102 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
adjacent. Would not agues and chills and 
kindred diseases be far less frequent ? 
Other reasons for underdraining might be 
given, and will be noticed incidentally ; but 
are not those named above enough to show 
why a field that will average but 40 bushels 
of corn per acre should average 60 bushels 
after simply draining it thoroughly ? Is it 
not reasonable to suppose there would be 
even a greater difference than this 1 
Taking it for granted that this fact is es¬ 
tablished, we shall hereafter discuss two 
points, viz.: 
1st. What soils need draining ? 
3d. What are the best modes of performing 
this operation in different localities ? 
CARROTS AS A FIELD CROP. 
We have frequently adverted to this crop 
in our past volumes, and with every passing 
year of our experience with it, in the field, 
and in the root-bin, we are more fully cen- 
vinced that the carrot is to be the root of 
the American farm. We are not certain but 
it will yet fill the place here which the turnip 
fills in England for stock feeding. The turnip 
sometimes does admirably with us, but can 
never be so uniformly successful in our hot, 
dry climate, as under the moist skies of 
Britain. The carrot can be planted earlier, 
and get a good start before the Summer 
drouth comes on. The yield, judging from 
our experiments, is fully equal to the yield 
of turnips under the same treatment, and 
the root is more highly relished by stock, 
and, we think, more nutritious. They are 
admirably adapted to fe< ding horses, and 
they keep much better in the Spring than 
turnips. We have frequently had them in 
good condition for feeding as late as June. 
PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 
If large crops of twelve or fifteen hundred 
bushels to the acre are to be expected, good 
land must be taken, and it must be made 
still richer by large applications of manure. 
The wants of the plant are a foot of surface 
soil thoroughly disintegrated, and enriched 
with fine compost or well-rotted manure. 
Whatever be the depth of the plowing, the 
tilth of the soil should be very fine, and 
after the harrow has been used, we think it 
pays to go over the whole with a garden 
rake, removing all clods and small cobble 
stones. In smooth, sandy soils, this might 
not be necessary. But it facilitates after¬ 
culture very much to have a smooth sur¬ 
face. The seed should be put in with a 
seed-sower, and we have always found it 
advantageous to drill in manure with the 
seed. For this purpose we have used a good 
quality of dissolved unburned bones. The 
distance of the drills must depend somewhat 
upon the mode of culture you mean to pur¬ 
sue. If you rely upon the horse and culti¬ 
vator, they should not be nearer than twenty 
inches. If you depend ufion the scuffle-hoe 
for removing weeds, as we do, they may be 
planted fourteen inches apart. 
CULTIVATION. 
This should commence as soon as the 
plants are up. Push the hoe as near to the 
rows as possible, cutting up all weeds, and 
loosening the soil When the plants are 
two or three inches high, thin out, leaving 
them from four to six inches apart. It is a 
common error to neglect weeding and thin¬ 
ning too long. The hoe should be kept busy 
during the Summer, and the whole strength 
of the soil go to the support of the roots you 
mean to harvest. 
VARIETIES. 
We have cultivated both the white Bel¬ 
gian and the yellow Altringham, and have 
not been able to discover the advantage 
claimed for the Belgian, that it yields a 
larger crop. It grows more out of the 
ground, but lias never grown as Targe as the 
Altringham with us, and the quality is cer¬ 
tainly inferior. We decidedly prefer the 
long yellow carrot, and this with a careful 
selection of seed for a series of years will 
give crops large enough to satisfy any rea¬ 
sonable man. Do not fail to sow a piece of 
carrots the last of May. 
POTATOES. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH SIX VARIETIES. 
Last season we made a careful compara¬ 
tive trial of the following six kinds of Pota¬ 
toes, viz: Ash Leaf Kidney, Prince Albert, 
Early June, Sovereign, Mammoth Nutmeg 
and Dykeman’s. Only a small plot was 
taken with a view to make everything as 
uniform as possible. The seed potatoes of 
each kind were selected as uniform in size, 
number of eyes, &c., as was practible, and 
the soil all alike, and manured equally with 
a little bone sawings in the hill, and a sub¬ 
sequent uniform watering from the reser¬ 
voir of house slops described in June last. 
Every care was taken to treat all exactly 
alike. They were planted May 12th, and 
dug October 2nd. Six hills of each kind 
carefully weighed gave the following result: 
Ash Leaf Kidneys .. 12 lbs.lSovereigns.9i lbs. 
Prince Alberts.13 “ Mammoth N.utmegs..8i “ 
Early Junes.121 “ [Djikeman’s.10 “ 
The cooking qualities were tried soon 
after digging and the following notes made : 
The Kidney’s.—Small size, resembling the 
Lady Finger variety; yellow flesh ; free 
from decay; boiled mealy, even to the 
smallest. 
Prince Albert.—Egg shaped.; smooth skin; 
white; cooked quickly and were white and 
mealy when done ; entirely free from rot. 
The most satisfactory of the six kinds. 
Early June—Though planted too late these 
were doubtless too long in the ground and 
showed considerable decay; in size fair to 
large ; though boiled quickly, they appeared 
water soaked. 
Sovereign—Size above medium ; round ; 
yellowish white; affected with dry rot 
somewhat; boiled mealy; flavor pleasant; 
quite yellow after boiling. 
Mammoth Nutmeg.—This variety, though 
lauded so highly by those having a monop¬ 
oly of the seed at first, proved the most 
unsatisfactory of the six tried, both on ac¬ 
count of small yield and rapid decay partic¬ 
ularly after digging ; medium size ; nearly 
round in form; yellowish white color; the 
few sound tubers cooked and ate well. 
Dykeman.—Medium siz-e ; round form ; 
white with pink eyes; cooked tolerably 
mealy and of fair flavor. 
On the whole we give the decided prefer¬ 
ence to the Prince Albert, and should plant 
this but from the present difficulty of obtain¬ 
ing seed. 
TOMATO CULTURE. 
The cultivation of this vegetable is com¬ 
paratively recent in this country. Thirty 
years ago it was hardly known, except in 
the gardens of the curious, and among those 
seafaring people whose business had led 
them to the West Indies, and to South 
American ports. It has been much longer 
established in France and Spain, and was 
introduced into those countries from their 
South American possessions, where it origi¬ 
nated. Thousands of acres are cultivated to 
supply the demands of our large cities, and 
so abundant is the yield of the vines, that in 
their season they are among the cheapest of 
vegetables. They are also made into cat¬ 
sup, pickles, sliced and dried for Winter use, 
and lately it has become common to seal 
them up in cans, in which they preserve 
their flavor admirably, and can be had fresh 
and good the year round. 
There are numerous varieties, of which 
the large smooth red is the most popular for 
market, and the Mammoth much the best 
flavor for family use. This we have raised 
several years, and have frequently had them 
two pounds in weight. The plant will per¬ 
petuate itself in the garden, unless pains are 
taken to destroy it. But this is a careless 
method of growing them, and they deterior¬ 
ate in size and quality, unless the seeds of 
the best fruit are saved and planted. 
They are commonly forced by planting 
single seeds in pots in February, and putting 
them out the last of May, already in blos¬ 
som. The pot is then well filled with roots, 
and as none are broken in turning them oat, 
they push along rapidly, and give fruit in 
July. These potted plants are to be had of 
the market gardeners at this season, and a 
dozen of them will supply a common family. 
For the main crop for pickling and for 
preserving in cans, seeds sown the first, of 
this month will mature sufficiently early. 
When the plants are put out about four feet 
apart, they should have frequent hoeings, 
and the leaders should be headed in, to 
facilitate the forming and ripening of the 
fruit. Most of the blossoms are put out 
within two feet of the roots, and the short- 
ening-in of the plant forces its energies to 
fruit-bearing. The fruit will be larger under 
this treatment, and will be some days earlier. 
Some cultivators lay brush down for the 
vines to run on, and others tie them up upon 
a lattice. We think both these methods re¬ 
tard the ripening. The heat of the earth in 
August is of great service in maturing this 
fruit. The early plants should have a south¬ 
ern exposure under a fence or wall. 
This crop when it (list comes to market, 
bears a high price, selling for four and five 
dollars a basket. It soon falls to a dollar or 
less, and not unfrequently becomes a drug 
at any price. The enormous quantities that 
are now preserved for Winter use in cans, 
and manufactured into catsups and pickles, 
cannot, fad to affect prices, and make them 
a paying crop. 
