AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
15 
Without any preparation except breaking fine, 
inhumed bones are worth 15 to 50 cents per bush¬ 
el, according to the necessities of the soil, the 
value of the products, and the cost of other ma¬ 
tures. The best mode of using is to have them 
finely ground. 
WHERE ARE THE BONE MILLS 1 
To answer a multitude of inquiries, we will 
publish without charge a list of all the bone-mills 
in the country (there are but few—there ought 
to be hundreds where there is one), if the pro¬ 
prietors will send us their location, the fineness 
to which they reduce bones', and the charge for 
grinding when customers bring in 300 or more 
pounds at a time. 
Liming Land for Potatoes, Culture, etc. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
I will respond to “ Long Island Farmer,” who 
inquires of the effects of Lime in potato culture. 
Having tried a great many experiments with the 
potato disease, liming included, I am prepared to 
say that lime will in no way prevent or cure the 
disease To raise good potatoes, lime is most 
essential, and in my opinion a good potato (that is 
a good mealy one) can not be raised without it. 
The quantity required per acre no one can tell 
without seeing the quality and the nature of the 
soil, as the amount varies from 30 to 300 bushels 
per acre, the first on a light sandy loam, the lat¬ 
ter on a heavy clay—with proportionate quantities 
on intermediate soils. If the land lie on a lime 
stone bed, whether it be clay or light loam, a less 
quantify will be required, than if on free-stone, 
slate, etc. If in the application of lime to the soil 
it is desired to obtain its effects on all crops, the 
aim should be to keep it on the surface. My sys¬ 
tem is as follows: 
If the land upon which I purpose applying lime 
is sod, broken in the Fall and intended for pota¬ 
toes, I cross plow and harrow it in the Spring, and 
then apply the lime and harrow it in ; then open 
the drills and plant. Even then the lime will work 
to the subsoil in the course of two or three years. 
To avoid this the next plowing is shallow, and 
this followed with plowing as deep as I can, throw¬ 
ing to the top the bottom soil which contains the 
lime. The following year the plowing is light 
again. After this, if the land is laid down to 
meadow and remains so for three or more years, 
in breaking it up I use a deep plow which again 
brings the lime to the surface. In this plan it is 
supposed that the land in the first place received 
ill that it will bear or needs, of the best quality of 
ime which is fossil lime-stone as a general thing. 
The great secret in using lime on land, if we would 
see results, is to apply the proper quantity. As in 
ether things it can be half done or over done ; in 
either case the result is not satisfactory. I have 
known men err in both ways, and they arc ready 
to say that liming is “ all humbug,” whereas the 
Unit was with themselves. Lime is as necessa¬ 
ry to land as is barn-yard manure, and this fact I 
tai happy to say farmers hereabouts are learning 
6 very day. 
As to applying lime to the stems and leaves of 
potatoes to prevent or cure disease, it is of little, 
or no use. This idea originated from the prac¬ 
tice of applying quick lime to the vines to kill in¬ 
sects, potato bugs, etc., which at times are so 
abundant that they quickly destroy the vitality of 
the plant by destroying the leaves, and making 
them look as if they were diseased, and which ia 
fact is as bad as disease. I have had potato 
fields so attacked with these vermin, in which 
case I have sown lime on the leaves until the field 
looked as white as a miller’s jacket. Another good 
result of this is, it kills wire worms and grubs that 
lay on the surface and eat the stems and leaves. 
Grubs infest broken sod ground more than any 
other. In applying the lime to them, do it in the 
morning when the dew is on the leaves, or if 
practicable, immediately after rain. If applied 
when dry there is nothing to retain it. 
My method of preparing potatoes for planting, 
is to cut them three weeks or a month previous 
to using—cutting one eye to each set. I lay them 
in a heap, say three or four inches thick, and throw- 
on about the same depth of quicklime. They are 
then turned all over so that each part of the cut 
gets a coat of lime. This is done while the cut is 
fresh so that the lime will adhere. I then spread 
them out an inch thick, letting them lay thus until 
the eye begins to break, and then plant them. If 
after this time, they appear quite soft and the skin 
in wrinkles, it is a good sign. The eyes may 
sometimes get too long; if so, break them off, as 
this does no harm, for the sets will immediately 
break again. 
I send you a sample of “Prince Albert ” pota¬ 
toes which I have grown this season on the farm 
of A. Horton, Esq., on the above one-eye system, 
and prepared as above. They are from an old 
reclaimed piece of marsh that we drained last 
Summer (1857), which previous to this grew noth¬ 
ing but wild grass and calamus. I plowed it in 
the Fall and applied a heavy dose of lime before 
planting. They will show you what underdrain¬ 
ing and lime will accomplish. These potatoes 
have had no manure of any kind, barn-yard or 
special, excepting lime. Persons not acquainted 
with this system, and seeing how they are cut 
would not believe that they could be grown, or in 
fact, that they could sprout; I did not intend en¬ 
tering so far at present into potato culture, but at 
some future period will give you more particulars 
of my practice. Gerald Howatt. 
Newton, N. J., Oct. Ill, 186N. 
Remarks. —The Prin » Albeits wo e received, 
and princes they were—a hall bushel or more, 8 
to 13 inches long, 2^to 31 inches in diameter, 
and sound to the core. I’lio cookirq quality is 
also good, precisely like tlioso grown in our own 
neighborhood, where wo look some puns to in¬ 
troduce this variety two years since and where 
they were largely planted last Spring, and were 
much liked on account or’ their laige yield and 
freedom from rot. For eating, Uow6ver, we do 
not like them quite as well as the old Mercers, 
and scarcely as well as the Peach Blows. 
Mr. Howatt’s practice in liming land is mainly 
correct, though we differ from him in I he theory. 
In a future article we will endeavoi In set forth 
what we believe to be the true theory us well as 
practice in liming land. There are several im¬ 
portant considerations respecting Hie use of lime 
which should be more generally undeistood. —Ed. 
Lime on Seed Potatoes. 
To the Editor of the American Agr,rulturisl: 
In reply to “Long Island Farmer” ( page 298 
October number) I will say ; l cut my seed the 
past season into a bed of ground stone litr.e, turn¬ 
ing them over and over until each piece has the 
appearance of a lump of lima. I am happy to say 
the result has exceeded my expect at ior.s, as I 
this year raised a prolific crop of good uiyfi) pota¬ 
toes, of excellent quality, on land which last year 
yielded less than enough to pay for digging. I 
used seed of the Dykeman or Excelsior variety. 
Gardener. 
Stolen Island. 
Good Farming at the West. 
When Western New-York and Ohio were first 
settled, the pioneers had to spend several toil¬ 
some years in felling the forests and in grubbing 
out the stumps, before they could really commence 
farming. But not so now, in many of the States 
further West: the broad prairies dotted here and 
there with groves, seem as if Providence had 
prepared them expressly for the convenience of 
the farmer; they seem almost to invite the plow 
and the mowing and reaping-machines to come 
and exhibit themselves. It is perhaps not too 
much to say that the farmer on breaking up a 
piece of land in those prairies, finds his work 
easier and pleasanter than it would be on most of 
the old farms at the East. And when to this is 
added the increasing facilities for getting all kinds 
of produce to market, it is not to be wondered at 
that so many young farmers leave “down East ” 
every year, to try their fortunes nearer the set¬ 
ting sun. 
But the easy culture of the ready-cleared 
prairies has a tendency to induce slack farming, 
as our own observation and that of others abun¬ 
dantly prove. There is, all over the West, a 
mania for very large farms—though not confined 
to that region by any means. And as a conse¬ 
quence of attempting to till so much land, the 
work is done imperfectly. How much better it 
would be if the mass of farmers cultivated less 
land, and that more thoroughly. Why not spend 
more time in planting trees, both for shelter and 
for fruit 1 Timber and fruit will be wanted by- 
and-by, and why not have them growing 1 At the 
East, it is thought both humane and profitable to 
give stock good shelter in Winter; might it not 
be equally so on those vast, and wind-swept 
prairies ? Plenty of sheds and other out-buildings 
for sheltering wagons, carts, plows and all kinds 
of implements are thought essential to good 
farming. It is believed that tools, large and small, 
decay faster by being exposed to the weather in 
one Winter, than they do by constant usage in one 
Summer. It is, moreover, more profitable and 
more honorable to raise the same amount of pro¬ 
duce from five acres of land, than from ten. 
Farmer's High School, Pennsylvania.— We 
are glad to be officially informed that this Institu¬ 
tion is in such a state of forwardness, that at the 
meeting of the Board of Trustees at Harrisbunr, 
Dec. 8th, it was ordered that the School be 
mally opened on the third Wednesday in Febru¬ 
ary. The School year will close on the third 
Wednesday of December. Students are to be ad¬ 
mitted only from Pennsylvania for the present. 
Applications will be received up to the 15th oi 
this month, (Jan.,) for 100 students from the dif¬ 
ferent counties of the State, in proportion to the 
taxable inhabitants—one for each 5,796. The 
applications must come through the regular 
County Societies, if such exist—if not, then 
direct to the Secretary, Wm. G. Waring, Farm 
School Post-Office, Center Co., Pa.—to whom all 
communications are to be addressed, and from 
whom full information may be obtained. 
Ossification and Petrifaction. —Figuratively 
speaking, when a man’s heart ossifies, that is, turns 
to hone, he dies at once ; but if it petrifiics, that 
is, turns to stone, he invariably lives too long for 
any useful purpose. 
“ Keep your dog away from me,” said a village 
dandy to a farmer’s boy. “ I can’t,” replied the 
boy, “ for he i3 always running after puppies. 
