S846. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
59 
Dr. Dana, in his Muck Manual, tells us, the soil of an 
acre of land six inches deep, will afford 6,726 pounds o! 
lime, and 73,311 pounds of potash—lime enough for an 
annual crop of rye for 7,400 years, and potash enough 
for the straw of annual crops of wheat for 3,000 years. 
Now this may be all correct; but farmers think they 
find it for their interest in applying both ashes and lime 
to their soils. In the year 1844, I prepared a large 
quantity of soluble silica in a compost heap, for the pur¬ 
pose of testing its use. When I commenced writing 
this article I intended to have given the process and 
result; but the unconscionable length of this, must be 
my apology for resting the question here for the pre¬ 
sent. Yours, &c., L. B. 
Warner, N. H., Jan . 8, 1846. 
CULTURE OF POTATOES. 
L. Tucker, Esq. —In the last number of the Cultiva¬ 
tor, you expressed a wish that I should give a particu¬ 
lar account of the process of culture by which I have 
succeeded in raising the unusually large crops of pota¬ 
toes which I ment ioned to you in a former communica¬ 
tion. There is nothing in my plan either difficult or 
original, and I am only surprised that greater crops are 
not generally raised; knowing as I do from experience, 
that to produce 800 bushels per acre, is, in this vicinity, 
an easy and simple process; provided the season is mod¬ 
erately favorable. For potatoes I prefer a soil compos¬ 
ed of sand and clay in about equal proportions, resting 
upon a clay subsoil. On such a piece of land which has 
been in grass a few years, I haul out in February or 
March six four horse wagon loads of good stable ma¬ 
nure to the acre, (about 80 bushels to the load.) The 
manure is immediately spread and turned under by in¬ 
verting the sod to the depth of ten inches at least. 
About the last of April spread on the inverted sod, 
about three additional wagon loads of manure to the 
acre. Harrow the ground well lengthwise with the 
furrow. Cross plow to the depth of four or five inches, 
and harrow again. By this time the last manure ap¬ 
plied is well mixed with the soil, and the land is in a 
fine state of tilth. The first of May, mark out the ground 
in rows three feet apart each way, with a large two 
horse plow, to run as deep as the first plowing. A 
good plan is also to let the bull-tongue plow follow in 
the furrows after the bar-share plow. This breaks up 
and loosens the subsoil under the rows. A subsoil plow 
would I suppose do the work better, but we have none, 
and the bull-tongue answers very well, as it loosens the 
subsoil and does not throw it up. We plant the “ long 
reds, v using large potatoes for seed, cut into pieces with 
about four eyes each, and put four pieces in a hill; 
which takes about twenty bushels of seed to the acre. 
The seed is thus planted deep, on a loose mellow bed, 
and the ground after the planting is completed has a 
perfectly level appearance. The after culture is quite 
easy and simple. As soon as the plants are two inches 
above the ground, plow with the bull-tongue as near to 
the hills as possible; if most of the plants are covered 
tip, so much the better. In two or three weeks plow 
again both ways; by this cross plowing the earth is 
well loosened and thrown up around the hills, in a sort 
of hollow square, a little depressed in the centre, pre¬ 
senting a broad surface to receive the rains, and convey 
the moisture to the roots of the plants. The hoe is used 
to destroy such weeds as have escaped the plow, and to 
give the hills the proper form. Care is taken not to 
make those conical shaped hills, which used to be the 
fashion, so admirably calculated to carry off all moisture 
from the roots of the plants. I have found the long i ed 
to be the most productive of any kind of potatoes I have 
ever cultivated. I tried the Rohans two years, but 
found them to yield at least 30 per cent less than the 
long reds. I have never tried planting in drills, and 
prefer hills on account of cross plowing which I consid¬ 
er very important. I know that 800 bushels per acre 
can be raised by my plan, for I have done it three years 
in succession in 1842, 5 3 and J 4. In the year 1844, the 
rot made its appearance in my potatoes, and I supposed 
that about 200 bushels were destroyed. Last spring, in 
addition to the other manure, I applied about 40 bush¬ 
els of wood ashes and 4 bushels of refuse salt per acre 
to my potatoe ground. The ashds were spread with the 
last application of manure, and the salt sown broad cast 
after planting the seed. I think that the ashes anti salt 
had some tendency to prevent the disease, as it was less 
destructive to my crop than it had been 1844, while the 
crops of many of my neighbors suffered much more than 
in any previous year. 
Respectfully, yours, &c. Wm. McCoy. 
Franklin, Pendleton co . Va., January 10, 1846. 
THE POTATOE DISEASE. 
L. Tucker, Esq. —Facts being the very foundation 
of science, it has struck me that the following might 
assist some inquirer into the causes of the potatoe dis¬ 
ease. 
In 1843, the disease among the potatoes showed itself 
in this country. That year, in many parts of the coun¬ 
try, the potatoes rotted in their bins, and it was found 
necessary to remove them. In 1844 the disease was 
more prevalent, while in 1845 it was much less exten¬ 
sive. In my own case, very little of the disease ap¬ 
peared among the potatoes raised, in either year. Still, 
there was a little of it, among the pink eyes, in partic¬ 
ular. Having observed that potatoe-balls were very 
scarce in my own fields, and indeed in all this region, 
and being confident that the potatoes now raised in this 
country are much inferior to those raised five and thirty 
years since, I sent to England for seed. A friend was 
kind enough to obtain for me twenty-four hampers of 
fine Lancashire potatoes, last spring, which reached me 
just in time for planting. I had them placed in new 
ground, on the side of a field in which were planted 
pink eyes, trout and orange potatoes. The yield of all 
the potatoes was light, on account of the drouth, but 
the Lancashire did as well as could be expected. Four 
and twenty bushels of English potatoes were put away, 
for seed, in a cellar, under a hay mow, where the tem¬ 
perature is hardly above freezing; as good a place for 
the preservation of vegetables as could be selected. A 
quantity of the trout and orange potatoes were put in 
another corner of the same cellar. Fearful that the 
weather was getting too severe for my seed potatoes, as 
the mow grew thinner, I ordered them to be re¬ 
moved, last week, to another cellar. On opening the 
straw that covered the heap, more than half of the po¬ 
tatoes were found to be far gone, with the disease. As 
the rot has appeared in none of the other sorts that were 
grown in the same field, including pink eyes, I am left 
to infer that the English potatoes were infected, while 
the others were not. 
I merely state the fact. The disease existing so ex¬ 
tensively last year in England, may possibly have some 
connection with this loss; though to connect the cir¬ 
cumstances it is necessary to believe that two seasons 
are required to develop the rot. 
I will only add, that I had brought into my house 
some of the varieties that were grown, the English ex¬ 
cepted, and I cannot find that a single potatoe has been 
affected. I know of no difference in the culture or land, 
that should have produced this result. No manure was 
carted on any part of the field, though plaster was used 
throughout. As piles of logs and stumps had recently 
been burned on the land, it is possible these ashes may 
have reached to these English potatoes, though not 
more so than to the others, as the log heaps extended 
over all parts of the field. I do not think, moreover, 
that the vines ever looked thrifty. 
Yours, &c. J. Fennimore Cooper. 
P. S.—It may be well to say that the English pota¬ 
toes, diseased as they are, have been fed to store hogs, 
with perfect impunity. What is left of them seems to 
be as nourishing as the sound potatoe. They are affect¬ 
ed with the black, cholera-looking disease, and appear 
to moulder away, rather than turn into a semi-liquid 
