140 
Mat. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
will be white and spindly, completely drawn and good 
for nothing. By being in a garret or some such place, 
they burst strong. Let it not be supposed that if the 
eye should be broken off that the set is lost. If kept 
dry it will immediately throw out another sprout. Let 
any that may be skeptical on this point cut and pre¬ 
pare as above, and cut and plant the same day, as is 
the common practice, and note the result. I could 
prove in writing that the former would be the best, but 
it would be wasting time and paper. Practice is better 
than theory. 
To cut a potato to advantage, requires a little prac¬ 
tice. I here give directions how to do it, which by 
following you will soon be an adept. Hold your pota¬ 
to in your left hand ; cut the root end completely off, 
as the eye by the root should never be planted ; it only 
produces small and watery potatoes. Your next eye 
cut something like a half moon, observing not to cut 
through another eye ; then turn you potato, and you 
next eye will be angular, your next half moon, your 
next angular, and so on. Then the top of your potato 
(where there are a cluster of eyes,) will in general be 
flat, when properly cut; those you cut in single eyes, 
and you should be careful and keep all of those sepa¬ 
rate from your other cuts, as those should be planted 
by themselves, as they will ripen their tubers from a 
week to a fortnight earlier than the rest. I always 
have two sets of hands to cut them—one to cut off the 
tops and throw them by themselves, and the other to 
cut from that to the root end, reserving the top to be 
cut carefully for early use. This, to any one who re¬ 
quires early potatoes, will be an advantage. 
I send two '‘Prince Albert potatoes”—one whole 
and the other cut, so that if the editors wish to give a 
drawing of them,* it will be seen at glance what I 
„ mean. The whole one will show what the Prince Al¬ 
bert is, which I think would be acceptable, as so many 
want to know what the potato is in size, color, &c. It 
is no humbug, as all can assert who have grown it, 
and will, I think, yet be our principal potato, east, 
west, north and south. 
I have grown most of the potatoes at present in cul¬ 
tivation, and I said in my article last year that the 
Prince Albert potato was our best. It is suited to all 
our soils, and all say it does not rot. In a brief notice, 
from the “ N. Y. Tribune,” in a recent number of the 
“Country Gentleman,” (p. 154,) it is called an early 
potato. To all inquiries to me on this point, I could 
not answer, not having tried them as such, but I can 
say it is a good late one. The article in the Tribune 
gives a just description of our best potatoes, which cor¬ 
responds with descriptions I had sent to private wri¬ 
ters. 
Some may object to the present price of the Prince 
Albert potatoes, (although I have heard of none doing 
so,) but I can assure them that they are cheaper at 
twelve dollars a barrel than any other I know of would 
be at two dollars a barrel, for seed; at the same time 
I wish it to be distinctly understood, that I do not say 
this with the view of selling them. I could at present 
sell all that we have got to one individual at our adver¬ 
tised prices, but I shall give the readers of the “ Coun¬ 
try Gentleman ” the preference, for the reason that all 
the potatoes I send out are genuine. When I first got 
h them, I had six other varieties mixed with them. In 
< cutting, I sorted out as near as I could, and in digging 
in the fall of 1856,1 again sorted, and got them clean. 
Those who may purchase from unknown parties, should 
be careful in cutting and digging, to do as I did. 
As to flat culture and high earthing, both are best. 
It will be seen by my last year’s “ article,” that I grew 
them on a level surface without any earthing. This 
year I grew them in drills, well earthed up. If the 
advocates of both systems were to state how their land 
lay, flat or side-hill, heavy or light loam, then we could 
judge for ourselves, as to which system would be best 
suited to our individual soil; for instance, if I intend¬ 
ed growing potatoes on a low flat piece of land, not 
underdrained, and where the rains would lay, I should 
grow them in drills according to my last year’s prac¬ 
tice, (high drills ;) if I grew on side-hill, or on ground 
that I was sure the water would not lay on, I should 
grow them on the flat system, which, when applicable, 
I prefer. The quality of the soil you intend to grow 
on, must also be a guide to you as to the system you 
should adopt. If a very heavy loam, I should adopt 
the high drill system, as by it you pulverize the soil 
and make it mellow. A good crop can be got off soil 
of this description by the high drill system, whereas if 
the flat system were adopted on this heavy soil, you 
would not succeed in getting a fourth of a crop. If 
your soil is light, adopt the flat system; if you under¬ 
take the high drill system on light soil, our heavy rains 
will wash it down, and our tropical sun will burn your 
roots, and you have no crop, where, if you had grown 
on the flat system, you would have had a full crop. 
Use the roller freely on alight soil to compress it tight¬ 
ly, and on a heavy soil use your heavy and light har¬ 
row freely. Men, adopting a system from a written 
article, should fully understand that the same practice 
is applicable to their soil, and that a system which 
would be best for one field, should be reversed on 
another, thus adapting the system to the condition of 
the field. Out of this one thing proceeds most of the dif¬ 
ference of opinion as to which is best of the different 
systems. As to potato culture, the one-eye system is 
applicable to light and heavy soils. If there is any 
thing in this article that is not clearly understood, I 
shall willingly answer. Gerald Howatt. Newton , 
New-Jersey. 
-a- »- a- 
Liniment for Swellings on Animals. 
Eds Cult, and Co. Gent. —I noticed in the Dec. 
Cultivator, an inquiry from Mr. E. M. Guffin, Iowa, 
respecting a hard, callous swelling, which he says came 
on midway between the eye and nostril I purchas¬ 
ed a three year old colt two years ago, which had a 
swelling on the same place as described above, which 
was an objection among the horse buyers, who prized 
her $25 less, and feared to buy at all. I ventured to 
purchase, and apply what I thought might scatter it. 
The owner said it came on about a month before I 
bought her, but did not know the cause of it. I appli¬ 
ed the following liniment, and in less than three months 
the swelling disappeared wholly. I consider it the 
best liniment extant for swellings on man or beast. 
Apply once a day, and rub it briskly: 
Half an ounce spirits of hartshorn. 
One gill spirits turpentine. 
Half-pint sweet oil. 
One pint alcohol. 
Two ounces gum camphor. (Dissolve the cam¬ 
phor in the alcohol ) A. Willard, Jr. Hartford. 
