his fodder and set it up immediately , till it is however much they might be improved by cul 
icell cured, when it may be put in the barn and 
mixed with straw. He sometimes feeds his 
corn fodder to his stock when the feed is short 
in August. 
Superfluous plowing is not the only mistake 
of American farmers. W e frequently see ground 
that produces very little feed, and which needs 
to be well plowed and pulverized, and subdued, 
and then seeded down again, before the life of 
the land is gone by washing or cropping. The 
loss occasioned to American farmers by the 
practice of feeding just enough to make stock 
“hold their own,” is beyond all computation. 
Unless the animal is “ going ahead,” all that is 
fed to it is thrown away. This is the great 
and overshadowing error of our husbandry. 
FINE AND COARSE FOTATOES: 
WHICH ARE MOST PREDISPOSED TO TIIE DISEASE? 
tivation, while those with red ones were natu¬ 
rally of a mealy consistency. What is the 
cause of this? 
We generally classify potatoes either as good 
or bad, in proportion to the abundance or the 
deficiency of the farina which they contain.— 
Some varieties are naturally mealy, while others 
are as naturally soapy and waxy. Judicious 
culture, indeed, may greatly ameliorate inferior 
kinds; at the same time, the very best tubers 
may be deteriorated by injudicious cultivation, 
or by an undue application of sea weed, strong 
animal manures, &c. “We know,” says Lie-, 
big, “ that the quantity of starch in potatoes 
increases whan the soil contains much humus, 
but decreases when the soil is manured with 
strong animal manures; although then the 
number of the cells increases, the potato ac¬ 
quiring in the first case, a mealy, in the second 
a soapy consistency.” If you examine a potato 
closely, when cut into two or several pieces, 
(says a Scotch writer,) you will be able to an¬ 
alyze it into three distinct portions. Beneath 
the outer skin there is a finer envelop, varying 
in thickness, according to the kind and quali¬ 
ties of the tuber. This nether lining contains 
more farina, in equal quantities, than the inner 
part or heart of the potato. Inside, however, 
you find more juice, and nature in this way, has 
provided a double protection, against not only 
undue absorption, but the numerous causes 
tending to the hindrance of vegetable life.— 
The juices of vegetables subserve all the pur¬ 
poses of the blood in animals, and both are 
strong or weak, healthy or sickly, in proportion 
to the quantity and quality of the constantly 
circulating fluid which sustains life. Bad blood, 
as is well known, leads to bad breeding among 
the domestic animals, and it is the same with 
vegetables. The utmost care, therefore, should 
be taken, from first to last, to preserve the 
juice of tubers set aside for seed. 
In “highly elaborated and perfectly matured 
potatoes,” may there not be an undue propor¬ 
tion of starch over the mucilaginous, fibrous 
arid watery portions of the tuber? For altho’ 
nature intended the farina as a shield or pro¬ 
tection against undue absorption of the veget¬ 
able juice; yet, may not an excess of starch in 
the potato, like an excess of fat in the animal 
system (for there is a kind of analogy between 
them,) be viewed as an indication .of disease, 
rather than of sound health? Hence, many 
farmers experienced in potato-culture have in¬ 
sisted that those tubers raised for seed alone, 
should not only be late of being planted, but 
that they should be early lifted in order that 
they may be full of juice, to nourish the young 
bud, before its roots are capable of collecting 
sap from the ground. This practice may be 
repudiated by some, and we don’t advocate 
the system, but merely mention it in order to 
show the importance attached to a copious 
supply of the vegetable juices in seed tubers. 
Indcel every experimental cultivator must 
have observed that the nearer the cuts are ta¬ 
ken towards the extreme end of long potatoes, 
the better the crop will be, while the nearer 
the root or stem end, the sets bfacome propor¬ 
tionally inferior. The eye next the root is en¬ 
tirely worthless. Why is this? Probably be¬ 
cause there is a greater deposition of the veg¬ 
etable juice towards the depressed end. The 
watery end produces more vigorous plants, 
from the circumstance that from the greater 
abundance of sap it may impart greater energy 
of growth. Practical gardeners are aware of 
this, if farmers are ignorant of it, and frequently 
plant cuts taken only from what they some¬ 
times call the “ nose end," in order that they 
may not only raise a more vigorous, but an 
earlier produce. Cuts of this kind will pro¬ 
duce potatoes eight or ten days earlier than 
sets taken from the stem end. Now, it is well 
known that in potatoes, such as the Yam and 
Merino, the farina is less abundant than in 
finer varieties; hence, as we have formerly 
shown, from Liebig, a greater accumulation of 
the vegetable juice; and hence, also, the plants 
arising from them are more vigorous, and bet¬ 
ter enabled to resist the blight or disease. 
Whatever may be the true cause, the matter 
is indisputable, that the coarser the variety, or 
less farinaceous, the potato is less subject to 
disease, Another thing that may not be gen¬ 
erally known; potatoes yielding red blossoms 
are more subject to disease than those yielding 
white onea. I have observed that all tubers 
bearing white blossoms were naturally water)', 
In a former paper, I stated that it may be 
laid down as a general rule, that “the less 
farina a tuber contains, the more likely it is to 
escape the disease.” This I am convinced is 
the case, although at first sight it may not be 
apparent to every one. But as general rules, 
like axioms in mathematics, ought to be self- 
evident, the general rule may run thus, I hope, 
“ without gainsaying”—“ The coarser the va¬ 
riety, the potato is more likely to escape the 
disease." 
It is somewhat singular that the only sound 
ingredient in a diseased potato, wether frosted* 
or tainted, is the farina! I have extracted 
the farina, both from frosted and tainted tu¬ 
bers, not too much decomposed—and could 
perceive no difference, even with the aid of a 
microscope, from the starch obtained from 
sound roots. - Prof. Johnston, of Durham, by 
an analysis, carefully made, some years ago,- 
published his conviction, that farina obtained 
from diseased potatoes was perfectly sound and 
wholesome. In France, it may be worthy of 
notice, potato flour is manufactured in immense 
quantities, which with the addition of wheaten 
flour, is used by the French bakers and con¬ 
fectioners in making their admirable bread, 
biscuit, and confectionary. In the city of Pa¬ 
ris alone, it is stated on good authority, that 
one hundred tons of potatoes are annually 
manufactured into flour for the purpose. Thus 
a tainted crop of potatoes might be made to 
yield, to farmers, a good return in sound farina. 
J his article, whether extracted from sound or 
unsound roots, forms an excellent food for 
children and invalids, and may be made, as in 
France, into soups and gruels, or used as a 
substitute for tapioca, sago, or arrow-root 
N. Davidson Hkdrath. 
Agricultural |$isallamr. 
TILL LITTLE AND THAT LITTLE WELL. 
’Tis folly in the extreme to till 
Extensive fields and till them ill. 
The farmer, pleased, may boast aloud 
Ilia bushels sown, his acres plowed, 
And, pleased, indulge the cheerless hope 
That time will bring a plenteous crop. 
Shrewd common sense sits laughing by, 
And sees his hopes abortive die; 
For when maturing seasons smile. 
Thin sheaves shall disappoint his toil. 
Advised, this empty pride expel; 
Till little and that little well. 
Of taxing, fencing, toil, no more 
Your ground requires when rich than poor; 
And more one fertile acre yields 
Than the huge breadth of barren fields. 
“ SAVE ME FROM MY FRIENDS.” 
ONIONS,- A Gil IN. 
Lds. Rural: —In reference to the inquiry 
about onions, I offer the following:—They re¬ 
quire a deep, well pulverized soil, made rich 
with well settled stable manure and washings 
of the road which accumulate in the ditches, 
or sand, which is preferable if it, can be readily 
obtained. They seem to do better upon the 
same bed, for we have a bed 30 by 40 feet, 
which has been sowed to onions for 30 years, 
and the yield increases yearly. 
From the 20th of April to the 5th of May 
is the best season for sowing. We sow in 
drills one foot apart, and one and a half inches 
in depth. The seed requires some time to get 
minate, and it will be from two to four weeks 
before the onions will make their appearance; 
and as soon as we can trace the rriws, we pass 
between them with a hoe and cut up the weeds; 
and as soon as the onions will admit, we pull 
out the weeds, which must be kept down 
through the season if we expect a good crop 
of onions. The yield from our bed of onions 
has, for three years past, been 15 bushels per 
year. We prefer the yellow onion, because 
with us it sells most readily. 
1 he raising of onions, like all other branch¬ 
es of farming, requires close attention, and 
who but the attentive farmer can succeed in 
his avocation? w . B- 
Homer, N. Y., April, 1854. 
UNDERDRAINING WILL KILL O k UACK GRASS. 
Lds. Rural:— In the Rural a few years ago, 
I noticed that you, or some other person, ad¬ 
vised farmers to clear out at night and leave 
their farms, if overrun with quack grass. I 
carried the paper to one of my neighbors, who 
had a great quantity of quack grass on his 
farm, but in place of taking the advice of the 
Rural, I advised him to thoroughly underdrain 
a large field that was a complete mat with 
quack grass, in which he had then oats growing, 
but two-thirds of the crop was quack. Imme¬ 
diately after the crop of quack and oats were 
taken ofT, he drained the land in the most thor¬ 
ough manner; the next spring he plowed it for 
fallow, and worked it thoroughly all through 
summer and fall; sowed nothing in the fall; 
plowed early next spring, and sowed with oats. 
A better crop I never saw, and not a single 
stalk of quack. He has plowed and sown it 
this spring, and there is neither root nor branch 
of quack nor any other weed to be seen, and I 
doubt if in your sandy gardens about Roches¬ 
ter, you have ally in finer tilth. 
Did a farmer in the State of JYeio York, 
ever see quack grass on land that was dry? 
I never did, and I never saw wild mustard on 
land that was dry. John Johnston. 
Geneva, N. Y. 
A northern agricultural editor has written 
an article, with his signature, in the Southern 
Cultivator, (Georgia.) the apparent object of 
w hich is to show the superiority of slave-labor 
over that of 11 hirelings." He argues that 
African slavery descended from those Egypt¬ 
ians who sold themselves in the days of Pha¬ 
raoh, to buy corn—Egypt and Guinea, we pre 
sumo, being synonymous names for one and the 
same country, or else lying close together, like 
Rochester and Canandaigua! He gives us an 
anecdote, at length, about a free colored man 
in Rochester, who asked of him (and “not in 
vain ”) for bread for his family, because he 
could not find employment, and intimates that 
sla\es never have to ask for labor! He says in 
allusion to the necessity of mankind to labor, 
that “some will work for wages, but the ma¬ 
jority will not'—and then argues that this 
majority must be treated as a father treats “ an 
idle and refractory son,”—“ if he does his duty 
he flogs the lad, and makes him labor,” <.tc., 
from which we are to infer that the “majority’’ 
of laboring men are to be flogged into thei r 
duty! He thinks “ the plow, the hoe, and the 
whip,” are the best means to lift the laboring 
man from “the degradation of brutes, into the 
sympathies of civilized life.” What will the 
plowmen of Western New York think of this 
estimate of their occupation, by the editor of 
no other a pcriofdical than the Gene sec far¬ 
mer? What will our southern friends say to 
this argumentwm ad Jlagellum, in favor of 
slavery? They will hardly thank him for it 
MOWING. 
It may not, perhaps, be amiss to ofler a few 
remarks at this time, on the subject of mowing. 
'1 here are few employments in which the young 
farmer is called to engage, which more severe¬ 
ly task the physical powers, or which require a 
greater amount of skill and endurance than 
mowing. Yet every beginner is emulous of 
being the first, of carrying the forward swartb, 
and of being thought the best mower in the 
field. By the young, this emulation is always 
indulged, and it not unfrequently results, al¬ 
most as a matter of course, that serious inju¬ 
ries are experienced by the ambitious aspirant, 
which, without securing any solid advantages, 
render his existence wretched, and entail 'ex¬ 
pense and misery both upon himself and friends. 
those young men who contemplate farming 
as the future business of their life, should 
begin mowing, young. I have never yet known 
an expert master of the scythe, who commenced 
late. At the age of fourteen, the youth should 
be provided with a light scythe and snath, and 
put to work by himself. If introduced into a 
field with others who are older and more expe¬ 
rienced, he will be stimulated to over exertion, 
and lie rather disposed to excel in swiftness, 
than in cutting his grass well. If alone, this 
stimulus will be wanting, and he will rather 
take pride in performing the exercise with ease 
and neatness, than in being a “swift mower,” 
and will not be so likely to injure himself, or 
“ leave his wages in the field.” 
In mowing, there are two things of conse¬ 
quence to be observed. I refer to what is 
called “ pointing in,” and “ pointing out.” The 
first refers to the correct manner of entering 
the scythe, which should be so done, as to leave 
the grass on the edge of the swath, as square 
and even as the side of a drain, or ditch; and 
the latter, to the method of bringing it out— 
the. point of the scythe entering the grass at 
all times, at a uniform distance from the roots, 
should tie carried round on a level, the heel 
dropped so as to make level work, without any 
“comings ’ between the strokes, and come out 
on an exact level with the previous swath. 
I he swath should be long enough to allow of 
the operator standing erect; for the more near¬ 
ly the position of the body, in this exercise, ap¬ 
proximates a perpendicular, the less will be the 
fatigue, and the greater the facility of execu¬ 
tion. No good mower ever stoops, unless the 
habit, which is a pernick us one, lias been ac¬ 
quired young.— An Old Mower, Germantown 
Telegraph. 
FARMS IMPROVED*BY KEEFING SHEEP. 
Citizens of wool growing districts, as parts 
0 ... MhiHgton and Fayette counties, are fa¬ 
miliar with the rapid improvement of « Sheep- 
farms, by sheep grazing alone. It is the belief 
or many whose opinions have been formed by 
observations and experience, that by placing as 
large a flock of sheep on a poor farm as the 
land will sustain, and in five years, without any 
other means, it will be comparatively rich._ 
, ere this fact more generally known, it might 
c iange the husbandry of considerable portions 
of this State, the lands of which are better 
adapted to wool growing, than grain growing, 
to say nothing of the remoteness from produce 
markets. . The following quotations from the 
lansactions of the Norfolk Agricultural Soci¬ 
ety, which we find in the Wool Grower, are 
worthy of consideration: 
“A man having a small farm, formerly kept 
forty sheep, four cows and one horse, and had 
food enough for them the year round. The 
puce of wool falling, lie sold his sheep, and for 
a number of years he kept other stock altogeth¬ 
er. He now keeps but three cows, one horse 
flic year round, and pastures two cows extra 
through the summer, sells very little hay—not 
ball enough to keep another cow; he has the 
same amount of pasture and mowing land as 
when he kept the forty sheep in addition to his 
otner stock, and yet his farm does not look near 
as well as then. He used to raise turnips 
among the corn for his sheep to eat in winter 
and gave them besides, a few bushels of grain! 
Ihe lambs, however, more than paid for his 
extra feed. 
REMEDY FOR THE POTATO ROT. 
An Exhibition of Horses will take place at 
Providence, Rhode Island, on June 21st and 
22d, under the auspices of the Rhode Island 
Society for the Encouragement of Domestic 
1 ndustry. On the 20th and 21st of June, there 
will be a Horticultural exhibition, and a show 
ol Mowing Machines and other agricultural 
implements. Proprietors of mowing machines 
are invited to display them in operation on the 
20 th of June, on ground selected for the pur¬ 
pose. Expense of transportation to Provi¬ 
dence will be paid. For further particulars 
address S. II. Smith, Providence, R. I. 
Wind-Mills for Pumping Water.— A cor¬ 
respondent of the Ohio Tanner, writing from 
Illinois says there are several wind-mills for 
pumping purposes, in successful operation on 
Sturges Prairie. The “ mills are not very ex¬ 
pensive.” We should be pleased to receive a 
description of them from some of our subscri¬ 
bers in that vicinity. 
RAISING CALVES —A NEW METHOD. 
1 rofitable IIens.— Mr. E. K. Mokley, of 
this place, has twenty-seven pullets that have 
laid fifty-two dozen of eggs in four months, 
from the first of November last to the first of 
March. Beat this who can. The breed is 
natives crossed with Shanghais; their feed, oat 
screenings and corn, all they would eat. They 
had no underground room with a stove in it, 
but roosted out-doors under a shed. 
Lvsander, N. Y., April 25, 1864. A. EATON. 
While on a short visit to the farm of Mr. 
D. M. Crowell, of this town, a few days ago, 
our attention was drawn to a plan of raising 
calves for early sale, which, to us in this section 
ot the country, has the appearance of novelty, 
and seems worthy of the consideration of stock 
growers. 
Mr. Crowell took his calves (all heifers) 
last spring, and commenced feeding on sour 
milk at a few days old, keeping them on the 
same kind of food during the summer, taking 
good care to feed them uniformly, but not very 
abundantly, so as to keep them growing thick¬ 
ly, without forcing them too rapidly. Jn the 
fall they were put in the stables, and ted on 
hay, and a little meal, increasing the quantity 
of the latter gradually, with a view of fitting 
them lor “ Beef,” in the Spring, at one year 
old or a little under. 
r l hese ten calves look like young oxen, and 
are estimated to weigh about 300 pounds each, 
alive. They will probably be sent to market 
soon, say next month, when we shall see how 
such “ Bed ” will sell, and it will be relished by 
the lovers of good eating. For ourselves we 
should hardly find it in our hearts to decline a 
dinner from one of the best ot them. We un¬ 
derstood from Mr. C., who is making this trial 
by way of experiment, that he is quite satisfied 
thus far with the present attempt to raise Beef 
in one year, and that he intends to renew the 
experiment another year, when he thinks some 
improvement can be made.— JY. Y. Farmer. 
Permit me to state an experiment which I 
made for three successive years, obtaining each 
year corresponding results. It was simply this: 
Two'square boxes, four feet each way, and two 
deep, were tilled with very fine rich dirt, the 
dirt first being well mixed up, and then the 
boxes tilled Irom it. The boxes were placed in 
a very warm situation; the one raised a few 
inches from the ground, and the other elevated 
two or three feet on upright sticks, which were 
kept well coated with tar during the season, 
ami which had the effect of keeping the bugs 
from the box. Around the sides of the box 
was a sort ot lattice work, to prevent the vines 
from dropping over the sides. Against the 
sides of the other box was raised a bank, near¬ 
ly level with the top of the box. 
In each of these boxes were planted each 
year four hills of potatoes—the white pink eyes, 
b our large potatoes were halved, each box re 
ceiving the halt ot each potato. During the 
season the potatoes in these boxes were kept 
well watered, receiving equal quantities of the 
fluid. The result was invariably this:—The 
vines in the box from which the bugs had been 
excluded, remained green till the frost came.— 
exhibiting no symptoms of the blight. The 
potatoes when dug, were large and perfectly 
sound, and remained so till the next summer. 
In the oilier box, where the vines were some¬ 
times with potato insects and bugs, the tops 
were dead by the first ot August. When the 
potatoes were dug, those in the latter box were 
nearly all rotten, and not half the size of those 
in the other box. Will you explain this phe¬ 
nomenon on any other principle than that of the 
insect theory? 
1 o the fanner, I would say, procure those 
kinds of potatoes which have the greatest 
celebrity tor resisting the ravages of the bims. 
Dout plant in very rich or warm places. Plant 
early, and dig before the wet weather sets in in 
the tail. And by all means keep the potatoes 
dry and warm, after they are taken out of the 
ground. — Tribune. 
“ Another farmer for a great number of years 
kept about sixty sheep, eight or nine cows, (or 
othei slock equal,) one pair of oxen and one 
horse. After keeping the sheep for a number 
ol years, he found he could then keep as laro-e 
a stock on his farm with the sixty sheep, as he 
could keep without, them before; showiim that 
they had improved the farm to furnisiAheir 
own support. To stock a farm entirely with 
sheep, would not be so profitable as to keep a 
limited number — yet it would pay as well as 
other stock. The object is to keep enough to 
consume that part of the vegetation peculiarly 
fatted to sheep, and which other stock will not 
eat, adding at the same time enriching elements 
to the pastures and yards by their manure. It 
is the opinion of many farmers, that pastures 
for other stock may be improved by keeping a 
small flock of sheep upon them a portion of The 
time, and the opinion seems fairly supported by 
i cason and experiment .”—Farm Journal. 
FIELD DEANS A PROFITABLE CROP. 
In our own experience we have found no 
crop more profitable, than the common white 
It requires little more care than corn: 
bean. 
Sheer-shearing Festival in Wisconsin.— 
Ihe Wisconsin State Ag. Society, with a view 
to promoting the interests of sheep husbandry 
in that State, have instituted an annual “ Sheep¬ 
shearing Festival.” The first of these festivals 
is to be held at Whitewater, on the 31st iust. 
Sir John Sinclair says that agriculture, 
though in general capable of being reduced to 
simple principles, yet requires on the whole, a 
greater variety of knowledge than any other 
art " 
on the right kind ol soil it is quite productive; 
and almost always finds a ready market at. high 
prices. There is no product of the soil which 
contains as much nourishment, pound for pound, 
as t his. 'The straw makes excellent winter feed 
for sheep. We have found the smaller kinds to 
be superior to those of a larger size. 
Beans require a dry, warm soil. We have 
raised them where it was so dry and sandy that 
scarcely anything else would grow. Our best 
bean crops have been upon a thin sandy soil, so 
tilled with stones that it was exceedingly diffi¬ 
cult to plow it at all; and where the earth over 
the limestone rocks was nowhere more than 
four inches deep. One acre ol such ground we 
planted with common white beans for ten years 
successively, and never failed of getting a remu¬ 
nerative crop, and often had a very profitable 
one. I his plot was plowed, planted, and hoed, 
at odd spells, when it was so wet that no other 
ground could be worked .—American Ag'isl. 
State Poultry Fair.—A t a meeting of the 
Managers of the State Poultry Society in Uti¬ 
ca, on Friday week, it was decided to hold the 
next Fair of the Society in that city some time 
in November. Messrs. Sherman, Botch, Hud¬ 
son and Uefiron were appointed a committee 
to prepare a premium list and make ail further 
arrangements. 
Working Oxen.— Cattle need especial at¬ 
tention at Ibis season. Oxen must have good 
hav and a little meal to enable them to do a 
day’s work, and cows must have more attention 
at the time of calving than at any season of the 
year. . A little grain or meal of some kind is 
the thing rather than roots, at the time when 
they have a good flow of milk. One quart of 
the best meal to each per day will not be inju¬ 
rious till the first of June. After that there 
will be substance enough in the pastures to sus¬ 
tain them. 
1 he Tallest Yet.—Mr. J. Bonner, of Low¬ 
ell, writes to the Lowell News, that while on a 
visit to Andover, he saw a stalk of corn nine- 
tecn feel high, and it had fourteen ears of 
corn on it. 
Inquiries aitir guistuers. 
inter Kill. —As a subscriber to your most 
valuable journal, I propose making a few in¬ 
quiries—what can be done to prevent “ freezing 
out” in the winter season? If there is any 
diaw back ” upon the agricultural business in 
this section of the country, it is the uncertainty 
of winter crops. Having undertaken to reclaim 
what you term a “worn out farm,” I wish to 
overcome every difficulty in the shortest period 
of time. By the use of lime, manure and deep 
plowing, I have entirely changed the nature of 
my soil, which is sandy clay or loam mixed._ 
M y clover, which took well, continues to freeze 
out in the winter—can you suggest a remedy? 
winter wheat and rye have continued to 
be injured from the same cause, although the 
ground does not appear to be sprouty or wet, 
being somewhat elevated and rolling. I have 
underdrained where troubled with water; tiio* 
dry, still the rye sowed upon it “ freezes out.” 
—G. W. Young man, Williamsport, Pa. 
Though apparently dry, your land may still 
contain stagnant water. Elevated and rolling 
land frequently needs underdraining more than 
low land. Perhaps this is the case with your 
farm. We do not see why wheat should fieeze 
out on a loamy soil that is well uuderdrained 
or free from all superfluous moisture. We 
hope our correspondents will give their expe¬ 
rience on the subject. 
Is Baui.ky good for Ewes?— About the first 
of the present month my ewes commenced drop¬ 
ping their lambs, but none lived, their dams 
having no milk to support them with. They 
ad been fed on barley with pasture until the 
snow storm came on, when they were again 
taken into the yard for three or four days, when 
they were again taken out to pasture, and about 
this time the barley was changed for corn, since 
which they appear to supply their young with 
milk, and scarcely any are now lost. How 
what 1 wish to know is, it you or any of your 
numerous correspondents can fell me if it was 
the effects of the bai ley or the storm that dried 
up the milk of the ewes, and caused the iambs 
to be so much weaker than usual when they 
were dropped. 
1 find many valuable hints amt much instruc¬ 
tion in both the Riiual and Wool Grower._ 
lie latter, 1 think, saved me many dollars on 
ny clip ot wool last year.— A Shlscrhier, York , 
May 10/A, JS54. 
