838 
Nov. 
TIIE CULTIVATOR. 
tity as can be profitable, an oftener application being 
made Magnesia or “hot” lime, from its caustic na¬ 
ture, should not be applied in larger quantities than 
50 bushels per acre. In England, where an applica¬ 
tion sometimes lasts nineteen years, it is more copious¬ 
ly applied than where the dressings are more frequent. 
Strong soils will bear more than thin ones j and in all 
cases manure should be given to the land, unless na¬ 
turally very fertile. 
(4 ) A manure like this, which cannot evaporate, 
may be applied at any convenient time, favorable for 
its diffusion with the soil. If for wheat, it may be 
spread and harrowed in when the wheat is sown and 
a similar treatment may be adopted with spring crops. 
One requisite only, is important, namely, that it be 
finely powdered when spread, for if in lumps, it can be 
of little use until it becomes intermixed by years of 
cultivation. If slacked to ioe powder, it may be spread 
from a moving wagon with a small scoop-shovel, a mild 
breeze blowing from the operator; or it may be applied 
by means of a broadcast sowing-machine. It is a com¬ 
mon opinion that caustic or water-slacked lime is better 
than miid or air-slacked;; but this opinion seems to be 
erroneous* for caustic lime is rendered mild in a very 
few days by exposure, while the benefit of the lime as 
manure lasts for years. Indeed, many or most of the 
opinions in relation to its operation, appear to be mere 
notions, and there is little that is fully established, ex¬ 
cept it often proved very beneficial, more frequently 
but slightly so,, and sometimes not at all. 
(5 ) No difference, so far as the lime itself is con¬ 
cerned-foreign substances may variously affect the 
results. 
-a-*-an- 
The Potato Rot—Chinese Yam or Dicscorea. 
Messrs. Editors —On Thursday and Friday, 9th 
and 10th inst., I took an excursion over a portion of 
Merrimack Co., N. H. In every direction the potato 
tops were blackened and dead, as if they had been 
visited with a heavy frost. I made particular inqui¬ 
ries of great numbers of farmers in reference to the 
potato rot, and at that time it had scarcely made its 
appearance in any place. Thursday and Friday were 
excessively warm; Saturday it rained all day. With¬ 
in three days from this it was found the potatoes on 
every hand, and of nearly every variety, were rotting 
badly, the Chenangoes suffering the most I planted 
a patch very early, which we have been using daily 
for the table for a number of weeks. Up to last Sat¬ 
urday we bad not found a diseased potato. Yesterday 
(15th Sept.) dug several bushels—full one-third part 
are diseased. It is now (Thursday) raining bard, and 
the probability is that it will increase the evil. 
Was it the hot weather of the past week, or the rain, 
or both, that has so suddenly brought destruction up¬ 
on our potatoes ? or is the insect, described by Mr- 
Henderson of Buffalo, the cause of it? or is it caused 
by 1 electricity/ as contended by Edward Mason of 
Detroit, in Co. Gent, of 29th July ? or is the cause of 
the potato rot, like that of the Asiatic Cholera, still 
enshrouded in a mystery “ past finding out.” 
The Chinese Tam .—From the account of the Chi¬ 
nese Yam, as published in the Patent Office Report,. 
1854, and the confident assertions of its great value, 
scattered broadcast in pamphlet form all over the 
country by Mr. Prince of Flushing., L. I, I entertain¬ 
ed great hopes that thi3 H esculent, stamped by the 
Creator with pre-eminence over every other by its 
azote and albumen,” might in a great degree take the 
place of the now precarious potato, and I early took 
means to procure some of the seed or sets. I have now 
for the three past seasons experimented in its culture, 
and the result of my experience in the matter, is that 
the Chinese Yam, as a food-producing plant, is worth¬ 
less in this section of the country. 
I shall not call the thing a humbug, nor the venders 
of it swindlers $ that might all be wrong—at any rate 
it would be impolite ;. but there is some mistake about 
the thing—a screw loose somewhere. Only think of 
plowing or spading up a good soil to the depth of two 
feet, and then planting, hoeing, &c , as for the potato 
crop at harvest, with a spade digging for every tuber 
a post hole eighteen inches deep, and for aB this la¬ 
bor getting once in eighteen inches a tuber, in the 
largest part, perhaps, fFora one to two inches through, 
and only some three inches of it large enough to cook, 
the balance of it tapering off like the tail of a targe 
rat I can do better in growing Chenango potatoes, 
even if three fourths of them, rot, than I can in raising 
the Dioscorea. 
In a “ Supplementary Catalogue” for 1858-9— just 
received from Mr. Prince, he says, “ this- most valua¬ 
ble, nutritious and productive of all esculents, is now 
under successful culture by more than 1,000 persons ” 
If so, I sincerely hope they may be more successful in 
its culture than has been your humble servant. L. 
Bartlett. September 16> 1858. 
Dr. Farley’s Yineyard at Union Springs. 
One of the finest young vineyards in the country is 
that of Dr. Farley, at Union Springs, N. Y., about a 
mile and a half above the village. Its locality is beau¬ 
tiful and picturesque, on a peninsula projecting into 
Cayuga Lake, and surrounded on three sides by water. 
The shores of this peninsula are lined with belts of 
; of trees, which afford a valuable protection from the 
winds, and add to the beauty of the place. 
There are about six acres covered with the bearing 
vines, and two more acres occupied with a younger 
growth. The vines are trained on wire trellis, sup¬ 
ported by cedar posts—the lines of trellis being eight 
. feet apart, and the vines are planted at twelve feet dis¬ 
tance in the rows. A less distance is found not to. an¬ 
swer well, as the Isabella grape, which constitutes 
most of the plantation, will not bear cutting back with¬ 
out injury, to confine it within narrower bounds. The 
Catawba will bear different treatment, and closer 
pruning. The vines were trained with much neatness 
to the supports, and a finer and more luxuriant pic¬ 
ture could be scarcely conceived, than that presented 
by the many long and regular lines of massive foliage, 
half concealing the rich purple bloom-dusted clusters 
hanging beneath. We measured some of the single 
berries nine-Sentlis of an inch in diameter—eight- 
tenths was a frequent size. The vines are four years 
from planting, and yielded last year a ton and a half 
of grapes, and this year the crop is estimated at seven 
or eight tons. Last year’s crop sold for 15. cents per 
pound, and about the same is offered the present year- 
This fine growth and great success are not the re¬ 
sult of luck. The soil, naturally strong and produc- 
