The market value of these roots was at the time three shillings, which would make an income of And a profit per acre, $622.50 561.45 The comparative value of these roots may be learned in either of two ways. First, by actual experiments in feeding; and, Second, by chemical analysis. The latter mode gives the following results. The dry matter of the different varieties of the turnip varies from eight to twenty-two per cent. The Rutabaga contains more than most other kinds, and will average about sixteen per cent. dry matter. Allowing fifty pounds per bushel, and one-sixth dry matter, the above crop of 1,660 bushels of Rutabagas gives 13,833 lbs. dry matter, which is shown by analysis, to contain as much nutriment as the same weight of corn, estimating corn at sixty lbs. per bushel; and the above crop of roots is for feeding purposes equal to a crop of 230 bushels of corn per acre. But this estimate, founded on the dry matter, does not justice to the roots, since they are probably worth more to feed in their natural state, than when reduced to a dry powder. Actual experiments with these roots are not yet sufficiently numerous to prove anything, but they do indicate that a thousand bushels of roots can be raised as easily as a hundred of corn, and that for feeding purposes, one such crop of roots is worth two of corn. JOHN T. ANDREW. WEST CORNWALL, Feb. 3d, 1855. EARLY POTATO ROT IN THE STATE OF The occurrence of so fatal a disease as the recent Potato Rot, in a plant so widely cultivated as this, and furnishing the means of subsistence to so large a portion of the human race, is a matter of vast importance, and justifies us in treas uring every item of its history, and any fact in any way pertaining to it; for it is only when the thing comes to be fully understood, that we can expect to be able to apply the proper remedy. The potato disease which I propose to describe very briefly, was well known in several towns in Lincoln county, Maine, nearly forty years ago, and perhaps even earlier, but I am not aware that any description of it has ever been published, except a short article by myself, a few weeks since, in the American Agriculturist. The writer, then a boy, labored more or less upon a farm in the town of Bristol, which is situated on the sea-coast, in the south part of the county above mentioned. The description is entirely from recollection. The farmers there, at that time, planted their potatoes almost exclusively in hills like Indian corn, and it was characteristic of the disease that it would attack separate hills simultaneously in all parts of the field, thus indicating, as many at the time supposed, that it originated in the planted tuber. Its ravages were much less destructive than those of the modern disease, as it seldom affected more than a tenth, or perhaps one-eighth part of a whole field and never appeared in the tubers after their removal from the ground. Sometimes a part of the vines in a hill would be attacked, while the other part would remain healthy; and seldom ever were there any indications that the disease was communicated from one hill to another. In other words, the disease, whatever it was, did not appear to be contagious; and the opinion was therefore adopted by many that it was limited to the vines produced from seed-tubers, in which the germ of the disease, so to speak, or the virus, (to use a medical terın,) existed before planting. Sometimes a few hills would be seen diseased at the time of hilling-about the last of June or first of July—and as the season progressed, other hills in different,. and perhaps distant parts of the field, would be attacked, in the same manner, without any apparent connection between them. But generally there would be no appearance of it, as I recollect, until as late as the first of August, or later. The first indication of the disease in a vine would be seen in a slight wilting or curling of the edges of the leaves, and almost always the whole of the rest of the plant-the stem, and smaller leaves, and the leaf-stalks-would soon, if not immediately, put on a deeper green. If the roots were examined at this time, they would be found more or less diseased, but the plant would often continue to grow for some time, the stalks becoming even stouter than those of the healthy plants, but not increasing so much in length. In other cases the plants would soon wither away and die. When the plant assumed the deep green color, multitudes of small tubers would usually form on the lower part of the stalks, but above the ground, and the stalk would become hollow like the decaying trunk of an old trec, the roots and proper tubers being involved in the decay. The tubers in their decay, which would always commence at the part where the stem is attached, would generally turn to a soft pulp or jelly, but sometimes they would be quite hard, and of a white color, but rotten throughout. Late in the season it would usually be found, that the plants first attacked would be entirely decayed, while in others, the disease would be in every stage of its progress. As stated above, I never knew the disease to attack the tubers after their removal from the ground, but single ones, in which the rot had commenced, would continue to decay, and perhaps others in the immediate contact, would rot likewise, in con. sequence of the moisture produced, just as a rotten apple or orange occasions the rotting of others in contact with them. It will be perceived that this disease was essentially dif ferent from the modern rot, in several particulars, being also much less destructive. As I have already said, many believe that it originated in the planted tubers, and they therefore thought that by obtaining their seed potatoes from distant places, where the disease was not known, it might be avoided. This was done to some extent, and I think, with favorable results. At the place of the writer's residence, the disease was at its worst, about 1818 or 1820, and little is recollected of it after 1822 or 1823. Whether it extended beyond a few towns on the sea-coast in Lincoln county, is unknown. The modern disease prevailed in Maine very much the same as in other places. MIDDLETOWN, Feb. 16, 1855. JOHN JOHNSTON. HARTFORD COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.* THE Hartford County Agricultural Society, is the oldest in the state, and was organized nearly forty years ago. A number of gentlemen from different parts of the county, met at the state-house, in Hartford, on the 27th of August, 1817, to take into consideration the propriety of forming a County Agricultural Society. Nathaniel Terry, Esq., was called to the chair, and Henry L. Ellsworth, Esq., appointed secretary, A committee was appointed, of which Pliny Hillyer, Esq., was chairman, to draft articles of association for the Society, and report the same at a future meeting. At a subsequent meeting, held at the state-house, Oct. 7th, the same year, the articles of association, together with certain by-laws, submitted by the committee appointed to prepare them, were passed, and officers were elected for the year ensuing. They consisted of the following persons: ANDREW KINGSBURY, President; NORMAN KNOX, 1st Vice-President; JOHN Russ, 2nd Vice-President; HENRY L. ELLSWORTH, Corresponding Secretary; HENRY SEYMOUR, Recording Secretary; CHRISTOPHER COLT, Treasurer; MICHAEL OLCOTT, Auditor; together with various Town, and other committees. The first Cattle Show took place in Hartford, October 13th, 1818, and numerous premiums were awarded. The Society continued slowly but steadily to advance, as its objects and usefulness became better known and appreciated, until the * Presidents of the Hartford County Agricultural Society, from the first organization in 1817 to 1855, inclusive: Andrew Kingsbury, Timothy Pitkin, Enoch Perkins, Charles A. Goodrich, Solomon Olmsted, D. W. Grant, Egbert Cowles, Norman Porter, Horace Pitkin. |