1868 . 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
175 
Don’t Let Potatoes “Mix in the Hill.” 
“Do potatoes ever mix in the hill?”— 
Potatoes are very apt to be mixed in the hill, 
and it requires constant care not to suffer loss in 
this way, for mixed potatoes never will bring 
so high a price in market as they would were 
the kinds separate. The mixture always takes 
place either at or before planting, or after digging. 
The question may be discussed till doomsday 
with some people, and never be decided, for the 
simple reason that some people are exceedingly 
careless with their seed potatoes. It is not un¬ 
usual to see, that the soil and manner of cul¬ 
ture, manure, amount of weeds, etc., have a 
decided effect upon tiie external appearance of 
the potatoes. These things affect the tops, the 
roots, the tubers externally, and their internal 
character. The color and markings are perhaps 
least affected; the form is subject to considerable 
change; the texture of the skin to still more; 
and it may be and probably is true, that after 
cultivating a variety for many years under 
similar circumstances, a decided change of ap¬ 
pearance and character may be established. 
This, however, very rarely occurs, and the pos¬ 
sibility of such a thing may be entirely disre¬ 
garded in planting potatoes, except to throw 
out any peculiar looking ones which may be 
noticed when the seed is cut. Different kinds 
of potatoes may be planted in contiguous rows, 
as well as otherwise. In fact, this is the best 
way of comparing the productiveness of different 
varieties—two rows across the field being plant¬ 
ed with each kind, repeating the same kind 
two or three times, to give all an even chance. 
- > —« ■ —--- 
Why Heap up Manure ? 
The old-fashioned practice of composting all 
the contents of the yard, the sties, and the sta¬ 
bles, is attended with much labor, and is often 
imperfectly done, or neglected altogether, from 
want of conviction of its utility. There are the 
same materials before and after the heaping, the 
farmer reasons; why will they not benefit the 
land as much in the one condition as in the 
other ? The question is fairly put, and demands 
an answer. There are not necessarily the same 
materials in a compost heap before and after 
fermentation. If the contents of a yard were 
swamp-muck, peat, surface loam, various kinds 
of straw, sea-weed, kelp, and the manure of 
horses, sheep, and cattle, and if to these was 
added fresh sty manure, or night soil, or a few 
bushels of lime or ashes, the whole mass would 
be thrown into fermentation, and new chemical 
combinations would take place, and the new 
compounds would be more immediately availa¬ 
ble for plant food. Just how much the mass 
would be benefited by these new combinations 
we may not be able to state, but no intelligent 
farmer has any doubt of the higher value of 
fermented compost, for ordinary farm purposes. 
Another great advantage from this work is the 
increased fineness of the manure. Stable manure 
is often carried out and spread in great frozen 
or dried lumps, and in this condition is plowed 
into the ground. It doubtless, benefits the soil 
in this condition, but the roots of plants are a 
long time in getting at their food. We think it 
pays to fork over a manure heap twice, and give 
it the full benefit of a second fermentation. 
The hay and straw are all broken down by this 
process, and all the materials of the mass are 
thoroughly mixed. Much of the immediate ef¬ 
fect of manure depends upon its fineness. The 
time usually allowed for composting is quite too j 
short. The greatly increased effect of well-rot¬ 
ted manure has led some to wish for a whole 
year to complete the process. This is one of 
the points that we should like to see accurately 
determined on an experimental farm. The 
liquefying of all the yard manures is doubtless 
better than any comminution that we can attain 
by rotting, but the necessary apparatus for do¬ 
ing this, and applying it economically to the 
fields, requires more capital than most farmers 
have to invest. Thorough composting is with¬ 
in the means of all, and would always pay. 
The Jerusalem Artichoke. 
BY JULIUS MEYER, EGG HARBOR CITY, N. J. 
Having cultivated the Jerusalem Artichoke 
(Tobinambur , in German), with advantage dur¬ 
ing a number of years in the cold climate of 
Northern Pennsylvania, oh the top of the Alle¬ 
ghany Mountains, I am enabled to complete the 
report of your correspondent from Rome, Ga., in 
the number for March. The Artichokes must be 
cultivated on a field by themselves, out of the reg¬ 
ular rotation of crops, because they are difficult 
to exterminate; they may remain, however, on 
the same field any number of years, if they are 
only manured every second or third year. Al¬ 
though they give a good return on poor soils, 
they will pay the better the more manure they 
get; I harvested, upon an average, half the 
number of bushels more than I did of potatoes 
on equally manured and cultivated fields. They 
had the advantage of not being touched by the 
rot, while at the same time the third part of the 
potatoes were rotten. The soil was a sandy 
clay,containing no lime, but considerable iron,— 
a soil which may be classified as third rate. My 
method of cultivation was a follows: I plowed 
the field in the fall, cross-plowed in the spring 
as soon as the ground would admit, which gen¬ 
erally did not occur there before the latter part 
of April, harrowed, and then with a one-horse 
plow made furrows 4 inches deep at 3 feet apart. 
I laid the Artichokes about 20 inches apart in 
the furrows, and covered them with the plow. 
I planted once in the fall, but found the soil too 
much settled in the spring; therefore I prefer 
planting at the latter time. About a week or a 
fortnight after planting, (according to the weath¬ 
er), I went over the field with a light harrow, to 
loosen the soil and kill the young weeds. Dur¬ 
ing the summer I went through with the culti¬ 
vator three times. In the first week of October 
the stalks were cut with a sickle and put in 
shocks; in the third year a cradle may be used 
to advantage, where they are dense and the 
stalks not too stout; the leaves turn black while 
drying. Lacking room in my barn, I left the 
stalks standing in the field, and hauled them in 
whenever they were needed for food; if they 
are put together in large shocks, when dry and 
topped well, they may be left in the field a long 
time without spoiling. I fed the stalks without 
cutting them up, and if not given in too large 
quantities at once to the cattle, they would not 
leave a particle of them. Whenever they had 
the choice they preferred them to corn' stalks, 
although the latter were cut before the frost 
killed them. The Artichokes may be dug any 
time during the fall or winter, but as the frost 
does not spoil them in the ground, I left them 
always in until spring, because, being fresh and 
juicy, at that time they are of great value as food 
for new milch cows, causing them to give a good 
supply of very rich milk. Horses, old and young 
cattle, sheep, and swine, all devour them with 
avidity; horses fed with them need but little 
oats. As soon as the ground was sufficiently 
dry in the spring I commenced plowing them 
out; they were picked up clean; sometime after¬ 
wards, before they commenced growing too 
much, harrowed once or twice and picked up 
again, and yet there were always enough left in 
for seed. In the second year the cultivation in 
rows must generally cease; the dense growth 
keeps the weeds down pretty well. In the third 
year and afterwards, they frequently grow so 
dense that large quantities of feed can be pulled 
out during the early part of summer. After the 
third year, when the knolls are plowed out, the 
soil should be manured heavily; the more fre¬ 
quently this is done afterwards the better; wood 
ashes have a good effect. I consider the Arti¬ 
chokes as nutritious as the potatoes; they con¬ 
tain but little starch, but in place of that more 
saccharine matter than even the sugar beet. I 
like to eat them raw, but do not care for them 
boiled; tastes differ, however. Let me shortly 
recapitulate the good qualities of the Artichoke: 
1. They grow in all dry soils. 2. All kinds of 
cattle devour them eagerly. 3. They are not 
subject to the rot. 4. The frost does not spoil 
them ; therefore they cause no expense, like po¬ 
tatoes and turnips, to keep them during the win¬ 
ter. 5. They need not be planted anew every 
year and require but little culture after the first 
year, 6. The stalks are consumed by horses, 
sheep, and cattle; when dry, they may be used 
as fuel, particularly for heating baking ovens; 
when cut up, they give good bedding for swine, 
as the pith in them will retain a good deal of urine. 
I know of no plant raised for the purpose of 
food for cattle, which gives so much net profit 
as the Artichoke, and I think every one having 
cattle to feed ought to have at least one acre 
planted with them; as soon as I get my new 
farm here cleared, I shall devote several acres 
to the cultivation of Artichokes. 
•--—«*a® -*-•«-- 
The Giraffe—Mending a Broken Jaw. 
A delicate surgical operation is always inter¬ 
esting and instructive; but when such an one 
is performed upon an animal like the Giraffe 
saved from the burning of Barnum’s Museum, 
an animal whose history and natural history 
are so interesting, and whose money value to its 
owners is so great, it is certainly worth while 
for us to chronicle it particularly. The Giraffe 
is perhaps more familiarly known as the Cam¬ 
elopard (pronounced improperly camel-leopard). 
The Latin name is Camelopardalis Girafa, the 
generic name meaning the “ spotted camel,” as 
leopard means the “spotted lion.” It is a ruminant 
animal, closely allied to the camel, antelope, 
and deer. It has cloven hoofs, and peculiar, 
permanent, bony horns, covered with skin and 
hair. These animals come from Africa. They 
are easily and perfectly domesticated, and breed 
readily in confinement. They have prehensile 
tongues, with which they can pick fruit, leaves, 
etc., above their heads. Adult animals stand from 
14 to 18 feet high, and eat about as much as a 
pair of oxen. The beautiful specimen of this 
wonderful species alluded to has doubtless 
been seen by great numbers of the readers of the 
Agriculturist, as it has been for five years the 
property of its present owners ; it was valued 
by them, we understand, at $20,000, or more. It 
is a female, and was calved seven years since at 
the Zoological Gardens in Regents Park,London. 
She was rescued from the fire w r ith great diffi¬ 
culty, falling upon the steps, and in the fall 
breaking her under jaw, and being considerably 
burned before she was gotten away. She has 
