1848. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
63 
milar to a common cultivator ; we hoe the potatoes to 
keep the weeds down, leaving the ground on a level, or 
but slightly raised about the hill. In digging, I find 
the potatoes near the stalks, and near the surface, 
which is the natural situation for them. Pink Eyes are 
apt to run out of a hill, and place themselves on the 
outside near the surface; but cultivated on a level they 
are found more compact about the stalks, and much 
time is saved in digging. 
We in Illinois, bury many of our potatoes in the 
field. In the fall of 1846, I buried about forty bushels 
in one hole, ventilated at the top, until cold weather 
required the final covering necessary for winter. I had 
another hole, with about thirty bushels, covered with¬ 
out leaving any ventillator at the top, and but little 
earth over the straw; and a third hole, of about twen¬ 
ty bushels, covered with about eight inches of earth 
over the straw; all dug and put in within three days— 
the weather being warm and fine. A few days after, 
I was at one of my neighbors, and found them sorting 
over potatoes-—the top of the heap being a rotten 
mass. The hole was covered about eighteen or twen¬ 
ty inches. I went home and examined heap No. 1, 
which was ventillated; it was dry, and potatoes all 
sound; No. 2, damp and swelling at the top; No. 3 
was considerably rotten at the top of the heap. 
I don’t pretend that we can get the greatest quantity 
per acre, but I have obtained an excellent quality, and 
as good a yield as ever I had, planted in hills. 
Dixon , Illinois, Dec. 24, 1847. N. Whitney. 
Breeding Horses. 
The appearance of Mr. Burnet’s communication in 
the January number of the Cultivator, seems to render 
it proper that I should endeavor to “ define my posi¬ 
tion” in regard to a subject on which he thinks I have 
not been sufficiently explicit. 
After Mr. B.’s remark, in the commencement of his 
article, that he had read my papers on Breeding Hor¬ 
ses u attentively ,” it was not without surprise that I 
found he had entirely misunderstood me in relation to 
one of the most important points therein considered. 
Under the influence of this mistake, he supposes that I 
am 11 privately [?] inclined to take the breeds [of hor¬ 
ses] we have already in our country—such as the Mor¬ 
gan, the Narragansett, the Canadian, perhaps, and the 
descendants of Messenger and Duroc, and breed them 
among themselves, to establish a sort of home-breed— 
a kind of 1 horse of all work.’ ” 
If Mr. B. will turn to the first number, and first par¬ 
agraph, of my articles, (last vol. Cultivator, p. 169,) 
he will find it plainly stated that the object was to con¬ 
sider the “ best mode of improving our horses for the 
carriage and road.” By “ carriage” was meant such a 
vehicle as is drawn by horses on the road, and perhaps 
the idea would have been better expressed by the ques¬ 
tion—How shall we produce the best roadsters? As 
this object, however, was thus set forth in the outset, 
and kept prominently in view through the whole series, 
I am at a loss to discover wherein I have given any 
grounds for the supposition that I am “ privately ,” or 
otherwise, disposed to encourage the breeding of vari¬ 
ous stocks of horses “ among themselves” for the pur¬ 
pose of producing a 11 kind of horse of all work.” 
In No. IY of my articles, (page 271, last vol. Culti¬ 
vator,) it is said —“ With regard to the best course for 
iimproving^our horses for the carriage and road, the first 
object should be to preserve the best stocks now in the 
country. Such families as those above named, and 
others of value, should be bred with strict care, and 
sufficiently by themselves to ensure uniformity of cha¬ 
racter. It being the constant endeavor to breed them 
as much as possible to one standard or model, no blood 
should be admitted which would be likely to cause a 
deviation from it'. This course should be pursued for 
many years, until the peculiar qualities of the stock be¬ 
come so fixed in the blood that they will be transmitted 
with a good degree of certainty.” 
Here it is, to be sure, advised to breed from stocks 
which “ we have alrea'dy in the country;” but it is by 
no means advised to “ breed them among themselves” 
for the purpose of obtaining a horse of all work;” on 
the contrary, it is recommended that the different stocks 
be bred by themselves, that is separately —or sufficiently 
so to “ insure uniformity of character .” 
Mr. Burnet observes that u the existence of differ¬ 
ent species of horses, naturally suggests the idea that 
they were designed for different purposes; and that to 
combine the excellencies of all in one new and distinct 
species is, to say the least, by far the most difficult 
problem of breeding.” 
By substituting the word breed for u species,”* in 
the above quotation, it meets my cordial approbation, 
and I am not conscious of having said anything in op¬ 
position to the idea there expressed; on the contrary, 
the general tenor of my reasoning is in agreement with 
it. [See remarks on the different mechanism required 
for running horses and trotting horses—last vol. Culti¬ 
vator, pp. 204, 205.] 
As to the expediency of breeding from thorough-bred 
stallions, I should not, certainly object to the course, so 
far as Mr. Burnet has recommended it—viz: to pro¬ 
duce from such a mare as he has described, a city car¬ 
riage horse —“ to drive about the city at a slow pace, 
to take the ladies a calling or a shopping.” 
I will say farther, that I would advise experiments 
to be made in breeding from thorough-bred stallions for 
other purposes, or for the production of roadsters, pro¬ 
vided the right kind of stallions can be obtained. Ob¬ 
serve that Mr. B. does not want “a mere scrawny race 
horse,” but 11 one that takes after the old patriarchs 
of his family —that is staunch and sound, with plenty 
of bone and substance.” 
But my object has been rather to lay down ce a in 
general rules fqr breeding, and to give points by which 
breeding-stock should be chosen, (see particularly No. 
V of the series, last vol. of the Cultivator, page 304,) 
than to recommend any particular blood; being confi¬ 
dent that improvement would be most readily attained 
by the former course. Equus. 
To Cookstove Inventors. 
Amid all the numerous Railroad, and Telegraph, 
and Locomotive, and Air-tight cooking stoves, with 
their endless modifications, and astonishing improve¬ 
ments, the attention of the inventor seems never to 
have been directed to two very essential points. We 
have no convenient contrivance for heating flat-irons, 
without building a roasting fire, ninety-nine hundreths 
of the heat of which passes into the room and up the 
chimney, instead of into the irons. Two cords of wood 
per annum are consumed by my domestics in ironing, over 
and above what would be needed for the ordinary pro¬ 
cesses of cooking. A real roarer must be kept up 
whenever the irons are to be heated. Now, how 
much, think you, would be saved in the Empire State, 
by the invention and introduction of a contrivance to 
remedy this evil ? Two cords of wood, cut, drawn, 
sawed, split and housed, cost, on an average, three 
dollars per cord—six dollars per year. A hundred 
thousand families in the State using cookstoves—very 
moderate estimate—swell the aggregate cost to the 
* I have regarded the domestic Horse as of one species. Ac¬ 
cording to naturalists, only two species of Equidae, the Horse and 
the Ass, are regarded as subjects of domestication. 
