The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-02-13
DAILY PRESS.
PORTLAND.
Saturday Morning, February 10, 1859.
CORTLAND.


| y
Potatoes Again.
There seems to be considerable exeitar,a,t
not only in our State, but all over New Enc,
land, in regard to the best varieties OF tbess
valuable tubers. Thus far we believe Yer
mont has taken the lead. The Green Mount.
ain farmers always have something to talk
about; either Morgan horses, fine wooled
bucks at enormous prices, anti i.masonry or
some other hobby which they ride, and now
the Early Rose is uppermost in their minds
| At recent meeting of the Rutland Farmers
Club, the leading subject was potatoes, and
the leading tuber was the Early Rose. The
President of the club thought there were GER
tain habits of the plant which seem to
influence the quantity of tubers produced.
A short, erect and branching stem, the leaves
large and the stock broad, in short, a sturdy,
erect growth of stock seems always to indi-
cate a great bearer. Whatever disturbs these
qualities, be it over much nitrogenous ma
nure, or too much cultivation, diminishes the
yield of marketable tubers. The Rose, the
Harrison and the Goodrich have these quail
ties and in the order named. On the other
hand the Peachblow has long stem and
great tendency to bendover and trail upon the
ground.
Now there is much truth in these state
ments. Three words seem to explain the
philosophy of the thing, to wit, run to vines"
Potatoes will do this if highly manured, es-
pecially with green manure, or where the
wash of dung heap has saturated the SOIL
Two or three years ago we gave gentleman
two potatoes fresh from California, which he
planted in his garden. The vine fiourished
most luxuriantly, but the tubers were very
small, and good many in hill In another
soil, with less manure these potatoes would
have produced large tubers.
Another gentleman of the club expert
mented with the Early Rose, the Early Good
rich, the Jackson White, the Chilli and the
Peachblow, planting one eye in a hill, three
feet apart. When the Rose was as large as
an egg the Goodrich was not larger than
pea. The Rose had an erec. growth fifteen
inches high, branching out like tree, firm
and stout at the base, and yielded at the rate
of 544 bushels to the acre. The Goodrich
had long trailing vines, the stems small, and
the yield 272 bushels. The Jackson White
yielded 14O bushels and the Chill 100 bushels.
The vines of the Peachblow ran all over the
ground. and the potatoes were hardly worth
digging for market. The truth Is, the Peach
blow was once a most excellent potato, but
it has run out or run to vines, perhaps
through bad cultivation.
This club also discussed the best and poor
est ishaped potato. The President thought
Brozee's Prolific No. s, Prince Albert and
Early Rose the best in form; the poorest,
California, Jackson White and Brozee's King
of the Earlies, No. A. The question also
came up, what potato was the best all the
year round. There was a variety of opin-
ions expressed. The Rose was esteemed the
best for fall and midwinter, and the Long
John, Chill and Caledonia for spring. For
the best early potato the Rose, Goodrich, and
Jackson White, but there was some differ
| ence of opinion upon this subject The
Early Rose stood first on the list for flavor
and mealiness, while the Carter, Peachblow
and Biscuit stood first as regards color and
mealiness. There was quite as great variety
of opinions as variety of potatoes.
1t appears by the Agricultural Department
Report recently published, that experiments
have been made in the department grounds
the past season for the purpose Of ascertain
ing the yields of several varieties of potatoes.
The result is given as follows:
Blue kidney o pounds for 1, Scotch blue
Y l.3 for l, Napoleon 23 IL for /, Early
Goodrich 10 IL for /, Harrison 80 Is for /.
Regent 30 1-10for /, Victoria 16 for 1, Blue 25
1-6 for 1, Early Red Kindey 25-8 for /, (af-
fected by rot,I Albert At IT for 1, Econo-
mist 43 1-2 for 1, Red 20 1-2 for 1, Rock AZ I-3
for 1, Early 80 for l. The average yield was
| 25 Ia for /.
At the recent agricultural meeting at Au-
gusta, the potato was prominent subject of
discussion and there were 'smany men of
many minds" in that assembly of farmers
The truth is, there are several new varieties,
and all very good. There is not SO great
difference in them as mauy imagine. In all
experiments there are many things to be TAX
en- into the account. 1t is quite reasonable
to suppose that the potato partakes largely of
the soil in which it grows, more, perhaps,
than most vegetables, and hence the many
experiments in raising the same variety on
different soils are not always reliable and
may induce some experimenters to entertain
erroneous opinions with regard to its quality.
Again, different kinds of manure may be used
and these may affect the tuber favorably or
otherwise, and so the cultivators are led 10
/ different conclusions --
We are not a little apprehensive that far
mers are not particular enough in Sc 'ecting
their seed from the varieties they grow. Po-
tatoes grow and ripen just as apples do, and
yet it is easier to see when an apple has come
to maturity than it is to know when a potato
has, and therefore /. may often happen that
unripe potatoes are used as seed. This ID de-
cidedly bad cultivation. The best variety un-
der such management viii surely deteriorate
and produce poor crop. Never plant small
potatoes, nor overgrow i ones, but those of
fair size and fully ripe. This plant loves
virgin soil and grows best in it, but that is be-
coming more and more scarce every year, and
the farmer is compelled to resort to manure.
Barnyard manure is net the best for this
crop, especially if it is in green state. A
good soil, wise cultivation and appropriate
fertilizers win produce good crops, even from
varieties which many have condemned. Per-
haps there is no crop farmer raises which he
negects SO much as the potato crop. Some
think any soil will do well enough for pota-
toes, besides they are often not half planted
nor half hoed. We saw many fields last sea-
son in which the weeds were masters of the
situation" Such cultivation is exceedingly
Improbable. Farmers, let your potatoes.
have fair chance for their livesl E rft
p -ia 418a.ais srro3 AGRIooLA.
| Nasby in Clover.
Nasby has dried his eyes, and viii stay at
| the Cross Roads. He thus describes the re-