1808 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
4 55 
perature in which the potato had been placed. 
As the season advanced shoots in great, num¬ 
bers were thrown out by the Potato, which in 
turn were submitted to the same process of root¬ 
ing-. As the first shoots grew to lengths of 7 or 
8 inches the tops were out from these and used 
as cuttings,—so that by the first of June this 
small potato of 4 oz. had given me nearly 150 
plants, every one of which was equal to a “set” 
made from a tuber. These were planted out on 
the first week in June, in land very ill suited 
for the growth of the Potato, and the crop, 
when dug in September, weighed exactly 450 
pounds, or an increase of about 1000 fold. 
It may be questioned if this process is of any 
practical value, or whether it will pay. It is 
not claimed that there is any use in the practice 
if potatoes are being sold at ordinary rates, but 
may be doubted if there is much new in either 
Horticulture or Agriculture; processes that are 
suggested to us by circumstances to-day may 
have been practised by others a century ago, 
and if published to the world at all, have long 
since been forgotten; but there is little doubt 
that this practice of growing potatoes from cut¬ 
tings will be new to ten thousands of your 
readers, though the principles involved, and 
perhaps the practice followed, have been long- 
known to many experienced Horticulturists. 
when they are sold at the rates,even yet paid 
for the Early Rose, there is no doubt whatever 
of its utility. For example, 1 lb. of potatoes so 
grown will easily produce 500 plants, making- 
500 hills, which, with ordinary culture, will give 
3 lbs. pet-hill, or 1500 lbs. Now the process of 
propagation is neither difficult nor costly, and 
can be done just as well in a common hot-bed 
as .in our best-appointed gree.n-houses; the or¬ 
dinary hot-bed sash, 3 feet by 6, will hold 500 
plants, if placed in the soil of .the hot-bed ex¬ 
actly as Lettuce or Cabbage plants are pricked 
out, and treated much in the, same way by care¬ 
ful shading and watering until.the cuttings have 
rooted. These in turn,' as they grow, make other 
cuttings from the top, as • before described. 
If the variety is very scarce the crop, may be still 
farther increased by taking cuttings from the 
plants after they have piade a growth in the 
field. Without resorting;to the glass propaga¬ 
tion at all, a potato crop may be doubled or 
trebled in quantity by “slipping” the shoots, 
and planting them out at. once, if there.is a con¬ 
tinuance of rainy weather for two or three 
days, at the time it should-be done, in June. 
The thinning out of shoots from the-regular 
planting: will do no more; "injury to the plants 
than the thinning out of a hill of cucumbers, or 
melons would. It is not claimed that the,grow¬ 
ing of potatoes from cuttings is new; in fact, it 
Treatment of House Plants. 
In an article,on House Plants, in October last, 
it. was mentioned that - the plants should be 
gradually accustomed to their change, and this 
fact is to be borne in mind. Whenever the ex¬ 
ternal temperature will al¬ 
low it, open, the window for 
a while during the warm 
part of the ,day. Watering 
is oftener overdone than 
neglected. But a few plants, 
such as Callas and semi¬ 
aquatics, will thrive if the 
soil is kept* soaked. The 
roots need air as well as 
moisture. The practised eye 
can tell by the looks of the 
soil, or the pot, if a plant 
needs water. Better let it 
get a little too dry occasion¬ 
ally, and then give it a good 
drenching, than to apply fre¬ 
quent dribblings. Dryness 
of the atmosphere is one of 
the great troubles of in-door 
flower-growing, and this 
must be overcome as much 
as possible by evaporating 
water on the stove or fur¬ 
nace. Where the room is 
heated by an open fire, there 
is less difficulty. Another 
plan is to have a shallow 
box of the size of the win¬ 
dow-sill, or the table upon 
which the plants stand; 
this should have sides about 3 inches high, with 
some 2 inches in depth of clean sand in it. The 
pots are placed on the sand, which is to be kept 
damp. Dust, the housekeeper’s great enemy, 
is another thing the plant-grower has to contend 
with. To be healthy, the plant must have 
clean foliage. Some very careful persons throw 
a sheet., or other light cloth, over the plants, 
while the room is being swept. This must, of 
course, be prevented from resting upon the 
plants, by some contrivance. A stout rod, made 
to fit in to each corner of the plant-table, would 
answer. Give the plants a showering as often 
as necessary to keep them clean. Set them in a 
sink, or. bath-tub, and shower the foliage with 
Avater from a pot Avith a fine rose. If a plant 
gets very dirtjq as sometimes Avill happen, 
sprinkle it to moisten all the leaves, and then 
go over it and rub each leaf gently between the 
thumb and finger, to loosen the dirt; after this 
give a plentiful shoAvering. This can only be 
done Avith smooth-leaved plants. The outsides 
of the pots should be kept clean by the occa¬ 
sional use of a scrubbing-brush and Avater. 
Forcing Rhubarb.— 1 Those who have an 
abundance of rhubarb roots may have the leaf 
stalks during the Avinter.Ayith but little trouble. 
Take up some strong roots and place them in a 
barrel with a little earth. Cover the barrel and 
set it in a warm place, and the leaves Avill. soon 
push. Grown in this way rhubarb is crisp, ten¬ 
der, and Avell blanched. Roots that have been 
thus treated are not Avorth planting out again. 
-<®-« — c fr O- ga —- 
Fungi as Food. —In another column is an 
account of a minute and troublesome fungus. 
Some of the fungi, such as the mushroom and 
morel, are prized as delicacies, but the edible 
ones are not confined to these. Unfortunately, 
it is difficult for most persons to go beyond the 
mushroom for fear of eating some of the poison- 
ons ones. As a step towards increasing the 
knowledge of these plants, and to enable people 
to know the good from the bad, the Royal Hor¬ 
ticultural Society (Eng.) held an exhibition of 
fungi, and it Avas found that the number of 
edible ones was much larger than Avas supposed. 
The Rev. 3VI. A. Curtis, of S. C., has investigated 
the subject more thoroughly than any one else 
in this country, and has promised a Avork on 
American Edible Fungi, the appearance of 
AA’liich we look for Avith no little interest. 
Look Out for Your Seeds. 
After all possible care has been expended in 
collecting seeds, they are often lost through in¬ 
attention. Mice are exceedingly fond of some 
kinds of floAver and garden seeds, and their 
access to them should be guarded against. In 
keeping the mice out, it will not do to have the 
box thoroughly air-tight. Seeds must, of neces¬ 
sity, contain more or less moisture, and if kept 
in considerable quantities in a close vessel, they 
will mould. The temperature at which seeds 
are kept is of but little consequence with many 
kinds, while others are injured by too great 
cold. A place in Avhich the temperature ranges 
uniformly between 32 and 40 degrees is, per¬ 
haps, best. Peas and beans are apt to be in¬ 
fested by the weevil. Placing lliese in a close 
bottle, with a few drops of turpentine, is said 
to be the best method of treating the seeds. 
A Chapter on Honey Locust. 
“E. S.,”Highland, Kansas, writes: “ Give us a 
chapter on Honey Locust. At present it bids 
fair to become the most valuable tree for this 
country. It grows here anyAvhere, and under 
all circumstances Avhere any other tree lives, is 
good for hedges, or groves; as yet, it is free from 
insects or diseases of any kind, does not sprout 
from the roots, never Avinter-kills, is easily 
transplanted, and is a very beautiful and grace¬ 
ful looking tree. Even grasshoppers do not in¬ 
jure the young seedlings. There are two kinds 
here, one with thorns, and one without. Now, 
will seeds from a thornless tree produce thorny 
seedlings, or will seeds from thorny trees pro¬ 
duce thornless seedlings? 'We want the thorny 
ones for hedges and the other for groves. There 
are some good specimens of Osage hedges here, 
but the plant is objectionable. It kills out in 
wet places, much of the Avood freezes down in 
winter, it sprouts from the roots in plowing 
close, and various kinds of insects, especially 
grasshoppers, are very destructive to it.” 
It is not often that a correspondent does so 
cleverly for himself that which he asks us to do 
for him. He has given so complete a “ chapter 
on the Honey.Locust,” that there is but little to 
say in regard to its availability as a hedge plant. 
We have frequently advocated its merits as 
the plant best suited to form a barrier in our 
northern climates. The thornless forms are 
