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AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN.— Washington. 
CONDUCTING EDITOR, PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 
ORANGE JUDD, A. M. ALLEN &, CO., 189 Water-st., New-York. 
VOL. XIV.—NO. 7.] NEW-YORK, THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1855. [NEW SERIES.-NO. 85. 
Jbr prospectus, STerms, $ft., 
13’“ SEE LAST PAGE.,^3) 
Seip“ Every one writing to the Editor or 
Publishers of this journal will please read 
“ Special Notices ,” on last page. 
-O- 
3@" All letters relating to Editorial mat¬ 
ters should be addressed to Mr. Orange 
.Tudd, (the Conducting Editor). 
Letters inclosing subscriptions and on oth¬ 
er business should be directed to Allen & 
Co., Publishers, and also those referring to 
both departments. Editorial and business 
matters, if in the same letter, should be on 
separate sheets. 
RAISING POTATOES. 
Their Importance. —Potatoes, for the last 
fifty years, have been a leading crop in the 
United States. Previous to this period they 
were scarcely known as a general field crop. 
We can recollect when a boy, an old friend, 
who was a large farmer for the time and 
location, relating the dilemma he was placed 
in when he had raised the unusually large 
quantity of seven bushels for a single season. 
He had a considerable surplus after eating 
all he wanted, and giving away as many as 
would be accepted by his neighbors. But 
our soil and climate throughout most of the 
northern and middle States, being admirably 
adapted to this root, and our more intelligent 
farmers soon perceiving their great value for 
stock feeding, as well as for the table, and 
the facility and economy of raising them, 
turned their attention to them as a leading 
crop. Much of the beef and pork and poul¬ 
try of those States, for the last half century, 
have been largely indebted to potatoes for 
their growth and subsequent fattening. 
Quantity Raised in the United States. —The 
amount raised in this country for 1840 and 
1850, excluding sweet potatoes, was between 
60 and 70,000,000 bushels, which amount, 
owing to the prevalent disease, has been 
scarcely increased since, unless the past 
season may have been an exception. 
Uses. —Formerly large quantities were fed 
to cattle and stock ; occasionally they were 
used for making a detestable sort of whisky; 
and in the States remote from the seaboard 
and a market, the manufacture of starch 
from the potato was extensively carried on, 
but the rot has so largely decreased produc¬ 
tion, that nearly the entire crop is now used 
as human food. 
The Effect of Diseases. —The diseases 
which have infested this important esculent 
within the past few years, have materially 
lessened their production, not only in the 
fields where planted, but they have discour¬ 
aged many from attempting to cultivate them. 
The partial absence of disease for the last 
two or three years induced much more ex¬ 
tensive planting last season, which was quite 
successful; yet from the effects of excess¬ 
ive drouth over large sections of the country, 
by which the grain crop was materially les¬ 
sened, all articles of food have been great¬ 
ly in demand, and there has consequently 
been an increase of price in potatoes beyond 
any thing before known. In our principal 
markets, they have steadily commanded 
from a dollar and a half to two dollars per 
bushel, at retail, throughout all the winter 
and spring. These excessive rates, reach¬ 
ing almost to starvation prices, have direct¬ 
ed the attention of our farmers to the in¬ 
creased cultivation of potatoes the present 
season, and we shall be greatly disappointed 
if there is not a larger breadth of land sub¬ 
jected to raising them this year, than has 
ever before been witnessed in North Ameri¬ 
ca. Notwithstanding, the farmer need not 
apprehend planting too largely. They will 
be a profitable crop, however successful, as 
they will pay well as food for domestic ani¬ 
mals, after they have fully supplied all 
that may be required for human consump¬ 
tion. 
Cause of Diseases'. —Innumerable experi¬ 
ments have been made by the most intelli¬ 
gent men, at home and abroad, to detect the 
cause of the recent wide-spread diseases, 
(which have, in some years, almost annihi¬ 
lated the potato crop,) but hitherto with only 
partial success. It has been variously at¬ 
tributed to the presence of animalculse or 
larger insects ; to a miasma in the atmo¬ 
sphere peculiarly inimical to this plant; to 
sudden and severe alternations in the atmo¬ 
sphere ; but mainly to the exhausted consti¬ 
tution of the plant from long and highly arti¬ 
ficial cultivation. The latter is doubtless an 
important item in contributing to the prog¬ 
ress of the diseases (which have been induced 
by other causes), from the debility resulting 
from long-continued growth of certain plants 
or vegetables, in nearly the same place, and 
under nearly similar circumstances; but 
there is no probability that this is the excit¬ 
ing cause. Nor is there any probability 
that we shall speedily discover it; but equal¬ 
ly with the causes of Asiatic cholera, cer¬ 
tain virulent influenzas, the wheat midge or 
Hessian fly, and their unusual prevalence at 
certain seasons and under certain circum¬ 
stances, it may never be revealed to us. 
Remedies for Disease. —These have been 
tried, in numberless forms and under a great 
variety of circumstances, and some with 
very marked, though by no means universal, 
success. The weight of experience favors 
the planting of potatoes on sod land, and 
especially on new lands, and old pastures 
which have long remained in grass. If the 
field has been recently cultivated, it should 
have been in grain rather than in roots. No 
recent putrescent vegetable or animal ma¬ 
nures should be applied directly to this crop, 
or, if applied, they should first be thorougly 
rotted. A compost containing this kind of 
manure may be safely used, but this should 
be intimately blended with the soil. Guano 
may be used, but must be well distributed in 
the earth, and not come in direct contact 
with the tubers or roots. Lime has been 
found particularly beneficial in preventing or 
arresting disease when spread through and 
over the hills, at the rate of one or two gills 
to each. Charcoal has been found equally 
beneficial. The use of unripe seed, early 
dug and exposed to the sun for a day or two, 
then kept dry through the winter, has been 
found efficacious in preventing rot; and just 
the reverse practice—leaving the potato in 
the soil throughout the winter where grown 
—is alleged to have produced the same re¬ 
sult. Placing the rows due north and south 
is an essential precution against disease, as 
it gives the fullest effect of the mid-day sun, 
in drying up the unwholesome vapors, which 
sometimes hover around the vines and are a 
prolific cause of disease whenever there is a 
tendency towards it. 
Soil. —Perhaps nothing has had more to do 
as a preventive of disease than the selection 
of a well-drained, (naturally or artificially,) 
wholesome, upland soil, fully exposed to the 
sun and air. Calcareous soils—such as 
abound in lime—are excellent soils for pota¬ 
toes, and potatoes growing in such soils are 
seldom exposed to disease. Heavy, wet and 
clay lands have been peculiarly favorable to 
the progress of disease. The soil for pota¬ 
toes may be made rich by former manuring, 
but never by long or unfermented manures, 
applied directly to the crop. Few causes 
are more potent in producing disease than 
this. 
Manures. —If necessary to apply these to 
the growing crop, it is better to plow and 
harrow them in after they are effectually 
decomposed. Guano may be plowed or har¬ 
rowed into the land before planting, or when 
intimately mixed with muck, maybe applied 
as a top dressing. Lime may be always 
safely applied to this crop if an abundance 
