AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
278 
A certain tact possessed by most American 
farmers, is necessary in making all such improve¬ 
ments, and the farmer must be au fait, that is, 
understand and be able to do any kind of work. 
Without being egotistical, I will merely remark, 
I hauled nearly ajl my own lumber from the Sta¬ 
tion, assisted in the carpenter’s work of my house, 
helped to lath it, built the chimneys myself, and 
built my own dairy and barn, assisted by one 
farm hand. Fora “lazy Southerner," this is 
something to talk of at least. [Dr. H. will suc¬ 
ceed as a farmer—make a note of that.— Ed.] 
Fences are to a prairie farm one third its value, 
and it will sell at a price very much greater in 
proportion than one not fenced. 
HEDGES 
are made in two ways; by planting seedlings, 
young plants of from one to two years growth ; or 
by sowing the seed where the hedge is intended 
to be, and thinning'out when up. Either plan will 
make a good hedge if properly attended to. 
The hedge row should be well plowed and har¬ 
rowed, and in mellow condition, before seeding or 
planting. Plants should be healthy and vigorous. 
A furrow, straight, clean, and about six or eight 
inches deep, should be run where the hedge is to 
be; the plants dibbled in six inches apart, and 
loose dirt hoed up to them, leaving them regular 
and clean. The first year they should be cut 
down twice, the first time within six inches—the 
next time within nine inches of the ground. The 
second year requires another shortening to a foot, 
after which they may be allowed to grow higher, 
having now well spread. They will, in the third 
year, be nearly or quite four feet high when trim¬ 
med, and many hedges may then be “ turned out.” 
I have referred to the Osage Orange, (/iois d'arc,) 
plant, in speaking of hedges, which, when attend¬ 
ed to as every such thing should be, makes, in this 
latitude, (39£°,) a permanent, impassable barrier 
to biped or quadruped. Let those who doubt 
come and see. 
American Hawthorn will make an excellent 
hedge, but the Osage Orange is quicker, and, 1 
think, better for the purpose*. 
Wire fencing has as yet been but little resorted 
to on the prairies. The posts require to be close 
together, and the wires stout and well stretched. 
We have some in this neighborhood. At a future 
period I may be able to give you an account of 
its standing; at present it is just suspended. 
H. H. 
Tacusa, Christian Co., Illinois, Nov. 16, 1857. 
WHY KEEP POTATOES IN THE 
DARK. 
It is often observed by good housekeepers that 
their best potatoes come from the bottpm ot the 
bin or barrel, where they are the most effectually 
guarded from the light, and often covered with the 
soil that has sifted down from the upper layers. 
It is often recommended that this vegetable be 
kept in a dark cellar. It has been suggested 
that one reason of the deterioration of this vege¬ 
table is owing, in part, to the fact, that cellars in 
all the modern built houses are made much more 
light and airy, than they were thirty years ago. 
The potato is in its most perfect condition 
when it is fully ripe, and has the largest share of 
starch in its composition. If it could be kept in 
the ground, without freezing so as to destroy its 
vitality, it would remain nearly unchanged in its 
character until the following Spring, when the in¬ 
creased warmth of the sun would excite the 
germs. Art should attempt to do what nature 
does perfectly, in the original homo of the po¬ 
tato. It is kept in a cool, dark deposit of vege¬ 
table mold until the Spring opens. In the good 
old-fashioned cellar which kept potatoes, when 
we were a boy, these conditions were very well 
observed. The bin was in the darkest, coolest 
part of the cellar, and the potatoes were deposit¬ 
ed there with the dirt on them, as they came from 
the field, and they saw no ray of light, except that 
of a candle, from November until March. They 
were only kept from from freezing, in the zero 
nights, by a thick covering of rye straw. 
In the modern built house there is usually too 
much light and warmth in the cellar. The pota¬ 
toes come in early Winter into the light and tem¬ 
perature of April. The reproductive instincts 
of the tuber are excited, the eyes begin to start, 
and the starch, which makes the potato so mealy 
and nice, as an article of food, begins to pass over 
into other compounds, favorable to the growth of 
a new crop. The cook complains of wet heavy 
potatoes. These prematurely sprouted tubers, it 
is frequently observed are not so productive as 
others. The reproductive energy seems to be 
weakened by this untimely light and heat. It 
looks reasonable that this course followed up for 
a long series of years, should have an unfavora¬ 
ble influence upon the health of the plant. Mark¬ 
et gardeners are alive to this fact, and let their 
early potatoes, ripe in July, lie in the ground until 
November before they dig them. They are then 
kept in a cool, dark cellar, until it is time to start 
them for planting. 
THE TIMES GROWING BETTER. 
We are most happy to be able to say, in this 
last-written item of the year, that the “times” 
are really growing better. In one sense, this 
city is the great commercial heart of the whole 
country, and here matters never looked more 
hopeful thaD *\ow. Gold and silver, the real cur¬ 
rency, next j farm products, so to speak, were 
never more abundant than at present. The Banks 
of this city alone hold in their vaults, to day, 
nearly $30,000,000 of specie, almost double the 
amount ever there before. The feeling here will 
gradually diffuse itself over the whole country. 
But, though gold is plenty, business is done more 
upon a “ specie basis ”—that is, the saleable value 
of all articles of commerce is estimated more by 
the comparative amount of gold and silver in the 
country, than upon the false basis of the amount 
of paper issues in circulation, as has been the 
case for a few years past. 
It will take a long time, however, for the coun¬ 
try to entirely recover from the financial blow re¬ 
ceived in October, but the improvement has cer¬ 
tainly commenced, and will go on. The prices 
of various farm products will scarcely return to 
their wonted figures in some years at least, and 
it is useless to hold on tofthem with any such hope, 
but they will remain no lower, comparatively, than 
other articles for which we wish to exchange 
them. A bushel of wheat cannot be exchanged 
for so much gold as formerly, but it will buy as 
many articles of comfort, convenience and luxu¬ 
ry. There is already, say in this city, as great a 
decline in the prices of sugars, teas, coffee, 
clothes, furniture, <f-c., as there is in the prices of 
grain and meat in the country. 
There are, of course, exceptions to this general 
rule. For example, owing to the failure of a large 
proportion of the paper mills, there is but a small 
supply made, and we are actually now paying 
more for the white paper we print upon, than be¬ 
fore the recent financial troubles. But this can¬ 
not continue. Capital will be turned into this 
channel, and paper, like everything else, must 
sooner or later come down to the changed order 
of things, viz.: the higher value of gold and silr 
ver, and the consequent lower scale of prices foi 
everything else. 
Let no cultivator of the soil fall into the fatal 
error of inactivity, because the nominal value of 
produce is declining. People must always eat 
and wear clothes, and he who raises breadstuff's, 
meat, wool, &c., &c., will be sure to find a mar¬ 
ket therefor. 
Let us, then, take hold with a will, and begin to 
lay out large plans for next year. We may not 
get all we desire or expect, but if we would hit 
the moon let us aim at the sun. It is our pleas¬ 
ing task to endeavor to set before our readers the 
best modes of increasing, to the highest-point, the 
products of the agricultural labor of tlie.couBtry, 
and we shall certainly aim at the sun. We now 
lay down the pen for 1857, to take it up at once 
for 1858, with renewed energy and hope. 
“COLUMBIAN GUANO;” 
When this article was first offered for sale in 
this city we carefully examined a sample of it, 
and pronounced it of little or no value. To a pri 
vate offer of a quantity of it for our own use, at 
a very low rate, we replied that “ we would not 
cart it home for it.” This opinion was based upon 
its being entirely devoid of animal or vegetable 
matter. Several advertisements of the so-called 
‘ Columbian Guano’ have been offered for insertion 
in the Agriculturist, but since the examination 
above referred to, we have refused to insert them 
at any price. During September we were in¬ 
formed by a subscriber that he had purchased and 
applied a quantity of this material, under assur¬ 
ances amounting to a guarantee, of its superior 
value as a fertilizer, and that having tried it, and 
receiving no benefit, he had refused to pay for it, 
and had been sued by the seller. We therefore 
inserted the inquiry at page 227, October number, 
to call out information from those having expe¬ 
rience with it. The following is one of the re¬ 
plies received.— ed. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
In compliance with your request, I submit a 
statement of my experience of that humbug, sold 
under the name of ‘Columbian Guano.’ In 
August, 1856, I purchased a ton of it, in Phila¬ 
delphia, and applied part of it on a field put out 
with wheat. It was put on broadcast with my 
own hands, and with much care, at the rate of 
about 400 pounds per acre, on freshly and deeply- 
plowed ground. It was covered with a good 
harrow, and the wheat planted with a drill. I 
left a patch large enough to see the difference, 
without the ground rock of the Columbian Islands 
(it is nothing but such), and there was not the 
least difference where it was applied and where 
not. In order to give it a fair, impartial, and full 
trial, I applied the balance (excepting one bag I 
still have in my barn) on the poorest ground I own, 
with oats, and put in precisely the same as with 
the wheat. The result was similar; that part of 
the field which had no Columbian ground rock 
applied was fully equal to the part where it was 
carefully scattered at the rate of about 400 
pounds per arce. Had I shovelled up a ton ol 
dirt from the turnpike, I would have had, unques-' 
tionably, a much "better result; for in that some 
animal droppings would be brought on the ground, 
of which the Columbian humbug is destitute. 
The trash, freight, &c., thereon, left me minus 
$45, without a cent’s worth of benefit. This is 
my experience, and I give it without fear, not¬ 
withstanding the attempted intimidations from 
the dealers. J- S. Keeleii, 
Schuylkill Co., Pa , Oct. 30., 1857. 
