleasant than the morello. Only 
valuable in the East as a curiosity. 
Gooseberries. —Abundant, small, acid, black 
of no account. Our climate is admirably adapt 
ed to gooseberries. No mildew here. 
Plums .—Some pretty good ones. Trees 
small, poor bearers, useless except here. 
Thorn Apple —small, no account. Hedge Thorn 
—A splendid specimen of thorn bush, hardy, 
excellent for hedges. 
Our fruits commence ripening in the lowlands 
first, and proceed gradually to ripen up into 
the mountains until cold weather stops the pro¬ 
cess. We have as yet none of the yellow cu¬ 
cumber bugs—the first season there were no 
small black turnip bugs, but last season they 
consumed every thing in their line. 
We are sometimes troubled with grasshoppers 
too numerous to count; last season they could 
be gathered by the barrel. But these annoyan¬ 
ces happen also in other countries. All we want 
is the general culture of staple products to re¬ 
duce the price of living, and justify the applica¬ 
tion of labor to the working of the immense 
“placer diggings,” to make this one of the richest 
mining countries in the world. We may yet at¬ 
tain this reputation with our present high prices 
for food, as new discoveries of leads and gulch 
diggings are made all the year through; this 
year promises better in every department of 
mining than any former year. At present all 
our gulch mining is done on separate claims, at 
great disadvantage. But we have organized one 
joint stock company which will demonstrate the 
practicability and economy of wholesale min¬ 
ing, and a new era in the product of gulches. 
J. B. Wollf. 
Sandwich Island Correspondence—II. 
HAIKU SUGAR PLANTATION. 
Makawao, Honolulu Islands, ,4th month, \5th, 1862. 
Increased attention is of late being given to the 
culture of the sugar-cane upon these islands. The 
soil and climate are well adapted to its culture, and 
since the trouble in the sugar-producing regions of 
the United States has laid an embargo upon their 
products, new fields are sought, and it would not 
be surprising if some of these islands should yet 
produce a large amount of sugar for export. In a 
l-eecnt visit to the Haiku Sugar Plantation, under 
the charge of G. Beckwith, from Massachusetts, I 
was shown over the place, and through the build¬ 
ings for manufacturing the cane into sugar. The 
mill and boilers are new, of approved patterns, and 
capable qf turning out about 4,800 pounds of sugar 
daily. The refuse cane, or bagasse, passes from the 
mill to the furnace, and forms nearly three-fourths 
of the fuel used. The plantation embraces about 
7,000 acres, only- 700 acres of which are now in cane. 
Nearly all of the work on the plantation and in the 
mill is performed by natives, under the charge of 
overseers. The laborers receive $6 to $8 per month, 
including their board. The sugar is put into half 
barrels or kegs, holding about 112 pounds each. 
The kegs, themselves, or the prepared materials 
from which they are set up, are manufactured in 
New-England, and shipped here in bundles or 
shooks. The mill is near the shore, upon the bay 
of Mariko, where small vessels take the sugar on 
board for Honolulu, to be subsequently shipped to 
California and Oregon. 
Besides the Haiku plantation, there are three 
others on the island of East Maui, whilst many cul¬ 
tivators raise small patches of one-half acre to three 
or four acres of cane, and take it to the plantation 
mills for manufacture. The yield is from one to 
three tuns of sugar per acre,-the wholesale price of 
which is 6c. to 8c. per pound. Joel Bean. 
