MERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
357 
will often produce them ; and they are in 
some measure similar to the footrot in sheep. 
At the same time they are more controlable 
and subservient to appiopriate remedies. 
When the properties of the frog, the seat of 
this disorder, are considered, no surprise 
can exist that they should be very frequently 
the predisposing source of foot-lameness. 
A thrush may be briefly described as an 
ichorous, foetid, and corrosive discharge, pro¬ 
ceeding from the frogs. When this exists 
for any length of time in the foot of a young 
animal, it interrupts the ordinary secretions 
and development of the sensible frog; by its 
discharge it promotes absorption, causing 
the internal part to assume an unhealthy de¬ 
gree of hardness or consistency and there¬ 
by affects its elasticity. The frog, it must 
be observed, is destined to prevent concus¬ 
sion, which in its healthy state it is admira¬ 
bly adapted for ; but if it is injured, so that 
its character and nature is changed, when 
the horse is put to work soreness of the feet 
ensues, and often inflammation, which grad¬ 
ually increasing, the animal becomes quite 
lame, and is therefore nearly useless. As 
attention to the feet of young horses involves 
the necessity of handling, and such familiari¬ 
ties as will render them docile and tractable, 
two important objects are secured. 
Mark Lane Express. Cecil. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
CULTIVATION OF SQUASHES. 
Many of your readers are anxious for me 
to give them a few remarks on the cultiva¬ 
tion of those large squashes spoken of 
through the columns of your paper last fall. 
My method is as follows : 
As soon as the ground is warm enough to 
insure quick germination, I dig, on a south¬ 
ern exposure, holes two feet deep and two 
feet each way, excluding the bottom soil, and 
retaining the top. The holes should be filled 
up within six or eight inches of the top with 
good hog-pen or stable manure ; the former 
I prefer. The holes should be filled up with 
the richest soil that can be obtained, and be 
allowed to remain a few days till the hills 
are thoroughly warmed, before planting the 
seed. Care should be taken to plant the 
seed at the proper depth, to insure their com¬ 
ing up ; in a warm, dry soil, from two to 
three inches, in a cold, wet soil, from one to 
two is sufficient. As soon as the plants ap¬ 
pear above the surface, place instead of 
bricks, blocks of wood or a small box, large 
enough to set a pane of window glass upon; 
this will force them along rapidly, and pro¬ 
tect them from the depredations of the bugs, 
&c. They should be watered once a day, 
being careful not to apply cold spring water, 
or while the sun shines upon them. 
I think one good healthy plant in the hill 
is sufficient, as it will produce larger squash- j 
es. When the plants begin to cover the 
ground, cut off all the runners from the main 
vine, except two or three nearest the root, as 
these will set first and produce the best. 
Not more than one or two should be allowed 
to grow on one vine. The best application 
that can be put around the root while grow¬ 
ing, is soapsuds, or liquid manure, being 
careful not to apply it too strong. The 
above method may be resorted to with any 
vines. J. McKee. 
Bristol, Addison Co., Vermont. 
P. S.—Many of those writing to me for seed, 
inquire what my charges are ; which I leave 
entirely to them. I can assure them it is 
some trouble and expense to me to put up 
those seed and mail them. I have received 
some of the California onion seed, I would 
like to send to any one wishing. J. McK. 
Agricultural Fair—Farmers’ daughters. 
CHINESE YAM. 
Since the account of the Chinese yam 
{Dioscorca Batatas) which we gave a few 
weeks since, a further report by M. Decaisne 
upon the result of last year’s experience in 
France has reached us. It appears from 
this statement that the root has excited the 
greatest interest in that country, that it is 
already regarded as a sufficient recompense 
for the disasters which attended the potato 
disease, and that the public establishments 
are overwhelmed with applications for it 
from all parts of the country. The sub¬ 
stance of M. Decaisne’s statement is as 
follows: 
About the middle of April, when he con¬ 
sidered the danger from frost to be over, he 
planted out in the garden of the Museum of 
Natural History some pieces of the roots 
Some were taken from the upper and smallei 
part of the tubers, others from the thicker 
part. The first were scarcely as thick as 
the little finger, and averaged 2i inches in 
length; the others were much larger, and 
formed slices or cross sections of a cylinder, 
each 1£ to li inch thick on the edge. Three 
tubers weighing from 104- to 14 ounces were 
planted whole, in order to compare theii 
produ'e with that of the cut sets. The 
plantation was made in an open border on 
the level, and not on ridges, as ought to 
have been done, a circumstance, however, 
which in no way affected the growth of the 
tubers ; it only rendered the taking up diffi 
cult. The distance between the plants was 
19£ inches every way; this was anothei 
mistake, for, according to the judicious ob 
servations of M. L. Vilmorin, they should 
have been much wider apart. The short 
time which has elapsed since the introduc¬ 
tion of the Chinese yam prevents M. Decais¬ 
ne’s determining what may be called a good 
or a bad year for it; the future alone will 
show under what conditions of climate it 
best succeeds. All that can at present be 
said is, that in 1854 the growth of the plants 
was uniform, that their long twining stems 
grew vigorously, and were thickly covered 
with leaves, that abundance of flowers were 
produced (they were all males) about the be¬ 
ginning of August, and finally that vegetation 
ceased and the leaves began to acquire a yel¬ 
lowish tint after the middle of September, 
thus indicating that the tubers had nearly 
come to mautrity. 
M. Decaisne regards the Chinese yam as 
superior in quality to the potato. Although 
no comparative analysis of the two has been 
made, he believes that the Chinese yam is 
much the richer in point of nutritive princi¬ 
ples. Its roots are white as snow in the in¬ 
terior ; they neither contain visible fibers 
nor tough woody matter, and when boiled 
they become so soft that a slight pressure 
converts them into a paste, which he can 
only compare to that of the finest wheaten 
flour. Coocked by steam or roasted, they 
look and taste like the best potatoes. They 
have one advantage, which every one will 
appreciate, namely, the short space of time 
required for cooking. Twopiecesof tubers, 
of the size of a hen’s egg, one the Chinese 
yam, the other the Batate blanche , were both 
put into boiling water at the same time with 
a Dutch potato of the same size ; the first 
and second were done in ten minutes, the 
third in 20 minutes. And we must recol¬ 
lect that the facility with which the potato 
may be cooked is one of the causes which 
have greatly contributed to the popularity of 
the potato in a culinary point of view, as it 
requires but little fuel. 
Another point of great importance to cul¬ 
tivators is, that it may be kept easily for a 
year, and perhaps longer. We all know that 
the potato is certain to sprout in spring. 
The Chinese yam ia wholly free from this 
disadvantage ; it is neither affected by cold 
nor heat, and perhaps not even by moisture. 
Left in the ground, it remains alive through 
the winter without injury, as has been proved 
by a root which passed there the last severe 
winter, and pushed freely in spring; so that 
it is a hardy plant in the widest acceptation 
of the term. Gardeners' Chronicle. 
FIRST MONTHLY REPORT OF THE SUPERIN 
TENDENT OF TdE MODEL FARM. 
Petersburg, Jan. 31, 1855. 
The Southern Farmer having been consti¬ 
tuted the organ of the Virginia and North- 
Carolina Union Agricultural Society, for the 
publication of its proceedings, it becomes my 
duty, through its columns, as Superintendent 
of its Experimental Farm, to lay before the 
members of the Society, a report of the pro¬ 
ceedings on the farm since the commence¬ 
ment of its operation. As is already known 
to the members of the Society, their Execu¬ 
tive Committee have purchased a portion of 
that tract of land known as Indiana, lying 
immediately west of the corporate limits of 
the city of Petersburg, and embracing an area 
of one hundred acres, situated south of Cox’s 
road, and bounded by it for upward of half a 
mile. In this purchase there is a considera¬ 
ble variety of soil, a portion of which has 
been slightly improved by former applica¬ 
tions of marl and lime; but as a whole, its 
present condition affords an ample field for 
experiments in the improvement of worn out 
land, by the judicious applications of ma¬ 
nures, deeper and more perfect tilth, subsoil¬ 
ing, under-draining, &c. My first report must 
uecessarily be brief and imperfect, as in all 
new undertakings, difficulties in starting are 
unavoidable. For farm operations, four men, 
a boy, and a woman, have been hired for the 
current year; and four young and superior 
mules purchased. As there are no buildings 
on the farm, temporary accommodations 
have been prepared for the laborers and 
teams at the fair grounds of the Society. A 
selection of necessary implements for pres¬ 
ent operations has been made, each of which 
is the best of its kind procurable in the city. 
Operations on the farm were commenced 
on the 6th, and confined for a few days to 
the cleaning up of fence lines and other pre- 
liminaries. After the partial breaking of the 
young mules to work, the use of a wagon 
was obtained, and the collection of manure 
from the city was begun, and has since 
steadily continued. The plowing has also 
been commenced, but in consequence of 
much unfavorable weather, and operating 
with as yet only pariially broken animals, 
progress up to this time has bt en slow, and 
as might be expected, the work rather im¬ 
perfectly executed. These difficulties will, 
however, soon be surmounted, so as to se¬ 
cure the more speedy and perfect peformance 
of all operations. 
As a preparatory step toward the erection 
of suitable buildings on the farm the Execu¬ 
tive Committee have very properly offered a 
premium of $100 for the best plans for a 
cottage residence for the superintendent, and 
necessary farm buildings. These plans were 
to have been submitted on the 15th day of 
this month, but the time was subsequently 
extended to the 15th of February, in the hope 
of drawing out an increased number of com¬ 
petitors. The result will be embraced in 
my next monthly report. In the meantime 
the building committee have selected an 
eligible site on a gentle eminence nearly in 
the center of the farm, to which the necessa¬ 
ry roads have been laid off, partially formed 
with a plow, and a satisfactory contract en¬ 
tered into for their proper grading and ditch¬ 
ing. Connected with these arrangements, 
the farm has been subdivided into fields of an 
average area of nearly five acres, the divide 
