AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
363 
large fruit are worth little except for feeding to 
stock. It would require almost a regiment of 
men with good appetites to make way with the 
pies from one of these mammoths. 
Our artist has prepared a beautiful sketch 
of the finer varieties of fancy and ornamental 
gourds, which will be presented next month, 
with some account of that very pleasing depart¬ 
ment of the exhibition. 
“Dakota Potato.” 
Maj. J. B. Hoffman, of the Ponca Indian 
Agency in Dakota Territory, proposes the above 
name for the Apios tuberosa , or ground nut, which 
he is trying to cultivate there. The specimens 
brought by Maj. H., to the A^n'cMtomtExliibition 
Tables are of the size of hens’ eggs, though the 
seed planted were but little larger than peanuts. 
The Indians are fond of them, and it was with 
some difficulty he secured enough to plant in the 
Spring, so thoroughly had they been dug for 
food. They are not injured, but rather improved 
by leaving in the ground over Winter. The 
vine producing them is of delicate growth, 3 to 
4 feet long and bears pretty clusters of purple 
flowers. Who knows but here is a plant supe¬ 
rior to the far-fetched and very greatly lauded 
Dioscorea batatas ? It is at least worthy of trial. 
This plant attracted the attention of European 
savans many years ago. In 1840 Messrs. Eaton 
& Wright recommended it in their Botany, stat¬ 
ing that it was a.nutritious vegetable and ought 
to be cultivated. But our own countrymen 
seem to have almost entirely overlooked it. We 
hope Maj. Hoffman will carry out his intended 
experiments to test its adaptability to general 
culture as an esculent root, especially in the re¬ 
gion where it flourishes as an indigenous plant, 
and where the common potato does not grow 
well. His trial the present year indicates that 
cultivation has a marked effect upon the size 
and yield of the root. We will try the speci¬ 
mens presented, in this locality. One of them 
we boiled with potatoes, and found it required 
longer cooking. When done it was dry and 
mealy, somewhat resembling a roasted chest¬ 
nut in flavor, and not so fine grained as the 
Dioscorea batatas, though firmer and better. 
“ Grinding up the Soil A Hint. 
Any one who has observed and studied the 
effects of culture upon the soil and growing 
plants, well knows the great advantage of hav¬ 
ing the seed-bed pulverized very freely. Sup¬ 
pose for example, we could take up the entire 
surface of a field to a foot in depth and run it 
through a mill reducing it to a powder. Would 
not a soil thus prepared for the roots of corn, 
wheat or other grain, or for potatoes or turnips, 
be likely to start the seed more rapidly, and 
produce a far more luxuriant growth, than one 
merely stirred by the plow and harrow ? But 
this grinding operation is just what is being 
done byjpiature during every Winter. Lay a 
lump of soil on a board, wet it, and let it freeze, 
and it will be found swelled and cracked in 
thousands of places, and when it thaws will fall 
into a mass of much finer particles than before 
the freezing. A second freezing will pulverize 
it still further, and by continuing the process a 
few times, the most compact hard-pan soil will 
be reduced to powder. An open Winter, one 
in which the soil is many times thawed and 
frozen, gives excellent preparation for good 
crops the following Summer, though such 
weather is bad for the growing of winter crops. 
The practical hint we would give, is, that cul¬ 
tivators should do what they can to facilitate tlie 
pulverization of the soil by freezing. As the 
ground ordinarily lies, in a compact state, the 
lower stratum is seldom reached by frost, 
though this is the portion most needing its ef¬ 
fects. Hence the great advantage of plowing it 
up in Autumn or early Winter. Every acre 
that can now be stirred so as to let the frost 
penetrate lower down, will be better ground up. 
All tlie lower soil brought to the surface is there 
much more frequently expanded by alternate 
cold and heat. Spading or plowing up the gar¬ 
den, leaving it in ridges, is one of the most prof¬ 
itable things that can be done for it now. 
A Barometer Useful in Every Family. 
A barometer, good enough for all ordinary 
purposes, can now be obtained for from $5 to 
$8. The interest on this sum, even at ten per 
cent., is only 50 to 80 cents a year. From our 
own experience and observation, we are certain 
that the barometer will save many times that 
amount, to a farmer, and indeed to every person 
whose business or pleasure depends at all upon 
being able to predict the state of the weather. 
It is said that “ all signs fail in dry weather,” 
but after several years of careful observation, we 
can not recall an instance in which our barom¬ 
eter has failed to give indication in advance of 
any material immediate change in the weather. 
Ho matter what the visible signs in the skies, or 
how threatening the clouds may appear, if our 
barometer index remains unmoved, we are al¬ 
ways confident that neither rain nor wind will 
speedily disturb the present state of the -weath¬ 
er. On the contrary, though the sun may shine 
ever so brightly and clear, and everything be¬ 
token serenity in the atmosphere, yet if the in¬ 
dex hand of our Aneroid moves to the left, or if 
the mercury in our Woodruff commences to sink, 
we begin to “look out for squalls,” and to pre¬ 
pare for them. If the movement be sudden 
and rapid, we look for an immediate smart 
shower, or at least a violent gust of wind, but 
of short duration. If the index-hand, or the 
mercury, fall very slowly, and continue to de¬ 
cline for a day or two, we are sure that there is 
an extensive disturbance of the atmosphere; 
with storms at a distance; that within a day or 
two these disturbances will reach our own lo¬ 
cality ; and that it will require several days at 
least for settled weather to again prevail. Take 
one example of many: On the morning of Sep¬ 
tember 28, the barometer index began to recede, 
and thus continued until the evening of the 29th, 
when the index stopped falling and afterwards 
rose a little. Yet during both of these days the 
weather was unusually pleasant. Our barome¬ 
ter was pronounced a false prophet, but we bid 
the doubters wait a day longer. During the 
night of the 30th, a heavy rain commenced, and 
it has not ceased to rain up to this time of 
writing (noon Oct. 3d), nor will the weather be 
settled for some time yet. The slow, steady, 
long continued fall of the barometer is conclu¬ 
sive on this point. There are some exceptions 
to this rule, depending upon direction of the 
wind, etc., but these exceptions are readily 
learned by observation.-On the contrary, we 
have often known it to be cloudy and threaten¬ 
ing, everything indicating a storm; yet the ba¬ 
rometer showed no change and there was none 
in the weather. We are far more governed by 
the barometer in plans for out-door work, for 
traveling, etc., than by anything indicated in 
the clouds or winds. We say unhesitatingly 
that a barometer is one of the most useful im¬ 
plements on the farm, and in the household. As 
a guide to cutting, spreading, or gathering hay 
and grain, such an instrument will often pay for 
itself in a single day. Farmers who can afford 
to do so, will do'well to secure one now, and 
study its use so as to be able to turn it to the 
best practical account during next season. 
There are two kinds of barometers. One of 
these, Kendall's Aneroid, we described in full, 
in the August Agriculturist, I860. It is neat, 
compact, readily carried, and every way relia¬ 
ble. See description in our premium list on 
another page (Premium Ho. 6). The Mercurial 
Barometer, having a column of mercury (quick- j 
silver) in a glass tube, is preferred by many, and 
it is a desirable instrument, though not so well 
adapted to carrying and hard usage as the 
spring or Aneroid. Woodruff’s patent “Weath¬ 
er Indicator,” or Mercurial barometer, is the 
most convenient Mercurial barometer for trans¬ 
portation of any form we have seen. These cost 
$5, $8, and $12, according to style, addition 
of thermometer, etc. 
Apparatus for Packing Apples. 
In packing apples in barrels for market, they 
should be pressed together so that no amount of 
handling and jolting will cause them to move 
about in the barrel, otherwise they become 
bruised, and soon decay. • Various contrivances 
•for the purpose have been made, and several al¬ 
ready published in the American Agriculturist. 
This plan, which hag 
been in use for some 
time in Washington 
Market in this city, is 
one of the most effec¬ 
tive, if not the very best. 
It is nothing more than 
a frame of wood or iron, 
(I! inch band,) the latter 
is preferable, large 
enough to admit a bar¬ 
rel, and having a screw 
working through the 
top, which, of course, should be strong enough 
to bear the strain. The barrel is first filled, the 
fruit being well shaken down, and the frame 
placed over it, by tipping it a little on one edge. 
Then by placing a narrow board across the head 
at right angles to tlie joints, a few turns of the 
• screw forces it down to its place, and makes all 
secure. A few apples on the top will be bruised, 
but the remainder will be kept from injury. 
In place of a cross-piece at the bottom, a 
curved strip of band iron may be screwed on to 
each side piece, to hook under the bottom edges 
of the barrel. 
A Hovel Mode of Growing Asparagus. 
A neighbor of ours has tried the following 
method for several 3* ears, and finds it successful: 
Laying off his beds four and-a-half feet wide, and 
sixteen feet long, he spreads on the surface a 
coat of sand two inches thick, and spades it 
under. (His soil is a stiff clay.) Then he lays 
upon this six solid inches by careful measure, 
of half-rotted dung. After this has settled 
a week, he spreads over it four inches of 
good garden soil; and in this he sets out one 
year old plants, twelve inches apart from crown 
to crown. The roots soon find their way into 
the rich provender below,' in which they luxu¬ 
riate, as the large, succulent shoots soon show. 
