M‘s‘ .rv—wh” _ 60 THE FARMERS DEPARTMENT.

SPEED THE PLOUGH.

Speed the plough! 0, speed the plough ! The sun is up. the time is now,

Drive on my boys. God speed the plough. Now the green blade, peeping low

From the fast dissolving snow,

Tells the gladdened farmer how

Heaven's aid can speed the plough. Harvest home ! 0, hear the sound,

And each jocund tale go round ;

The proudest Lord might envy now

The merry man who guides the plough. The merchant‘s gold, the miser’s board, The sailor‘s helm. the soldier‘s sword, The fop‘s affected air, must how

To the rattling loom, and gliding plough.

Frcm the Transactions of the London Horticultural Society. ON THE CULTURE OF THE POTATO. ByThontas_.‘1ndrew Knight, Esq RR. S.&c.President.

Whatever may have been the amount of the advantages, or injury which the British Empire has sustained by the very widely extended culture ofthe Potato, it is obvious that under present existing circumstances it must conti- nue to be very extensively cultivated; for though it is a calamity to have a numerous po- pulation who are compelled by poverty to live chieﬂy on potatoes, it would certainly be a much greater calamity to have the same popu- lation without their having them to eat.

Under this view of the subject, I have been led to endeavour to ascertain by a course of experiments, the mode of culture by which the largest and most regular produce of pota- toes, and of the best quality may be obtained from the least extent and value of ground, and having succeeded best by deviating rather wide- ly from ordinary rules of culture, I send the following account of the results of my expe- riments. These were made upon different varieties of potatoes; but as the results were in all cases nearly the same, I think that I shall most readily cause the practicc I recom- mend to be understood by describing minutely the treatment of a single variety only which I received from the Horticultural Society, un- der the name ofLankman’s Potato.

The soil in which I proposed to plant being very shallow, and lying upon a rock, I collect- ed it with a piough into high ridges of four feet wide, to give it an artiﬁcial depth. A deep furrow was made along the centre and highest part ofeach ridge, and in the bottom of this whole potatoes, the lightest of which did not weigh less than four ounces were deposi- ted, at only six inches distant from the centre ofone to another. Manure, in the ordinary quantity was then introduced, and mould was added, sufﬁcient to cover the potatoes more deeply than is generally done.

-The stems of the potatoes, as of other plants. rise perpendicularl , under the inﬂuence of their unerring gui e, gravitation, so long as they continue to be concealed beneath the soil ; but as soon as they rise above it they are to a considerable extent under the controul of another agent, light. Each inclines in what- ever direction it receives the greatest quantity of that ﬂuid, and consequently each avoids and a pears to shun the shade of every contiguous p ant. The old tubers being lar e, and under the mode of culture recommende , rather deep- ly buried in the ground, the young plants, in

THE BRITTISH AMERICAN

the early part of summer, never suffer from want of moisture, and being abundantly nou- rished, they soon extend themselvesin every direction till they meet those of the contigu- ous rows which they do not overshadow on ac- count of the width of the intervals.

The stems being abundantly fed, owing to the size of the old tubers, rise from the ground with great strength and luxuriance, support well their foilage, an d a larger breagth of this is thus,l think, exposed to the light during the whole season, than under any other mode of culture which I have seen ; and the plants ac- quire a very large size early in the summer, the tubers of even very late varieties ar- rive ata state of perfect maturity early in the autumn.

Having found my crops of potatoes to be in the last three years. during which alone I have accurately adopted the mode of culture above described, much greater than they had ever previously been, as well as of excellent quality, I was led to ascertain the amount in weight, which an acre of ground such as l have described, the soil of which was naturally poor and shallow would produce. A Colony of Rab- bits had, however, in the last year done a good deal of damage, and Phesants had eaten many of the tubers which the Rabbits had ex- posed to view; but the remaing produce per acre exceeded ﬁve hundred and thirty-nine bushels ofeiglity-two ponnds each, two pounds being allowed in every bushel on account of a ver small quantity of earth which adhered to one I ofthem.

The preceding experiments were made witha large and productive variety of potatoes only, butl am much inclined to think that I have raised, and shall raise in the present year, 1828, nearly as large a produce per acre of a well known small early variety, the Ashleaved Kidney Potatoes. Of this va- riety, I selected in the present spring the largest tubers which I could cause to be pro- duced in the past year; and I have planted them nearly in contact with each other in the rows, and with intervals, on account of the shortness of their stems, of only two feet be- tween the rows. The plants at present dis- play an unrivalled degree ofstrength and vigor of growth, arising from the very large size (for that variety(ofthe planted tubers; and as large a breadth of foilage is exposed to light by the small as could be exposed by a large variety; and as I have always found the amount of the produce under any given external cir- cumstances to be regulated by the extent of foilage, which was exposed to light, I think it possible that I shall obtain as large or nearly as large a crop from the small variety the present year aslobtained from the large va- riety in the last. [have uniformly found that too tain crops of potatoes of great weight and excellence, the period of planting should never be later than the beginning of March, in [Eng- land.]

. Postcn’pt-

.Mareh, 23,1829.—Somewhat contrary to my expectations, the produce of the small early potatoes exceeded very considerably that of the large one above mentioned, being per acre. 665 bushels of82 pounds. It is usually calcu. lated by farmers that eighty pounds of pota- toes thougb eaten raw after they have begun to germinate, will afford two pounds of Pork; and I doubt much if the haulm and the whole ofthe manure, made by the hogs were restored to the ground, whether it would be in snydegree impoverished. I am not satisﬁed that it would not be enriched, an important subject for consi- deration in a country of which the roduce is at present unequal to the support 0 its inha-

30. s.

bitants, and which producel conﬁdently be. lieve and fear is growing gradually less while the number of its inhabitants is rapidly in. creasing.

USES OF THE POT/1T0.

The different uses to which the potato may be applied are the thirtysone following.

1. 2, 3. its haulm in a green state, is good food both for cattle and sheep, dried and burned the ashes afford potash or will form artiﬁcial nitre beds.

4. The tubers starch.

5. Potatoes young or old, may be eaten roast- ed, steamed or boiled.

6. They may be made into bread, with one third part of ﬂour.

7, Soups may be made of them, they may be roasted or fried.

8. With the ﬂour ofpotatoes every descrip- tion of pastry may be formed. ,

9. Converted into t'ecula or starch or cut into . slices, and dried by steam, they may be pre. H served for any length of time.

10. Veiinicelli, and tapioca, articles which ; may be made ofthe ﬂour or starch of any plant: may ofcourse be formed from them.

ft, 12. 13. They are mixed with gravy; they v are madeinto paste and starch. )

14. Mixed with stucco they form an improved . plaster.

15. They nourish every description of do- mestic animal, and during the winter are eaten by hares and rabbits.

16. Cut into slices, and thrown in a certain proportion into caldrons of boiling water, they prevent the sediment of Water from adhering to the sides and bottom of such vessels.

17. They form a wash, or thin plaster for building, which maybe colored by soot, ochre. or other colors. as washes of lime are colored in this country.

18. Roasted to a brown state, and ground to powder, they make a very good coffee.

19. Crushed they are employed for white- ning linen and other cloth.

20. The water expressed from bruised po. tatoes isa rapid promoter of the germination 1 of seeds.

21, 22. The fecula or starch, with sulphuric ‘ : acid, is converted into syrup, from which a 1 species of sugar may be obtained, analogous to ‘ cassonade (moist sugar.)

23. With soot and other mixtures this syrup , makes an admirable blacking. v’

24. Crushed potatoes, or their fecula will ‘51 afford spirit by distillation. "

25. Potatoes may be cultivated in caves and -‘ cellars, which resource might have saved Mis- solonghi. We are rather surprised at this re- mark of Messrs. Payen and Chevalier, as eve- ‘, ry gardener knows that the young potatoes '~ formed in cellers are merely a remodiﬁcation or transfer of the nutriment contained in the old potatoes and as this transfer is always made with greatloss of nutriment, if the be- ' seiged at Missolonghi had enough of potatoes to plant their cellars, it would have been more proﬁtable for them to have eaten them as they were, than to have encouraged them to form I new tubers,

26, 27. The water contained in the tu- ‘ bers of the young potatoes may be employed in dyilrlig gray, and the blossom forms a beautiful

e ow. . y 28, 29. The water of potatoe blossoms clean" cloth, of cotton wool or silk. and assists it, ‘ ‘ manufacture of artiﬁcial soda. _

30. A potato diet cures the scurvey. I

in a frozen state afford