Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1868-02-18
Communicated 80.
milas K. Young on Potatce Culture

FRIEND Cover Your hasty note
by son some time says, write of no.
tatoes,' &c, &c. Certainly. sir Ger
talnly, for in SO doing l could not well
avoid writingan advertisement and
then for calling me the big potato
man 81 the county, | feel under such
| obligations TO you, at least as | can
turn to my own advantage Pardon
me tor not sooner offering a proper
acknowledgements for the distinguish
ed compliment thus accorded me
10 be associated with intelligent gen
eral production, or the production of
specialitles under difficulties. | have
long regarded as the most honorable
| allufion that can be made to a mans
aims of usefulness. But what if a
person be inclined to move in the di
rection of difficulties be must Ger
! tainly encounter a wider range of
philosophy, if not more varied or
der OF poetry, than in the tanner path !,
ways OF life. | rather enjoy the re-
Election that TIT had not been for the
"rot," | would probably have never
planted more than one acre of pota-
toes, in any one season and that if
the bugs" had not threatened the
total destruction of the potatoe, |
wonld not, tor years hence, been
growing Early Goodrich and Harr :
son, or offering them to nay fellow
citizens at two dollars a bushe for
seed. | would not, from personal
knowledge be able to say positively,
and with as much regard to truth as
the plethora Of my pockets, that he
I who fails to secure aeed from me, or
some one else, at that price, or some
other. will dcfraud his heirs as well rs
his appetite. / would not have been
able TO say that the Early Goodrich
without abiding to its better quality
and increased yield, is cheaper seed at
two dollars, yes, five dollars, than the
Peachblow is at one dollar, for II
bushels Will seed an acre as thickly
as 10 bushels Of PeachbloWs | got,
last season, two hundred bushels more
potatoes from 152 bushels Of Early
| Goodrich and Harrison seed than |
got from 70 bushels OF Peac Y
seed then the advantage q j.
use, early sale, length Of "bu., ing
time, quality and actual Ualue, con.
stitute unquestionable elements of
unquestionable respecta6lity in the
business. In this last alusion | ad.
dress myself to those who have not
failed to discover that the espectabil-
i.y OF modern enterprise is generally
adjudged by very intellectual test !;
the greatest amount value realized
from the least physical effort. =
Should Psychologists or moralists,
however, be disposed to object to the
logical adjustments OF such y test, it
might be well to remind them that
it is as admissible, at least, as that
most pitiable conception of snobbish
stupidity which attaches vuigarity to
manipulations of the soil, because
the soil does not at all times refuse
to reward the unskilful with
generosity. More or less associates
with both these ideas is that which
classifies the details of rural produc-
ton and in defiance of the English
turnip crop, the keynote to heragri-
cultural wealth-arranges the root
crop" as the lowest order Of produc-
tion-then cereals and grasses, then
fruits, horticulture, &c. Now, with
ithout combating the cardinal folly of
regarding a man respectable for the
amount OF money he make, by acct
dent or calculation, or, of degrading
him in proportion to the amount Of
soil setting the "wash dish, when, in
following up the Jewish custom, he
washes "betore meat" | find no diff
ficulty in rescuing a favorite spcciali~
ty from the remaining fallacy by
making it known, wherever it is not.
that Harrisons and Early Goourich
are NOT ROoTs-io sir. scientific re-
search, which, year after year brings
such large accesslohs to human
knowledge, has developed the fact
that the potato-the eatable part
the tuber, is no root, it is branch,
an underground branch, The starts
ing point of this enlarged slbterra>
mean branch is not from the roots,
but from the stem, and hence in very
rich soil and when the plant has
great vitality, you often see 1t attach
ed to the stem above ground 1.-The
eyes of the potato are exactly what
buds are to other branches, toI mel t II
the same object and Cover hed by the
same laws. Beginning at the stem,
or lower end. and following the ar
rangements Of the eyes we trace spir
al lines in the same manner, as with
the buds on the branches Of tree,
and find that the buds and ey cs in
crease in number towards the end
! We observe therefore that the pota,
toe is not only branch in theory.
but in it's practical bearings also it is
governed by the same laws. Who's
ever may feel disposed to pursue the
investigation Of the subject further is
referred to DR.. Hegamer's report to
the Farmers Club, American Insti-
tute, Jan. 81, from which the above
extract is taken.
There now-I have alluded to
something good on the potatoe-to
"copy"-with reading-and to that
extent claim obedience to your order.
Yours respectfully,
NIX. YOUNG.
GLEN HAvEN, Feb IL
HONOR TO WHOM HONOR Il Dur
A rampant editor in New Jersey,