FACT RELATIVE TO THE POTATO DISEASE, ETC. 
253 
ANOTHER FACT RELATIVE TO THE POTATO 
DISEASE. 
At a late meeting of the Executive Committee of 
the N. Y. State Agricultural Society, held at Buf¬ 
falo. Mr. F. J. Betts, of Newburgh, communicated 
the following information relative to the disease of 
the potato :—“ I have this year planted potatoes in 
my forcing house, which ripened some three weeks 
since, and upon digging them I found several en¬ 
tirely rottem I deem this fact of some importance 
in ascertaining the nature of the disease, as it cer¬ 
tainly refutes some of the theories in respect to it. 
The house is kept at as even a temperature as prac¬ 
ticable, without the use of artificial heat, and the 
ground is continually moist; neither sudden alter¬ 
nations of heat, therefore, nor sudden changes from 
dry to wet, can he the cause of the disease. The 
soil is made 3| feet deep, very rich, from an admix¬ 
ture of well-rotted manure, muck, and shell marl, 
and limed very heavily. Such are the facts, and 
they may assist in arriving at some just conclu¬ 
sions in respect to the disease. 
KILLING THE BUFFALO. 
No animal requires so much killing as buffaloes. 
Unless shot through the lungs, or spine, they in¬ 
variably escape; and.r^n when thus mortally 
wounded, or even struCirUhrough the very heart, 
they will frequently run a considerable distance 
before falling to the ground, particularly if they 
see the hunter after the wound is given. If, how¬ 
ever, he keeps himself concealed after firing, the 
animal will remain still, if it does not immediately 
fall. It is a most painful sight to witness the 
dying struggles of the huge beast. The buffalo 
invariably evinces the greatest repugnance to lie 
down when mortally wounded, apparently con¬ 
scious that when once touching mother earth, there 
is no hope left him. A bull, shot through the 
heart, or lungs, with blood streaming from his 
mouth, and protruding tongue,-his eyes rolling, 
bloodshot, and glazed with death, braces himself 
on his legs, swaying from side to side, stamps im¬ 
patiently at his growing weakness, or lifts his rug¬ 
ged and matted head, and helplessly bellows out 
his conscious impotence. To the last, however, 
he stands upright, and plants his limbs further 
apart, but to no purpose. As the body rolls, like 
a ship at sea, his head slowly turns from side to 
side, looking about as it were, for the unseen and 
treacherous enemy who has brought him, the lord 
of the plains, to such a pass. Drops of purple 
blood spirt from his mouth and nostrils, and gradu¬ 
ally the failing limbs refuse longer to support the 
ponderous carcass; more heavily rolls the body 
from side to side, until suddenly, for a brief in¬ 
stant, it becomes rigid and still; a convulsive tre¬ 
mor seizes it, and, with a low, sobbing gasp, the 
huge animal falls over on his side, the limbs ex¬ 
tended stark and stiff, and the mountain of flesh 
without life or motion. 
Notwithstanding the great and wanton destruc¬ 
tion of the buffalo, many years must elapse before 
this lordly animal becomes extinct. In spite of 
their numerous enemies, they will exist in count¬ 
less numbers, and, could any steps be taken to pro¬ 
tect them, as is done in respect to other game, they 
would ever remain the life and ornament of 
the boundless prairies, and afford ample and never- 
failing provision to the travellers over these other¬ 
wise desert plains.— Ruxton's Mexico and the 
Rocky Mountains . 
AMERICAN HOLLY HEDGES. 
The American Holly is the sturdiest and best 
armed tree in the world, flourishes in all locations, 
and presents, in a few years, a barrier which defies 
the inroads of man and beast; and in its red berries 
furnishes such a grateful repast to the birds, during 
the winter and spring months, that they, too, are 
enticed from depredations on the spring crops, and 
seek shelter and bounty in its thick impenetrable 
covert. A great error has always prevailed in re¬ 
gard to the uncertainty of transplanting the holly, 
but from our experience and observation, there is 
no tree more easily and successfully removed. We 
have seen them succeed when trees four inches in 
diameter were taken up, but they had been en¬ 
tirely divested of their tops. Our friend, Mr. Jno. 
C. Singleton, residing near Columbia, has a garden 
hedge in front of his house, of several hundred 
small holly trees, transplanted from the adjacent 
woods, and lost not a single plant where they w r ere 
entirely undisturbed. 
The holly is easily propagated from the seed, 
which must be subjected to the following process, 
which makes them vegetate freely:—In the fall, 
after frost, take a large quantity and bury them in 
a heap, in a soil not too moist. Let them remain 
until spring, when upon their being planted in 
drills, in finely-prepared soil, they come up quick¬ 
ly, and a number of them make plants enough for 
transplanting the first year. It is, however, best to 
leave them till they are two years old, when upon 
planting, each plant should be cut off to within two 
inches of the ground. They should be planted in 
double rows, eighteen inches apart—the trees being 
broken in the ranks, and distant from each other in 
the rows, about fifteen inches. After the holly is 
well set, it requires no artificial culture. It is best, 
however, to shorten the plants down every year, 
until the whole w r all is a stout barrier of living 
trunks, and then it may be left to the care of na¬ 
ture. 
A holly hedge, or indeed any other, should be 
planted in the soil prepared with a view to support 
the growth of the plants for years to come. The 
best plan is to dig a wide, but shallow ditch, 
into which, after throwing the top soil, place vege¬ 
table mould, muck, animal manure, and, in fact, all 
such materials and rubbish, usually found about 
the farm, which is conducive to the growth of trees. 
When the trees have taken root, and in order to 
make a good, sound, enduring wood, they should re¬ 
ceive a dressing of wood ashes, or old lime. With 
these precautions, every farmer could have a good 
hedge in ten years, for the same labor and cost that 
it would take to keep a rail fence on the land for 
that time .—South Carolinian. 
APPLICATION OF MARL. 
Marl and sand, you’ll have good land ; 
Marl and clay, you’ll throw all away. 
Old English Proverb. 
