182 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
June 
leaps as follows :—“Mr. Downing, I am positive, had 
not Hovey’s seedling unmixed with others.” An in¬ 
telligent and scientific cultivator should know by the 
appearance of the growth, leaf, or fruit, Hovey’s seed¬ 
ling from other varieties. The suggestion however, 
that a variety may ripen seed, drop them and propagate 
thus new varieties, intermixed, and possessing the sta- 
minate character, is not without weight. The reason, 
too, that the plants of the nurseryman, who has many 
different varieties within a small space, to fertilize each 
other, are productive; while after they are sold and 
widely removed, the cause and the effect cease, is en¬ 
tirely plausible. 
DISEASE IN POTATOES. 
Mr. Editor —The columns of almost every agricul¬ 
tural paper I examine, are teeming with articles on the 
subject of diseased potatoes, but as yet, the cause seems 
buried in as profound a mystery as at its first appear¬ 
ance. It is not at all understood; and it is very much 
to be desired that the recently instituted inquiries in 
Europe, by scientific men, may lead to its discovery, 
for the effort thus far here, has rather shrouded the sub¬ 
ject in deeper doubt and uncertainty, than cast any light 
upon it. 
I mpde a series of experiments the past year, the re¬ 
sults of which, I herewith hand you, not because they 
have elicited any new fact, but that a knowledge of 
them may prevent their repetition by others, for it is 
evident they lead not to its development, though pos¬ 
sibly, in some other respects, worthy of it. 
The ground was a sandy loam, manured with barn¬ 
yard manure, at the rate of thirty two-horse waggon 
loads to the acre. It was plowed, dragged, furrowed 
with a one-horse plow in rows three feet asunder, and 
planted on the . 12th of May. The potatoes were cut 
into setts containing three or more eyes, and dropped 
along the furrows eight inches apart. On the first ten 
rows, which were twenty rods long, was put a composi¬ 
tion consisting of one bushel of lime, one of ashes, one of 
salt, and one of plaster, well mixed, dropped in small 
handfuls on each cutting of the potatoes; and the ba. 
lance of the field had a dressing of like quantity of 
same composition, with the exception of the salt. The 
potatoes were then covered with a plow, and rolled 
with a moderately heavy roller. That portion of the 
piece where no salt was used vegetated directly, and 
came on with a vigorous and luxuriant growth; where 
salt was used, they were a long time coming up, and 
the growth then exceedingly slow, with a curled un¬ 
healthy appearance of the vine. 
They were cultivated twice and hoed once. At the 
last time of cultivating, a one-horse plow was passed 
twice though each row, levelling the earth to the vines. 
The appearance of all of them, with the exception of 
the salted, was exceedingly fine and promising, and of • 
the latter, there were some twenty-five hills which re- 
ceiveda less portion of the preparation, that were perhaps 
more vigorous than any of the others, which we attribu¬ 
ted to this cause. They continued growing finely until 
August, Avhen the ground, with the exception of the 
salted portion, was completely covered with vines, and 
a finer or more promising field is rarely seen. At this 
period we had a succession of light showers, followed 
by warm, close weather, and our vines soon began to 
decay, presenting precisely the same appearance as in 
the two preceding years, in which they have been af¬ 
fected. This continued until they were entirely dead, 
and the general impression was that the crop was de¬ 
stroyed; on digging, however, we were agreeably dis¬ 
appointed to find them, though rather small, entirely 
sound, and thus far, they have preserved perfectly well. 
I took from the acre two hundred and twelve bushels. 
That portion which was salted never reached maturity. 
The yield was less and the quality inferior to where 
none was used, and this experiment has therefore de¬ 
monstrated that neither salt, lime, ashes, nor plaster, 
are a preventive to the attacks of this disease, or a pre¬ 
servative of the tuber after attack, for this condition of 
vine was general here, ^s is also this soundness of the 
potato. 
There were some exceptions to this general decay of 
vine, and wherever this occurred, so far as my obser¬ 
vation has gone, it has been on sward ground, late 
planted, and no manure used. I planted a piece adjoin¬ 
ing the one on which the experiments were made. It 
was done on the 3d day of June, and the vines continued 
perfectly fresh and green until destroyed by the frost 
this fall, while others planted at short intervals of time, 
on fallow ground, for the purpose of determining whe¬ 
ther this has any agency in averting the disease, were 
in every instance destroyed, though the tuber, in all 
of them remained sound. 
Can you explain this new caprice of the epidemic, or 
assign any plausible reason for this general destruction 
of the vine and soundness of the potato? or why, those 
on sward ground escaped, and on fallow perished? It is 
certainly very inexplicable, although it puts an end to 
the speculation that the disease is caused by insects, for 
if this were so, all these pieces would have been affect¬ 
ed in the same manner. P. 
Waterville, 1846. 
IMPROVING- WORN-OUT LANDS- 
Mr. Tucker —I will give you my views of the best 
manner of improving lands that were formerly good 
but have become poor by bad farming. And first, no 
land ever was good where the subsoil was of a cold 
gravelly nature. The top soil of our limestone land 
will vary from four to six, and sometimes eight inches 
deep, with a subsoil of red loam—the latter is generally 
thought good when it will make brick. There are 
thousands of acres of this kind of land both in Virginia 
and Maryland that have become very much impo¬ 
verished. 
To improve this land, I would collect large quanti¬ 
ties of everything that will make manure; such as 
leaves, weeds, sods from the fence corners, rags, rotten 
wood, soap-suds, &c. These I would keep in a pile, 
sprinkling plaster over it occasionally, to prevent the 
escape of ammonia. In the next place, I would com¬ 
mence with the corn crop. I would have three stout 
horses, and a plow (of Washburn’s make, of Frederick,) 
22 inches from the bottom of the share to the bottom of 
the beam, (without a coulter.) I would plow the land 
late in the fall 12 inches deep, which would throw up 
part of the subsoil to the action of the sun and air. By all 
means have some manure put on the land before the corn 
is planted- The next season; plow in the corn stalks in 
June or July,—in other words make it the fallow-field for 
a wheat crop. Plow as above stated the first time, har¬ 
row well, and then, if you have it, put on about 50 
bushels of lime to the acre, and some manure. Plow 
shallow the second time, and about the middle of Sep¬ 
tember sow If bushels clean wheat to the acre, harrow 
well, and then sow seven quarts of clean timothy seed 
to the acre, and roll the field. In the spring following, 
sow about the same quantity of clover seed. If the land 
is inclined to be wet, you may vary the seed a little, 
and sow 8 quarts of timothy—if very dry, sow 8 quarts 
of clover and 6 of timothy. No stock must go on the 
land after the wheat comes off in the fall, nor until the 
next season, when the clover is in blossom, and then 
only enough to crop a little. The next summer the 
field may be mowed for the first crop, and the second 
crop be left on the ground. There must be no stock 
on the field this year. 
I can assure you I have seen land improved 100 per 
cent by this course of farming. It is the commence¬ 
ment of what may be called a rotation of crops, such as 
in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, has so much im¬ 
proved the soil. Wm. Todd. 
Utica Mills , Maryland, May, 1846. 
Cutting food for Sheep. —Thomas Noble, in the 
Ohio Cultivator, says—“My sheep consist of 1600 head, 
and so far, I have lost none. We cut all their feed, and 
the saving thereby is at least one-third.” 
