204 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
ply will only tend to the impoverishment of the com¬ 
post. 
These several methods suggested for the improvement 
of farm manure are recommended to the attention of 
your readers. So much space has already been consum¬ 
ed that we must leave that part of the subject relating 
to the quantity of manure for a future number. These 
suggestions are confined to those ordinary means which 
fall within the reach of the practical farmer, in order 
that they may be more generally useful. 
When it is considered how much the productiveness 
of our farms depends upon the manure heap, and how 
much this matter is at times neglected, a few thoughts 
will not, I trust, be unacceptable which have for their 
object its improvement; and although familiar to most of 
your readers, if they should stimulate any person to ap¬ 
ply them, who have hitherto neglected to do so, the ob¬ 
ject in writing them will be attained. 
I am your obedient servant, 
RICHARD HOPPER. 
Papperwick, Nottinghamshire , Sept. 10. 
Structure and Functions of Plants. 
The cultivation of the various agricultural plants is by 
far the most important of the labors of the husbandman. 
The spontaneous productions of the earth are only suf- 
fient for satisfying the wants of man in a rude state of 
society: but as civilization advances, a taste for the 
comforts and luxuries of life is manifested in a greater 
degree, and the cultivation of the soil becomes impor¬ 
tant, in order to produce a greater quantity of vegetable 
food, and that, also, of a superior quality. 
A knowledge of the structure and functions of plants 
is of the first importance, as laying the foundation of an 
economical system of culture. The necessity of becom¬ 
ing acquainted with the various phenomena of the ve¬ 
getable economy is apparent; in order that the cultiva¬ 
tor may avail himself of the great influence exercised, 
by human agency, over the productions of the vegeta¬ 
ble kingdom, to the greatest extent. Apart from any 
considerations of profit, the study of the vegetative pro¬ 
cess affords greater pleasure than that of any other 
branch of natural science. But, if we can influence a 
seed so much, that, instead of growing up into a use¬ 
less, stinted stalk, fit only for the herbarium of a bota¬ 
nist, it shall spring up luxuriantly, and send forth such 
a profusion of stems as to form a little sheaf of corn ; 
or, expand its roots, which may be naturally hard and 
useless, into a large esculent mass, weighing many 
pounds; and, if we can do all this without knowing 
more than the means we have employed, might we not 
anticipate still greater and more wonderful effects, were 
we acquainted with the processes of the vegetable eco¬ 
nomy, by which such happy results were obtained ? We 
should then be able to know what it is in our culture 
that has aided, and if there be any thing in it that has 
obstructed the processes of nature. 
The importance of acquiring a certain knowledge of 
vegetable physiology cannot be pressed too much upon 
the attention of the cultivator. By means of selecting 
and improving the varieties of plants, the produce of 
our gardens and fields is not only increased in a ten-fold 
degree, but the quality of the produce is increased in a 
still greater proportion. The rose is the offspring of 
cultivation; the original plant, from which all our beau¬ 
tiful varieties have proceeded, is considered by bota¬ 
nists, to be the common wild brier. Our plums are cul¬ 
tivated descendants of the sloe; the delicious apples, 
whose species may be reckoned by hundreds, are the 
cultivated successors of the small, austere crabs ; and 
our cauliflowers, cabbages, and other esculent vegeta¬ 
bles, may be regarded as almost artificial products, so 
much has human skill had to do in their production.— 
Here the labor and assiduity of man are seen triumph¬ 
ing over the sterility of unassisted nature, and succeed¬ 
ing in bringing forth a race of beings calculated to sup¬ 
ply his wants in a manner that the original species ne¬ 
ver could have done. 
If the faculty of increasing the stores which Nature 
has already provided for his support, raises a man above 
the brute, that of adding new productions to those in 
existence, raises him above his fellow ; and few subjects 
of contemplation can be more gratifying, or more ele¬ 
vating to a reflective mind, than this power as it were 
of creation, granted to his intelligence and industry.— 
Nor is it necessary to its enjoyment, that we should be 
either botanists or natural philosophers; or that we 
should devote more than occasional leisure hours to the 
p ursuit. So boundless, indeed, is the scope which it affords 
for experiment, that it is in the power of any one, pos¬ 
sessed of the smallest garden, and the least acquaintance 
with the principles of culture, so to improve the quali¬ 
ties of its products, as to add something to the common 
stock; while the farmer, who will take the pains to mark 
the progress of his crops, and to select from them the 
most productive ears of corn, and the finest roots and 
grasses for seed, may, by perseverance in such a plan, 
not only acquire wealth for himself, but confer an ines¬ 
timable benefit on his country.— lb. 
The Rohan Potato. 
Some time ago we directed the attention of our rea¬ 
ders to a potato which the Prince of Rohan had intro¬ 
duced into culture in the neighborhood of Geneva, and 
which promised to yield very great returns. Since then 
it has received the attention of the agriculturists of Ger¬ 
many and France, who are not so much farmers as pro¬ 
prietors and scientific experimentalists, of whom there 
are many mere of the latter class on the Continent than 
in this country, where scientific men will scarcely con¬ 
descend to make experiments in the open fields. This 
potato has as yet attracted little or no attention in this 
country amongst farmers, and therefore we can give no 
account of any trials that may have been made of it 
here; but as it appears to yield large returns compared 
with many of the sorts in common cultivation, and 
though it seems a rather coarse potato for the table, it 
may prove useful in some districts for fattening live¬ 
stock. We shall communicate the latest intelligence in 
regard to the mode of its culture abroad on a small scale, 
no trials having yet been made in the open field. 
The first experiments we shall relate are those of Vis¬ 
count de Saint-Geniez, whose experience enables him to 
state that the Rohan potato is of a kind which has a 
strong tendency to grow above the ground, and, on that 
account, requires great earthing up all round about it, 
and, of course, it should only be set in ground deep 
enough to admit of earthing up. 
“ Towards the end of March of this year, 1837,” says 
the Viscount, “I chose a large square bed in my kitch¬ 
en-garden, equal to a good quarter of an arpent (1J ar- 
pent = 1 acre,) which was made fine without dung. I 
formed lines of holes, east and west, at 3 feet apart 
every way, of 6 inches in depth. I divided the ground 
into three portions, north and south, and, of course, all 
having the same exposure. I then placed the sets of 
potato cut diamond-shaped, having each from one to 
three eyes, (dried for thirty-six hours on the side of the 
trench) into the holes, and covered them up with three 
inches of earth. Four weeks after, the stems began to 
appear, and, in a few days, they were above ground, 
which obliged me to fill up the holes. The stems grow¬ 
ing tall, I tried this experiment with them: The first 
division was well earthed up all around, and a stout 
support placed at each mound of earth. The second 
was earthed up to the south, according to the advice of 
the Count de Turrenne, but had no supports. The 
third was cultivated as a kind of potato is cultivated at 
Roville, by that eminent agriculturist M. Dombasle, 
simply by letting the earth alone without earthing up 
and supports. 
“ I took up the potatoes on the 25th of November, and 
obtained these results: In the first division, with the 
plants earthed up all round, and with supports for the 
stems, which grew to the height of 6 feet, and the tu¬ 
bers weighing generally 4£ lb. 4 lb. 3 lb. and 2 lb. each, 
the crop weighed,. 548 lb. 
“ In the second division, earthed up on the 
south and without supports, the tubers weigh- 
ins 3 lb. 2 lb. and 1 lb. the crop was,. 364£ — 
“In the third division without earthing up, 
and the ground left without any care but that 
of weeding, the potatoes being smaller than 
any of the above, the crop was, .. 318 — 
Total produce,.1,230£ lb. 
“These 1230J lb. raised on a quarter of an arpent, 
were produced from 30 lb. of sets, which gives an in¬ 
crease of 40-fold, which might have been raised to 60-fold 
if I had not made experiments contrary to the nature of 
this new kind of potato.” 
The Viscount comes to the conclusion, from the ex¬ 
perience of the culture of the Rohan potato for two 
years, that earthing up largely is indispensable; that 
supports are necessary in a cold country, as a facility 
to the heat to penetrate to the tubers; but that supports 
are less necessary in a warm climate, as the creeping 
stems preserve the tubers from the great heat, and pre¬ 
vent, by their coolness, the mounds from cracking. It 
remains to be seen whether the same success will attend 
the culture of this potato in the open field, and earthed 
up with the plough, which the Viscount proposes to put 
to the proof.* 
The next experiments which we shall relate, are those 
made by M. Pergot, at Rudt near Port-sur-Soane.— 
They are also on a small scale, but M. Pergot proposes 
to try the field-culture in the ensuing year. 
“ On the 20th April, 1837,” says M. Pergot, “I plant¬ 
ed, in holes 6 inches in depth and 2 feet asunder every 
way, 37 lb. of tubers, divided into sets having one or 
two eyes, and covered over with three inches of 
earth. The soil was sandy, and the space covered was 
4.032 ares (an are being a square of 22 feet.) Three 
modes of culture were adopted ; the first was just to fill 
the holes with earth the two others suitably earthed up. 
On the same day I planted, in the same manner, 187 lb. 
in a light soil of medium quality, covering a surface of 
16.050 ares. They received the same culture as the pre¬ 
ceding, but only there were no props to the stems which 
being 5 or 6 feet in length, covered the ground. They 
all flowered, what I had not seen since I began their cul¬ 
ture three years ago. Yielding to the requests of seve¬ 
ral cultivators who adhere to erroneous practice, I plant¬ 
ed 12 tubers entire, of the thickness of a turkey egg, and 
they have given me the worse produce, the largest not 
weighing 2 lb. The fear of frost determined me on tak¬ 
ing up the crop on the 10th October, and I obtained 
from the first field,. 1,080 lb. 
from the second,. 12,810 —• 
In all,. 13,890 lb. 
or 62-fold. Most of the tubers weighed from 2 lb. to 5 
lb. It is highly probable that they would have attained 
greater bulk, if I had not taken them up so soon, and if 
the stems had not been damaged by the hail which fell 
in the month of August.”f 
* Le Cultivateur for January, 1833. 
f Id. for April, 1838. 
The peculiar result of these experiments seem to be, 
that the produce of 1080 lb. from 37 lb. of sets is only 29- 
fold, whereas the 12,810 lb. after 187 lb. of sets give 68 i 
fold the, average of the two being 48£ fold. The largest 
produce in these experiments was derived without sup¬ 
port to the stems, whereas the results of Viscount de 
Saint-Geniez’s experiments, given above, are quite the 
contrary. 
The experiments of Vis. Morel-Vinde in some respects 
confirm those of M. Pergot, in reference to the largest 
produce being obtained without props to the stems, in 
the ratio of 58 bushels to 63 bushels per 2 1-6 perches of 
22 feet square. Vis. Morel-Vinde, in the end of March, 
1837, put into a good and light soil, not recently dung¬ 
ed, labored with the spade, containing 26 perches, di¬ 
vided into 12 equal parts of 2 1-6 perches, sets of two 
eyes at two feet apart each way; and each division was 
cultivated in a somewhat different manner, varying in 
the matter of props, and the number of lioeings and 
earthings up. The result from the whole was 666 bush¬ 
els of potatoes from 26 perches of 22 feet square each ; 
and, as the sets filled 20 bushels, the produce was 33 
fold. A common kind of potato, yellow and round, and 
of less size, though more productive than others in its 
neighborhood, was planted at the same time with the 
Rohan ; and its produce, in the best circumstances, was 
only 250 bushels from the 26 perches, or 122-fold. 
The remarks of Vis. Morel-Vinde on the nature of the 
Rohan, are valuable, and, in perusing them, the best 
method of cultivating it may also be learned. 
“ 1. The Rohan potato,” he says, “keeps together its 
tubers round the foot of its stem, and this property per¬ 
mits its being earthed up as much as desired. 
“2. It produces its tubers so near the surface of the 
earth, that, without earthing up, many of them would 
show themselves above ground, assume a green color, 
and exhibit a great want of maturity. This property 
shows the absolute necessity of a large earthing up. 
“ 3. This potato has need of moisture being preserved 
around the foot of the stem, the elevated position of the 
tubers exposing them the more to drought. It is this 
property which renders it indispensable to allow its large 
leaves to remain on the ground for the sake of the shade 
afforded by them. 
“ 4. It carries flowers on almost all the stems, but it 
bears no apples, which may be explained from the cir¬ 
cumstance of the large size of the tubers. The tendency 
of the sap constantly towards the tubers absorbs the 
elements necessary to the formation of apples, and de¬ 
prives the plant of this mode of propagation. 
“5. To form and ripen the large tubers, it requires to 
be a long time in the earth. It ought thus to be the first 
planted and the last taken up. 
“ 6. I shall now speak of the quality of this potato, 
that varying according to the nature of the ground, and 
as often from different tastes; but at Celle Saint-Cloud 
I have subjected it to various cooking and culinary pro¬ 
cesses. I have had it tasted by great amateurs of the 
potato; and, if its quality is not superior to several fine 
and more succulent kinds, it is found at least to be of a 
good taste, sufficiently mealy, and superior to most of 
the kinds employed in feeding cattle or making starch.”* 
—Edinburgh Quarterly Jour, of Agriculture. 
Fattening of Swine. 
M. Bengtrapp mentions, in his work on the fattening 
of swine, several experiments which serve to shew the 
fattening powers of boiled carrots, potatoes, and some 
others. He brought up separately five couples of pigs, 
and obtained, after a certain length of time, the follow¬ 
ing results: 
Couples. Food. Increase of Weight. 
1st got 55 decalitres! ofpeas,. 
22 st. 
71b. 
2d “ 283 
C( 
balls of wheat, 
24 
3 
3d “ 96 
a 
buckwheat,... 
26 
10 
4th “ 98 
Li 
boiled potatoes, 
20 
4 
5th “ 175 
a 
boiled carrots, 
28 
2 
These results of the experiment are unsatisfactory; be¬ 
cause it is not mentioned whether the pigs were all of 
the same age and weight, nor is it stated whether the 
quantily of food marked in the table was as much as the 
pigs could consume. We have always believed that 
peas were the most nutritious food that could be given 
to pigs, and this experiment confirms the belief, as may 
be seen on comparing the relative increase of weight 
obtained from the various kinds of food : viz. 55 deca¬ 
litres of peas gave an increase of 22 stones 7 lb. or near¬ 
ly 6 lb. of increase of pork from 1 decalitre of peas ; 
whereas, from boiled carrots, 28 stones 2 lb. of increase 
were only obtained from 175 decalitres, or about 2i lb. 
from 1 decalitre, giving the advantage over the peas in 
the ratio of 2J: 1. The next most nourishing food is 
buckwheat, which nearly gives 4 lb. of pork from 1 de¬ 
calitre. Boiled potatoes are next, giving nearly 3 lb. of 
pork from 1 decalitre. And the lowest quantity of pork 
obtained was from the balls of wheat, which is as Jow as 
1 1-5 lb. from 1 decalitre. Flour would, no doubt, fat¬ 
ten better than wheat, especially if the feeds were made 
into small dry balls of dough and frequently administer¬ 
ed, but better still, if made into bread of flour ground 
overhead.— lb. 
Profit from Thorough-Draining. 
A farmer in Lanarkshire, whose name we are not at 
liberty to use, tried the effects of thorough-draining on 
a small field of four acres. T wo acres of this field were 
drained in every furrow, the subsoil being retentive, but 
* Le Cultivateur for March, 1838. 
t A decalitre is equal to 15 pints. 
