New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-07-23
WHAT KNOW OF FARMING.
by HORACE GREELEY.


Potato is ly the most acc'p'""'o "'N !" ''o,'
General use Our ancestors IL Is se'uo"' No'C u'S'-
tute and ignorant of the Potato piioi ~ ''o
- ,,rorica. though Europe would now ma 1t
ely ,,S, VI her teeming millions without il
I.,.I;,,,. rrcttv widely over that continent,
-. r,,,,nIher that found any considerable dis
- ,,f,1i fle Potato was not cultivated, though
Irol,DJ Western England and Northern switzer-
III itI small portion Of Northern Italy, are i'm
- IN INV mind rs most addicted to the growth
,s,uI. mt. Other roots are eaten occasionally
- WV of variety, or rs giving n relish
80 ordinary food; but the Potato alone forms part
- tcc EVERYDAY fdiet alike of prince and peasant.
lis an almost indispensable ingredient Of the feasts
~ Dives while il is the cheapest and oommonest re-
ort for satiatinc or modeIatiug the hunger of Laz
arms Irocollct hearing my parents, fifty years ago,
relate how in their childhood and youth the poor of
New-Enqland when the grain-crop Of that region
was cut short, as il often was were obliged to sub
stat through the following Winter mainly on Pota-
foes and MILK and then accorded to those unfOrtu
mates of the preceding generation sympathy which
should now considerably abate, provided Che Pota-
toes we're of good quality. Roasted Potatoes sea-
soned with salt and butter and washed down with
bounteous draughts of fresh buttounilk used in
those days to be the regular supper served up in
farmers homes after a chuming Of cream into but
ter. and have since eaten costly suppers that were
not half SO good.
The Potato, say some accredited accounts, was
first brought 20 Europe. from Virginia, by Sir Walter
Raleigh in 1856 or 1884, but do not believe the story
Authentic tradition aflns that the Potato was
utterly unknown in Now-EnCland, or at all events
east OF the Connecticut when the Scotch-lrSh VINO
first settled Londonderry, \. H., came over from Old
Londonderry, Ireland, bringing the Potato with
them. They spent the Winter of 1119 in different
parts Of Massachusetts and Maine quite number
Of them at HayerLill, Mass, where they gave away
few Potatoes for seed, on leaving for their own
chosen location in the Spring, and they afterward
learned that the English cOlonists who received
them tried hard to find make the seed-balls edible
the next Fan, hut obliged 10 give it mp as bad
job, leaving the tubors untouched and unsupported
il the ground.
Idoubt that the Potato was found growing ~ Euro
peans in any part of this country, unless It be in that
we have acquired from Mexico. 1t is essentially
child Of the mountains and doubt if it grew wild
anywhere else than on the sides Of the great chain
which travcrsed Spanish America at a hight OF from
5000 to 5000 feet above the surface of the ocean.
Here it found climate cooled 10y the elevation and
moistcucd by melting SHOWS from above and /
by frequent showers, yet one which seldom al
lowed the ground to be frozen to any considerable
depth, while the pure and bracing atmosphere was
cOngcni.l Go its nature and requirements. In this
country the Potato IS hardest and tuifticst
Mousians of Vermont, or the Catsllills and kindred
elevations in our own State. and in similar regions
Of Pcnnsylyaaia and the States further South and
West.
Nv own place g at least - miles FROM and 500 feet
above, Long Island Sound; yet cannot make the
Potato, by the most generous treatment so prolific
rs it was in New Ham slire in my boyhood, where
dug bushel from "A hills, grown on rough, hard
ground. but which, having just been cleared of a
thick growth Of bushes and briars, was probably
better adapted to this crop than though it had been
covered an inch deep with barn-} I'd manure.
He WHO has a tolorably dry, warm, or sandy soil,
covered two or three inches deep with decayed OF
decayiug leaves and brush may count with conf
dence on raising from it good csop Of Potatoes,
provided his seed be sound and healthy On The
other hand all authorities agree that animal ma
nures unless very thoroughly rottedqn Intimately
mixed with the soil injurious to the quality Of
Potatoes grown thereon, stimulating any tendency
TO disease if they do not originally produce
such disease. l believe that Swamp Muck dug in
Summer or Autumn deposited dry bank or
glade and cured gifts acidity by an adniSturc of
Wood Ashes Of Lime Of salt lbctteT still of Lime
and Salt chemically compounded by dis5oiyins the !
Salt in the least possible quantity OF Water, |
and shaking the Lime with that Water, folmS an
excellent fertilizer for Potatoes If administered
with liberal hand A bushcl Of either CT these AZ
kacs TO cord of muck is too little the dose should
be doubled if possible but if the quantity be small
mix il the more carefully and give it ali the time
You can wherein to operate upon the muck before
applying the mixture to your fields
Where the muck is not easily to be bad, yet the
soil is thin and poor, would place considerable
reliance on deep blowing and subsoiling in the Fall
and blowing just before planting in the Spring.
Give a good dressing Of Plaster not less than 20)
lbs TO the acre. directly after the Fall blowing; if
YOU have Ashes scatter them literally in the drill OF
hill as you plant and if you have them not supply
their place with SupeT-phosphate or Bone-dust. l
think many farmers viii be agrceaby surprised by
the additional Weld which viii accrue from this
treatment Of their soil.
Those who have no swamp muck and feel that
they can afford the outlay, may, by plowlng or sub
soiling early in the Fall, seeding heavily with rye
and turning this under when the time comes for
planting in the Spring improve both crop and soil
materially But even to these would say, Apply the
Gypsum in the Fall, and the Ashes or Lime and Salt
mixture in the Spring; and now, with good seed and
good luck YOU viii be reasonably sure Of
boupteous harvest If a farmer, having
poor. WORKOUT field of sandy loan, wants
10 do his very best by IT, let him pow, subsOil, SOW
rye and plaster in the Fall above indicated, turn
this under and SOW bucWheat late The next Spring;
plow this under in turn when it has attained It's
growth and SOW 10 clover; turn this down the fol-
lowing Spring, and plant TO late potatoes, ana ne
will not merely obtain a large crop, but nave ms
land in admirable condition for whatever may follow.
am quite wei aware that such an outlay OF labor
and seed with entire loss OF crop for one season
Will seem 10 many too costly do not advise il eX-
cept under peculiar circumstances; and yet am con-
fdent that there are many fields Ithat would be
!, hifI