1858 . 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
189 
feed ; and nothing but bad feeding, want of air or 
cleanliness, makes sheep, cattle, or horses, lousy. If 
men would always do by their stock as they would wish 
to be done by if they were in their place, we would 
hear no more inquiries as to what will “kill ticks on 
sheep, or lice on cattle or horses. John Johnston. 
- • - 
Cure for Stretches in Sheep. 
Messrs. Tucker & Son —I noticed in your last Cul¬ 
tivator, a communication fromS. Cone, headed “Cure 
for Stretches in Sheep.” He says “ cut their throats, and 
take off their pelts,” &c. Some years ago my sheep took 
a complaint, that I called the stretches, having never 
seen or heard of the like before. Whether it was the 
proper stretches or the belly-ache, I know not; but 
one thing is certain, I lost quite a number with it be¬ 
fore I could obtain a remedy. One day in conversa¬ 
tion with a brother-in-law, knowing that he kept quite 
a number of sheep, I asked him if his sheep ever had 
the stretches, to which he replied in the affirmative, 
and said that they had always died. A little daughter 
of his, standing by, spoke up and said, “ why no, fa¬ 
ther, that winter when you and mother were gone to 
Ohio, there were a number that had it. Rice (his little 
brother) and I gave them red pepper tea, and cured 
every one that took it.” I had tried quite a number 
of remedies to no effect, but I thought I would try 
the pepper on the next one taken with it, which I did, 
and I have not lost one since. My method is to take 
two or three pods, put them in a pint tin cup, pour on 
boiling water, and let it stand on the stove until well 
steeped, and then set away to cool. Take a common 
tunnel, put the small end in the speep’s mouth, and 
hold up its head so that it will run down. If the sheep 
should commence to cough, stop until it quits and re¬ 
covers its breath. If taken at the commencement, one 
dose generally suffices. If in the space of half a day 
or so, the symptoms did not abate, I should repeat the 
dose. A. Gr. Webster. Union Mills, Ind. 
-BHl-O- 
Culture of the Potato. 
THE ONE-EYE SYSTEM. 
Messrs. Editors —My article on potato culture, in 
the present volume, (page 11) has caused a great many 
inquiries to me by letter, all of which I have cheerful¬ 
ly answered; but to all inquiries I could not go into 
detail, as it would occupy my whole time to do so. I 
shall now explain all that may have been omitted in 
that article. My reason for not going more into par¬ 
ticulars, was that I had last year (vol. 9, p. 394 and 
411,) written an article on the one-eye system, which 
I published to contradict a statement made in a pre¬ 
vious number that “ cut potatoes ” would not do, and 
that all who wanted good potatoes should plant a potato 
weighing so many ounces. This rather touched me, 
and I gave my practice. Had it not been for that ar¬ 
ticle, I should not have thought mine worth publish¬ 
ing, thinking that my system was too well known to be 
written about. As it is, I am glad that I have been 
the means of introducing a good system into practice, 
which will yet be the rule and not the exception. It 
is an economical as well as a better system, which will 
be more generally admitted when tried. Of course to 
men who raise potatoes to sell for planting as a busi¬ 
ness, it is an object to get buyers to take the largest 
quantity for that purpose, but instead of a man having 
to buy eighteen bushels of potatoes to plant an acre, 
by the one-eye system six bushels will sufficiently an¬ 
swer his purpose, and give him a better yield ; and 
when a man raises a really good fruit or vegetable, he 
can sell it faster than his supply, even by giving to the 
buyers the most economical way of raising it. 
I have been asked “why” I adopted the one-eye 
system. I had at one time a field of early potatoes, 
when at the latter end of May we had a very severe 
frost, at which time my potato stems were four and 
five inches high. The sets were cut three eyes to each ; 
the frost cut them completely off; I then concluded 
to sow with turnips. In ten days afterwards one stem 
appeared to each set, and quite regularly in the drills ; 
I then determined to let them remain and see the re¬ 
sult, and I found them when digging, to be the best 
crop I had ever raised. This was conclusive evidence 
to me that one eye was better than three ; and the po¬ 
tatoes were of a much evener size than any I had ever 
grown. Since then I have grown altogether on the 
one-eye system on all ^oils. It will be seen that I 
have taken premiums on my potatoes at other Societies 
than ours, by reference to last year’s article. It has 
been said that our land is suited to the potato, and so 
my fine crops. Such is not the case. Ours is not a 
potato soil, and as to a fine crop, I do not consider it 
such. I have seen land in this and other States, on 
which I could double it. I shall not be surprised to 
hear of some of your readers turning out next fall four 
hundred bushels of “Prince Albert potatoes” to the 
acre, on the one-eye system; but then if they wish 
this, they must make up their minds whether they in¬ 
tend growing weeds or potatoes. To grow potatoes 
well, you must not let a weed be seen. Keep your 
ground stirred ; harrow, plow and cultivate until they 
come into bloom ; then use no tools among them. If 
you keep them properly cultivated up to that time, 
they will not require hand weeding when in this stage ; 
if you do not do this, you need not expect a paying 
crop. This is also an important point, as at this stage 
the tubers set, and by working them you deteriorate 
their growth materially. 
My object in cutting the potato (explained in last 
year’s article,) a month before planting, and mixing 
with hot lime, is to dry up the cuts, which it will do, 
and shrivel them completely up, (a good sign.) When 
planted, they immediately start to grow, and you will 
see your eye bursting a nice blue top. The set being 
completely dry, there is no danger of their rotting in 
the ground; whereas if put in the ground as soon as 
cut, they lay dormant-until this cut heals, and if wet 
weather, they are liable to rot. Another reason: Be¬ 
fore planting you see your eyes bursting, and you need 
plant only such as are good. You will then have no 
vacancies in your drills. By cutting so far ahead, you 
set them earlier, as the moment you cut them is like 
planting them ; they commence growing the moment 
you mix them with lime ; whereas if planted at that 
time, the ground being cold and wet, they would be 
likely to rot. When you have them cut, you need not 
care being a week behind or before in planting. One 
thing must be observed when they are cut, that is, 
they must not be put into a dark hot cellar. Place 
them where they will have plenty of light, and if there 
is any danger of frost at night, cover them over, (re- 
I moving in day time.) If placed in a cellar, they com- 
l mence to burst their eyes, and not having light they 
