May 16—Ground plowed for potatoes. 
May 18—Ground harrowed both ways. 
May 19—Opened drills, thirty inches apart and from 
six to eight inches deep. 
May 22—Prince Albert potatoes, set in drills twelve 
inches apart. As we dropped the sets the plow follow¬ 
ed and covered to the same depth as wo opened them. 
In this way we left them until the 5th of June, when 
I run the Scotch harrow both ways, until the ground 
was level. 
June 12—Potato stems showing above ground, and 
ground very weedy—harrowed both ways to kill weeds. 
June 16—Prince Alberts three inches aboveground, 
plowed them same as we opened the drills, (with two 
mules,) completely covering the stems; running light 
at one side of stems, and on the opposite side to the 
full depth of the plow, covering them the same depth 
as they were planted. Then harrowed both ways, 
leaving all again level. This takes out all weeds, and 
gives the plants a good start. 
June 30—Earthed up potatoes with same plow as we 
opened drills with, and with but one mule; run along 
one side close to the stem, so that the mould lays them 
(stems) nearly flat; next plowing run same way, on 
opposite side of stem. 
July 9—Earthed up on the above mentioned side. 
July 27—Plowed both sides of drills with light corn 
plow, to kill all weeds. This was their last working. 
It will be seen there is no hand work done on them, 
except dropping the sets. 
Sept. 2.—Stems commenced to wither; examined and 
found no disease. Selected out the greenest and ri¬ 
pest stems (12 of each ;) dug them and let them lie 
on the surface to see if that would disease them. 
Sept. 18—Examined all the potatoes carefully that 
were left on the surface on the 2d, and found all per¬ 
fectly sound. 
Sept. 22—Commenced to dig Prince Albert pota¬ 
toes by running a one horse plow close to the stems, 
throwing the mould to the center, then following with 
the garden spade and digging them. 
Dug Gibson’s Seedling potato, which were three 
parts diseased. Some Prince Alberts were planted 
with those, (next rows,) and none of the Prince .Al¬ 
berts have diseased, which proves in this case that po¬ 
tato disease is not contagious. 
We were offered for these potatoes on the ground for 
the New-York market, one dollar a bushel. We have 
been selling them for four dollars and fitty cents per 
barrel for planting. 
The whole cost of cultivating the above acre on this 
system, is eighteen dollars and forty-one cents. 
Five and a half bushels of potatoes for sets, at the 
price we sold them at last spring, $1.50 per bushel, 
would be $8.25. 
Total cost of labor and sets, $26.66. Gerald How- 
Att. Neicton, New-Jersey, Dec., 1857. 
-o—©—•- 
How to Make Court Plaster. 
Strain a piece of black silk on a frame, and brush it 
over with a solution of one ounce of isinglass in 12ozs. 
of proof spirit, and mix two ounces of tincture benzoin 
(Turlington’s Balsam) with it. When dry, repeat the 
process four or five times, finishing off with a coat of 
tincture black balsam of Peru. For a cheaper kind 
use common glue instead of isinglass. 
Barberry for Hedges. 
Messrs. Editors —Will you, or any of your subscri¬ 
bers, advise as to the utility and practicability of the 
cultivation of the Barberry bush for hedge. It is indi¬ 
genous with us,and may be seen scattered over this part 
of the country,thriving by the side of old walls and fences 
—hardy—and susceptible of being trimmed symmetri¬ 
cally, and would seem to be admirably adapted to culti¬ 
vation for hedge. Under proper cultivation it would 
be strong, and I should judge durable, and when in 
flower highly orna mental, with its dense and deep green 
foliage—while the berries are not only gorgeous in color, 
but a valuable luxury for the table ; for the latter pur¬ 
pose alone it would almost seem warrantable to culti¬ 
vate it. It is quite probable it may be cultivated from 
slips, though more likely the better way would be from 
seeds. Any information upon the subject would be a 
great public benefit, as well as satisfaction to J. H. C. 
Valley Falls, R. 1. 
We should be glad to see a trial made with the bar¬ 
berry for hedges. It would probably require several 
years for it to become stout enough—probably at least 
twice as long as the Osage Orange. It grows naturally 
very thick, with numerous stems, and the only shear¬ 
ing needed would perhaps be narrowing the top, so as 
to prevent the bottom from becoming open. For this 
purpose, it would have to be propagated exclusively by 
seed, as it scarcely grows from cuttings, and slowly by 
division. Its numerous prickles are too small to afford 
much protection against cattle, but would be efficient 
against smaller intruders. The only question of its 
success appears to be in relation to its height and stout¬ 
ness, and its forming one even uniform hedge 
-«-• ♦- 
Culture of the Potato. 
Messrs. Editors —I saw several remarks in your 
last number, as regards the cultivation of potatoes, by 
J. C. Cleveland, which I have no doubt will be of 
great interest to many of our farmers, although I 
have never tried salt as a fertilizer. My plan has 
been for the last eight years, to change my seed as 
often as once in every two years, even if I plant the 
same sort. I have for the last six years taken the 
trouble to send from 75 to 150 miles for my seed, and 
think that I have been paid for it in a tenfold propor¬ 
tion. The sorts that I have been most successful with 
are the Prince Albert or white Napoleon, the Irish 
lumpers and the Peach Blows. These three kinds never 
have showed any symptoms of the blight in this sec¬ 
tion of the country, while many of my neighbors have 
kept their old sorts, and have lost all or nearly all, the 
two past seasons. I planted in May last, 240 rods of 
ground with white Napoleans, and gathered over three 
hundred and seventy-five bushels in October last, as 
nice potatoes as ever any man need look at. They are 
admired by all; they are very white and smooth; 
many of them measured from eight to ten and a half 
inches in length ; the tops all remained in a perfect 
state of health until they were cut off by the frost. 
The tops on the Peach-blow do the same. 
My plan of cultivation is to take stalk ground, or else 
plow it in the fall. I generally select the smallest ones 
that I raise for my own use to plant—cut each potato, 
be it ever so small. I seldom ever use over four and 
a half or five bushels of seed to the acre. 
Method of Cultivation .—I generally use about 20 
loads of coarse straw manure to the acre—spread and 
plow in—then plant my seed three by three and a half 
feet apart; when the plants begin to show themselves 
use a top dressing of hen manure, plaster of Paris and 
leached ashes, mixed together, a full hand to the hill, 
which I have found to be a great benefit to me. G. 
1 McMahon. New Milford, Ct. 
