292 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
last ten years 1 We are happy to inform him that 
the world has kept alive the history of the potato, 
and that his remedy has been tried repeatedly. 
Seed has often been introduced from Chili, with¬ 
out government aid, and the seedlings of that 
origin are about as liable to the rot as seedlings 
trom older varieties in this country. We have 
tested a potato from that country, so nearly like 
the Rough Purple Chili, that Mr. Goodrich intro¬ 
duced. that it could not be distinguished from it. 
Though of excellent quality, we were obliged to 
discard it alter the second year. It is not free 
trom the rot, and the vines blighted, so that it 
did not yield well. All similar experiments have 
proved failures, and we shall have to wait a 
while for that million of dollars. The disease 
baffles all the skill of the doctors, and of all the 
essays and experiments upon the subject, which 
are numbered by the hundred in our Patent Office 
and agricultural reports, we have never seen any¬ 
thing entirely satisfactory. 
NEW TURNIPS. 
Among the new turnips sent out from the Pa¬ 
tent Office are, Ashcroft’s Swede and River’s 
Swedish Stubble Turnip. We have tried them 
both this season, and the harvest has turned out 
so much better than we anticipated, that we think 
both worthy of further trial. We received our 
seed from Levi Bartlett, of Warner, N. H., and 
followed his directions in planting them, about the 
middle of July. The land selected for the experi¬ 
ment was unpromising, the edge of a salt marsh, 
full of springs, and so wet that the water stood in 
little holes all about the surface. It was first sur¬ 
rounded with a ditch two feet deep, cutting off all 
springs from the adjoining upland. We then 
turned in the crop of strong sour grass, and with 
it a light dressing of eel grass from the shore. It 
was allowed to stand a few days, and was then 
raked off and planted in drills two feet apart. 
The seed came up imperfectly, particularly 
those of the River’s Swedish Stubble. After 
ffley were well up, the young plants were thinned 
and dressed with superphosphate of lime, (dis¬ 
solved bones). At the second hoeing they had a 
light dressing of plaster. This was all the ma¬ 
nure they received, and they were hoed but three 
times. They were harvested early in November, 
making their season three months and a half. We 
had ten and a half bushels from less than two 
square rods of land. The Ashcroft’s is a purple 
turnip, and many of the specimens were four and 
five inches through, and about as smooth as if 
turned in a lathe. They are a very sweet, good 
flavored turnip for the table. The River’s grows 
a little larger than the Ashcroft, is not quite as 
smooth, and is lighter colored. We have formed 
a high opinion of both these varieties. It will be 
seen that they admit of sowing near a month 
later than the common ruta bagas. They can 
come on as a second crop after early potatoes or 
after early cabbages and peas. This will be a 
great advantage to that large class of farmers, 
who live near good markets and wish to make the 
most of their land. With such fine varieties as 
these, we are confident that turnip culture will 
make progress among us. 
Seed for Distribution. —We have sent to 
England for a bushel of seed of each of the above 
kinds of turnip. If we succeed in getting it, it 
will be offered in our Seed Distribution in small 
quantities. 
Cover all seeds with at least their own thick¬ 
ness of soil, but as some of it, gets washed off, 
you must allow for it. 
PATIENCE DOCK. 
This dock (Rumex Patientia,) sometimes called 
Herb Patience, deserves more general culture. It 
is a native of Italy, and held in much esteem, by 
the Germans who call it Winter Spinach. A 
hardy perennial of early growth its long broad 
leaves furnish a very good substitute for spinach, 
long before Spring sown plants are large enough 
for use. In Sweden it is extensively used with 
one-third part common sorrel to give it more 
sprightliness of flalvor. The seeds may be sown 
in early Spring as spinach. As the Rumex 
grows four to six feet high with long leaves, the 
plants should be at least one foot apart. As the 
leaves bear cutting down several times during the 
season, when a bed is once planted it furnishes 
“ greens ” in abundance for many years. 
We have secured a quantity of the seed to be 
distributed among our subscribers, during the 
Winter and Spring. We are aware that many 
farmers with strong aversion to the yellow dock, 
they have so long tried to eradicate, will fear they 
are introducing a pest into their grounds by sow¬ 
ing the Rumex. They need not hesitate about 
this plant as it is easily eradicated if at any time 
it should spread over too much ground. 
ABOUT BEANS. 
The importance of beans as a farm crop, we 
assume as granted: we now wish simply to notice 
one objection sometimes made to their cultivation, 
viz: that they exhaust the soil. Science de¬ 
clares that they impoverish land more than corn 
or grain crops. Here are just the words : “ A 
product of 30 bushels of beans per acre will re¬ 
move, say 490 pounds of nitrogen or flesh-form¬ 
ing substance, while the same quantity of wheat 
per acre will remove only 260 pounds ; of barley, 
40 bushels will remove 280 pounds; of oats the 
same quantity will take away 275 pounds.” And 
then the straw of the wheat must carry off its 
poportion of the same element. 
Why, then, it may be asked, should farmers 
cultivate this hurtful plant l For the same rea¬ 
son that they cultivate corn, or tobacco, or hops, 
or any other very exhausting crop: it may make 
large draughts on the soil and require heavy ma¬ 
nuring to restore them, but then it pays well. Nor 
is this all: When properly cultivated, we se¬ 
riously doubt whether it injures the land so much 
as has been supposed. Look at its large leaves ; 
don’t they show that the plant is designed to 
draw much of its nourishment from the atmo¬ 
sphere t In this respect, it is like clover, and un-' 
like wheat and oats with small leaves. And 
then, many of those leaves fall and decay 
upon the ground, thus adding to its richness. 
Look, too, at the long tap-root of the bean. It 
does not ramify all through the surface soil, as do 
the corn roots: it pierces down into the sub-soil, 
and then sends out its spongioles at the very bot¬ 
tom. It goes deeper in proportion to the thor¬ 
oughness with which the soil is tilled. And this 
is just what we affirmed: with deep cultivation, 
it is doubtful w'hether this crop is so exhausting 
as is sometimes supposed. 
One little “ garden patch ” of ours has been 
very profitable this season. The snails ate up 
the cucumbers—the chickens ate up the snails— 
the neighbor’s cats ate up the chickens, and we 
are now in search of something that will eat up 
the cats 1 Can any of our agricultural friends aid 
us 1—Alabama Planter. 
The world makes us talkers, but solitude makes 
113 thinkers. 
FRUIT TREES FROM CUTTINGS. 
We have often seen statements going the 
rounds of newspapers—sometimes introduced in¬ 
to a portion of the so-called agricultural press_ 
that twigs cut from apple, pear and cherry trees 
if seared with a hot iron, coated with wax, or it 
inserted in a potato and planted in the ground, 
would readily take root, and orchards of any va¬ 
riety of fruit might easily, cheaply and speedily 
be raised. Our attention is called to this topic by 
several letters before us asking if the statements 
are correct. We do not so much wonder that 
some people should give credence to this report, 
when it is well known that the quince, grape, wil¬ 
low, &c., strike quite freely from cuttings, and 
reasoning from analogy one might expect the same 
from the pear. Such, however, is not t-he case, 
for with an occasional exception, only with agrea 
deal of pains under glass, can the cuttings of 
the above named fruit trees be made to grow; and 
even with this treatment, the proportion is so 
small, and the care and labor so great, that it is far 
more economical to produce fruit trees, with the 
exception of the quince, in the ordinary manner 
of grafting and budding seedlings, rather than at¬ 
tempt to grow them from cuttings, no matter 
what solution they are treated to, or what veget¬ 
able they are thrust into. . 
NOTES AND QUERIES FROM 
10WA. 
Letter from a Lady—Rose Bushes from Seed — Per¬ 
ennials on the Prairies in Winter—Annual Flow¬ 
er Seeds—Ground Cherry and Ground Apple — 
Wild Prairie Flowers—An opening for an East¬ 
ern Florist—Early Frosts—Chinese Sugar 
Cane successful —<fc. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
Your invaluable paper comes to us every month, 
and we learn many useful things from its pages. 
Wishing, however, to know more of some things, 
I take the liberty to write you. First, I would in¬ 
quire of roses, how to raise the bushes from seed. 
Will seeds vegetate, if a year old or more 1 Will 
those grown from seed be like the original 1 What 
soils are best for roses 1 
It is thought by many, that perennials, such as 
pinks and bulbous roots, can not be kept here 
unless taken up in the Fall. A neighbor who has 
lived in Illinois, says she tried it five or six Win¬ 
ters, and lost the pinks every time. She thinks 
the soil of the prairie is not dry enough for them. 
I have quite an assortment of late annuals, but 
would like some that blossom before August. 
Where can such seeds be obtained 1 
Much is said this season of the “ Ground Cher¬ 
ry.” It grows wild here. The fruit known by 
that name, is yellow and has a five-sided husk. 
Two other kinds resemble it somewhat—one 
called the “ Ground Apple,” a little larger than the 
cherry, and red when ripe, with a round colored 
husk, the other, still larger, purple, and called the 
“ Southern Tomato.” I will try to send you a 
sample of each. 
Many plants grow wild here that are only found 
in gardens, where I lived at the East, (Oswego 
Co., N. Y.) The trumpet-honeysuckle, ( Lonicera,) 
clambers over the oak, almost equal to the wild 
grape. Spider-wort, ( Tradescantia ,) shows its 
beautiful blue flowers, almost everywhere. Our 
garden was well furnished with wild violets, co¬ 
lumbine and sunflower, and a dozen others that are 
new to me. To tell you of the prairie flowers 
would be an old story. If they can be cultivated 
East, some gardener might make his fortune. 
This has been an excellent season for crops 
