1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
31 
oxen, and one cow, five old hogs and four shoats— 
raised in all twenty-nine pigs. 
The farm is bounded on the south by a small bay, 
where there is an abundance of sea-weed, fish, eels, 
clams, &c. There were taken in this bay, in a few 
days last season, nearly one hundred thousand poggies, 
which were sent to New-York, on the Long Island 
railroad, and brought over one thousand dollars. We 
likewise take great quantities of white fish, which we 
use mostly for manure. There have been taken in our 
harbor, in the months of May and June, over eight 
millions of these, in shoals of from one hundred to forty 
thousand at a draught. Our seines are from 150 to 
250 rods long. They are drawn with horses, around 
a capstan. We generally spread the fish among the 
corn and potatoes, at the rate of ten to twelve thou¬ 
sand per acre. T., V. Tuthill. 
Experiment with Muck. 
Editors Cultivator —I have made some experi¬ 
ments the past season to test the value of muck as a 
manure, and am satisfied that four loads of muck are of 
as much value as three loads of barn-yard manure. I 
drew the muck from the swamp, as I had opportunity 
during the winter, and put it in large heaps in the 
field—two loads of muck to one of manure, and planted 
to corn. The yield was about 50 bushels shelled corn 
per acre. The soil was sandy, the subsoil in part 
lime rock, slate rock, and gravel. On a part of the 
field I put nothing but muck,- there was no perceptible 
difference in the corn during the summer; but on husk¬ 
ing the corn, the ears were better filled out on the part 
where there was nothing but muck, occasioned, no 
doubt, by the muck keeping the ground more moist, as 
the season has been very dry. I think that at least 
one-third of the crop is to be attributed to the muck. 
On the part of the field where I put no manure, I put 
about a quarter more muck than I did where I put 
muck and manure. In cultivating corn, I use nothing 
but the cultivator, and I go through the corn three 
times, both ways, each time pull out all the weeds 
from the hills. I would not thank a man to make a 
hill around corn for me. 
Precaution. —Any one that tends a threshing ma¬ 
chine, ought to take a fine sponge and fit it to the nose 
and mouth. Moisten it, and let a string pass from each 
side of it to the back part of the head, and tie them 
together. A man thus prepared can work for hours in 
a perfect “ smudder,” without experiencing those disa¬ 
greeable sensations that are always felt after working- 
in the dust, without such precaution. I have been in 
the habit of thus using a sponge for the last twelve 
months, when I tend threshing machine. I would 
rather give one dollar per day, than tend a machine 
without it. I first got the idea from the Cultivator. 
Henry Keeler. So. Salem, N. Y., Dec., 1848. 
On the Culture of the Potato. 
Eds. Cultivator —It has long been a prevalent 
opinion with our farmers, that seed potatoes should be 
selected from the largest and best. But a gentleman 
of my acquaintance, the owner of a large farm in the 
county of Worcester, in the spring of 1847, found his 
stock of large potatoes completely exhausted, and from 
the general scarcity, could not renew his supply. He 
then determined, from necessity, to plant his fields with 
small ones, varying in size from a marble to a small 
pullet’s egg, placing two or three, without cutting, in 
each hill. The result was an unusually fine crop, in 
size, quantity and quality. 
In the spring of 1848, he repeated the experiment, 
so far as to plant alternate rows of small ones and 
large ones, cut into four or five pieces. I was pre¬ 
sent when he was harvesting the crop, in the early part 
of October, and it was evident that the produce of th$ 
small potatoes exceeded that of the large ones. Should 
further experiment confirm the fact, that the small are 
of greater, or even of equal value for seed, it will be 
of some importance to farmers in this section, for the 
summer drouth frequently causes a withering of the 
potato vines by the middle of August, so that there is 
no subsequent growth of the roots, giving a large pro¬ 
portion of small ones j these have been claimed by the 
hogs. 
Prior to the “ potato rot,” large quantities were im¬ 
ported from Maine, and the British Provinces, and with 
our own produce, established a price of 20er33 cts. per 
bushel. For three years past, the importations have 
been extremely small, and from the loss by rot, the 
price has been 80 cts. a $1.50 per bushel, an expensive 
article of food for hogs. M. B. Beverly, Mass., 
December, 1848. 
[Our correspondent relates an experiment in raising 
potatoes from sprouts . It may not be generally known 
that potatoes can be readily propagated in this way, if 
care is taken not to mutilate the sprout in planting.] 
The Mount Airy Agricultural Institute. 
We make the following extracts from a letter recent¬ 
ly received from John Wilkinson, Esq. the principal of 
this institution, from which it will be seen that he is 
going on prosperously with the good work he has un¬ 
dertaken : Pie says: 
“ We have now thirteen regular students, besides 
those from the village who attend the lectures. A 
more amiable, virtuous, studious and industrious class 
of young men never were collected—among them one 
sent by the Brazilian Government, a liberally educated 
and very intelligent and worthy gentleman, who designs 
to return to his own country, to found an Agricultural 
College there. The prospect is that we shall have as 
many as we can accommodate during the next summer 
session. 
“My class all participate in every branch of farm 
labor, and are each required to lecture on mathematics 
and such of the natural sciences as they are pursuing. 
They are taken into the laboratory, and assist in 
making and repairing apparatus and preparing tests 
and analyses, and in short every manipulation of the 
scientific department. About four hours per day are 
spent in the practical operations of the farm,- the 
balance in the literary department. Two or three 
evenings of each week are spent in the discussion of 
the practical subjects of the farm, in which the 
students all participate, and they are very interesting, 
as there is a great strife to excel in the discussions. 
“The winter has been remarkably open •, we have 
been plowing for the past two weeks for the spring 
crops. The fall has been very dry; springs and streams 
were never known so low at this season of the year. 
I have grown, this year, about 1200 bushels of Pota¬ 
toes, and 800 of carrots, all sound and good.” 
Wild Lands of Kentucky. 
In the November number of the Cultivator, is a piece 
by B. headed “Kentucky Wild lands” in which the ad¬ 
vantages of purchasing and improving these lands, 
“rather than go on to the prairies of the wide west,” 
are fully and justly set forth. In our section of the 
state, from three to four hundred miles by water, below 
those recommended by B. are large bodies of unimprov¬ 
ed lands, near the Ohio and Green rivers, which can 
be purchased at very reduced prices, and made to yield 
by judicious management, large profits. The larger 
portion of our lands are level or undulating, and all 
