—1878—Don't Leave The Farm

#25

Voted the most popular painting at the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, Thomas Hovendon's Breaking Home Ties captured the drama of the separation of families by showing a young son leaving the family farm to make a living in the city. (click the picture to see a  larger view.... and take note of the dog on the left)

The restlessness that marks the people of New England at the present time is of recent origin. In the early days of the colonies there was, so far as we can learn, but little moving either to the West or from the country into the cities. 

For many years the population of our country towns was maintained, if not steadily increased. Within the present century, or since the multiplication of manufacturing towns and the change in our domestic economy, with the increase of railroads, which require a numerous retinue of employees, and the infinite variety of mechanical pursuits, giving employment to vast numbers of young men, there has been a greater tendency to migrate, and the rural towns have suffered to a far greater extent than the large centers of population.

This flocking of active men to the larger towns and villages has led to the most disastrous consequences. All the professions and all the avenues to success through mercantile and mechanical pursuits are filled and choked up, as it were; the balance of the industries has been distributed, and the road to wealth without manual labor overcrowded. It is easy to see that this condition of things is all wrong. It leads to the worst results, and to untold individual misery.

The true way to stop the consequences of this wrongful step, and to restore the lost balance, is to reoccupy the deserted farms, and to look more directly to mother earth for the means of supporting a large and increasing popluation.

There seems now to be every reason for returning to the old order of things, and looking to the farm and to improved cultivation and management for restoring the country to prosperity and thrift. Farming, earnestly and intelligently followed, will pay as well or better than any other business, and insure an honorable livelihood and independence. It offers every inducement to the industrious, the intelligent, the honest farmer’s son; and the failure of even of those who go to the farm from other pursuits is very rare. 

Farming indeed offers ample scope for the growth and development of all the elements of a noble, high-toned, and manly character.

[Thomas’s]

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The above excerpt is poignant and full of wisdom. It is a call to the restoration of an Agrarian Nation. The call is is as important and valid today as it was in 1878.

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—1878—Our Squashes

#24

Blue Hubbard Squash

Every farmer wants a few choice varieties of squashes, even if he does not expect to raise any for sale. They are extremely handy to have round, not only at Thanksgiving time but later in the winter. They make the best of pies, and a little squash on the table with a boiled dish is never out of place. It is just one of those things that no one likes to do without, and so we must raise it.

In 1848 Captain John Bridges brought two squashes to Marblehead from the West Indies. After cutting one up, he gave a piece to William Stanley that contained a few seeds in it. The quality of this squash was so fine that he took pains to plant the seed, and the result was the Hubbard squash, from which we have what is called the Marblehead squash, and some other varieties.

The Hubbard has now become one of the standard squashes of the country, and no garden appears to be complete without it. For cooking, it is not in its prime till December, and ought not to be eaten till then.

For an earlier squash, the Turban is superior to the Hubbard. It is good even when half grown, and continues to be good up to December, when the Hubbard is approaching its prime condition. The one very properly follows the other, and a few Turbans are quite as necessary as a good many Hubbards. The Turban has been greatly improved within a few years.

The Marrow squash is, on the whole, the most widely known and most generally cultivated of any, and must be regarded as one of the most valuable. The seed was introduced from abroad about forty years ago, and first grown in Marblehead. It has been changed in quality from its original type, become larger, probably from cross-fertilization, and lost some if its exquisitely fine grain and flavor, but is still the most popular of any for pies, and is more extensively sold than any other squash. 

The old-fashioned Crookneck is as good as it ever was, but the newer squashes are so much superior in quality that it is far less cultivated, and there is little or no demand for it in the market.

The land best suited to squashes may be described as good corn land, light, warm, and rich from thorough cultivation and manuring. Clean culture is, of course, essential to success, as the crop wants all the help the best of land can give it. The seed may be planted the middle of May. When the crop is harvested, it must be stored in a dry and well-ventilated room, and watched, to prevent the rot from spreading.

[Thomas’s]

A Turban Squash

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Yellow Crookneck Squash

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I did not know, until I read this excerpt, that Hubbard squash should not be eaten until December. In the New England states it would have been harvested in September, before frost.

My family grew big Blue Hubbards when I was a kid and I'll never forget my mother cooking one that was almost a year old. It was still perfectly good. We kept the squash in an unheated upstairs room of our drafty old farmhouse.

I am partial to squash as a storage food because absolutely nothing is required to "put it up." Just take the very best specimens, clean them off, and put them in a dry place. I'm sure this feature appealed to the old-timers who, of course, had no electricity (and therefore no freezers). 

I'm sure that winter squashes of various kinds will once again be an important winter food staple in the post-industrial,  agrarian era that we are now moving into.

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Marrow squash is something of a mystery to me. It might be Zucchini. Does anyone else have any insights into what Marrow squash is?

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I highlighted the phrase "clean culture" above. It is used often in the old agricultural writings. I believe that clean culture means the crop does not do well with weed competition. Vigilance with the hoe is required.

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—1877—To Economize Hen Manure

#22

The true secret of success on the farm is to save everything that is liable to run to waste. One of the greatest of all the leaks on most farms is that of manure. It drains away, or evaporates, or goes to waste in some way from want of careful looking after, and then we have to go into the market and buy artificial fertilizers, and pay forty or fifty dollars a ton, because we have not enough to use. But it is astonishing how much we can save from a flock of hens, if we will only take proper care of it.

One of the best ways we have ever tried for economizing this strong and valuable substance under the hen roosts, almost equal to guano in its fertilizing qualities, was to take some old barrels as tight as may be, and if not perfectly tight, coat them inside with gas tar, and fill them, all but one, with fine, dry, road dust, and set them away in a dry place for winter use. If the road dust is full of clay, so much the better, as clay is one of the best absorbents. To use, put a thin layer of dust into the empty barrel, an inch or two at the bottom, and then a layer of hen manure, the scrapings under the hen roost, and then another layer of dust, and so on, from time to time, till the empty barrel is filled, and one of those filled at the outset is empty and ready for use. The exact thickness of the layers is not important, of course, but the thinner they are the more completely will the whole mass become impregnated; but there must be dust enough to absorb all the volatile parts of the manure, and hold them without giving off an offensive odor. 

For fifty hens five barrels will do. If it is not possible to collect sufficient finely pulverized road dust, some very fine soil or loam will do, or some charcoal dust mixed with dry sifted coal ashes, or fine muck, but the finely ground clay road dust is about the cleanest and best material to handle.

In the spring the whole mass may be mixed and shoveled over, and it is astonishing to see what a valuable lot of the richest fertilizer has been collected and saved. The dust and all thoroughly mixed and incorporated, enables you to apply it evenly, and it is one of the best things to use in the garden, or upon melons, squashes, or any other plants that require a rich, stimulating manure. Try it and see.

[Thomas’s]

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Today's excerpt may provide a valuable clue about how the old-timers were able to grow such enormous vegetables...

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-1873- The Colorado Potato Beetle

#21

Colorado Potato Beetle

The farmers of New England should bear in mind that an enemy to the potato crop, more destructive and more too be dreaded than the fatal disease with which they are already familiar, is gradually, but surely approaching from the west. This insect, the ten-lined Doryphora, was first discovered in the Rocky Mountains, upon the wild species of the potato, and has worked its way eastward on the advance of civilization towards the west, till it has nearly overrun the Western States, and gained a foothold in some points of Western New York and Pennsylvania, making a progress on an average of about sixty miles a year.

In the season of 1871 the falling off of the potato crop in the west as compared with the previous year was estimated as fully twenty percent in consequence of the ravages of this destructive beetle. In some states it was much more than that, being, in Illinois, thirty-five percent, in Michigan, thirty-four percent, and so on.

In 1870, the northern column of this great army of invasion reached the borders of Canada, and gained a foothold some distance inland. In the spring of 1871, the beetles literally swarmed across the Detroit River, and crossed Lake Erie on ships, on boards, on chips, and shingles, or whatever else would afford them a passage, and in the course of the year they invaded the whole country between the St. Clair and the Niagara Rivers, and the islands in the western part of Lake Erie. 

They have not yet reached new England, probably, though reports were circulated last year that they had been observed in some points in Western Massachusetts, on the borders of New York. This was doubtless the Trilineata, an allied species, but an old, and comparatively harmless enemy, that was mistaken for the genuine Colorado beetle, as it was the year previous, when found in several parts of Worcester county, where it gave rise to the report that we had at last been reached by that greatest of all potato destroyers.

The ravages of this beetle are very complete. It destroys the vines, attacking them soon after they appear above the surface of the ground. The mature beetle lays its eggs, from seven hundred to twelve hundred in number, on the young leaves of the potato, attaching them at the end to the under side of the leaf in clusters. The larvae hatch out in a few days, and feed on the leaves fifteen to twenty days, when the burrow in the earth, and change into pupae, in which state they remain ten to twelve days, when they emerge as full-grown beetles, to lay more eggs for a second generation. There are three broods annually, the last remaining in the ground all winter, to come out as perfect beetles when the spring opens, and the potato comes up to supply the food and the place to deposit its eggs. 

As all its transformations occupy less than fifty days, it has been estimated that a single pair, allowed to increase unmolested, will produce over sixty millions in a single season.

Though this destructive insect spreads, it does not leave a district where it has once gained a foothold. So far as now known, it holds the ground which it has once gained in spite of all efforts to eradicate it. When it first appears in a new district, if every farmer would unite in the work, and pick it by hand, it could, perhaps, be kept down for a time. Paris green appears to be the only effective remedy, but many pieces have been kept clear by persistent and laborious hand picking.
[Thomas’s]

Colorado Potato beetle Eggs (photo link)

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Feeding Larvae of the Colorado Potato Beetle

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Anyone who has ever grown potatoes is familiar with this wicked little pest, but did you know the history of where it came from and how it became established throughout the United States? Now you do.

The "fatal disease" mentioned at the beginning of this excerpt, that the farmers of New England were so familiar with, was the potato blight that hit Ireland beginning in 1845. In Ireland, it was known as The Great Famine. Approximately one million people died as a result between 1845 and 1852. Another million people fled Ireland, many of them settling in New England.

Please note that this beetle was separated from the eastern parts of America by the vast prairies of the west. Only when pioneer farmers plowed up the prairies and planted potatoes did the beetle find favorable conditions for moving eastward.

The excerpt mentions Paris Green. This chemical insecticide was one of the first to be used by American farmers. I'll have more to say about it in an upcoming excerpt here.
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Personally, I deal with Colorado potato beetles by "persistent and laborious hand picking." But I only have a few rows of potatoes in my garden to care for. Every day (sometimes twice a day) I go down the row crushing beetles and smearing their clusters of orange eggs. For the family-scale gardener, hand picking works just fine.

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Bees & Honey—1833, 1865, 1867, 1880—

#20

-1833-
Bees

Watch your bees for it is about time to look out for swarms. This useful insect meets with less attention from us farmers, than it merits. Bees cost almost nothing at all, but a little care and a few hives, which almost any farmer can make. Some believe, and apparently on good grounds, that a garret, or any other unoccupied dark room will answer every purpose of a bee house; and Dr. Smith asserts, that bees in a garret, “with so much room before them and a few small orifices through which they may get into the open air, never would swarm until the whole garret was completely stored with comb.” But in order that you may manage your bees to the best advantage, you had better procure a little treatise on bees, written by Dr. Thatcher and Dr. Smith, which may be had of any of the booksellers.

[Maine]

-1865-
To Catch a Bee Swarm

The Rev. Thomas P. Hunt, of Wyoming, Penn., has devised an amusing plan by which he says that he can at all times prevent a swarm of bees from leaving his premises. Before his stocks swarm, he collects a number of dead bees, and, stringing them with a needle and thread, as worms are strung for catching eels, he makes of them a ball about the size of an egg, leaving a few strands loose. By carrying—fastened to a pole—this bee-bob about his apiary, when the bees are swarming, or by placing it in some central position, he invariably secures every swarm. Almost all the bees in a swarm are in a very peaceable mood, having filled themselves with honey before leaving the parent stock.

[Maine]

A Turn of the Century Beekeeping Class

-1867-
Chloroform For Bees

Chloroform has been applied, instead of sulphur, to bees. A correspondent in the Edinburg Evening Courant has adopted this plan successfully. The quantity of chloroform required for an ordinary hive is the sixth part of an ounce; a very large hive may take nearly a quarter of an ounce. His mode of operation he describes as follows: 

I place a table opposite to and about four feet distant from the hive; on the table I spread a thick linen cloth, in the centre of the table I place a small, shallow breakfast plate, which I cover with a piece of wire gauze, to prevent the bees from coming in immediate contact with the chloroform. I now quickly and cautiously lift the hive from the board on which it is standing, set it down on the top of the table, keeping the plate in the centre, cover the hive closely up with cloths, and in twenty minutes or so, the bees are not only sound asleep, but contrary to what I have seen when they are suffocated with sulphur, not one is left among the combs; the whole of them are lying helpless on the table. You now remove what honey you think fit, replace the hive in its old stand, and the bees, as they recover, will return to their home. A bright, calm, sunny day is the best; and you should commence your operations in the morning before many bees are abroad.

[Leavitt’s]

A Young 19th Century Beekeeper

-1880-
Adulterated Honey

We had thought that there might be some articles of domestic consumption that would escape adulteration. But in view of recent developments we are inclined to believe that the ingenuity of man is unlimited in this direction. Prof. A. J. Cook, of the Michigan Agricultural College, an acknowledged leader in all that relates to agricultural interests, has dispelled the pleasing delusion that honey in the comb, evidently put there by the busy bee themselves, and covered by their skill, is certain to be pure. 

He shows plainly that it is the practice in some quarters to feed the insects on glucose, which they store like the genuine honey, and cover in the same way. This disreputable practice has already been carried so far as to seriously injure our reputation abroad, and injuriously affect our foreign markets. 

The British authorities at Liverpool, not long since, seized a large cargo of comb honey shipped from new York, on account of adulteration. This glucose is an inferior sort of sugar made from starch through the agency of sulphuric acid, and liable to be contaminated with poisonous substances. 

Commercial sulphuric acid usually contains arsenic, lead, and other mineral poisons, and, that these may be left in the glucose has been sufficiently proved by chemical analysis. Glucose has for a long time been used to considerable extent in adultering cane sugars, and much of the sugar we use in our families  will be found, on examination to contain it in larger or smaller quantities. When the consumers inquire more carefully into the character of the articles purchased, and insist upon purity rather than cheapness, these rascalities will cease. The remedy lies with the people. 
[Maine]

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I find it most interesting that the nascent industrial food system in this country was adulterating food as far back as 1880. Contrary to the almanac editor's assertion, such "rascalities" did not cease. They just got worse. Nowadays practically every food offered by the industrial food outlets (supermarkets) is adulterated in some manner. 

Speaking of which, in a future excerpt here you'll learn about the introduction of oleomargarine and the adulteration of butter in the latter 1800s. That was a big deal at the time.

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For those who don't know, it was once common for beekeepers to harvest honey from their hives by first gassing the bee colony with sulphur. This killed all the bees. 

In 1852 L.L. Langstroth, a Congregational minister in Pennsylvania, developed the hive style that is commonly known today. It allows frames of honey to be removed and harvested without destroying the hive. You can read a pretty good article about the history of beekeeping in America At This Link.

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—1871—Culture of Roots

#18

These old-timers appear to be very pleased with their enormous beet roots, and well they should be.

The great, and perhaps the greatest, defect in our New England agriculture, is the small extent devoted to the culture of roots. It is no doubt true that in a climate like ours, where stall feeding for five or six months in a year is a necessity which nature imposes upon us, the grass crop must be our main reliance for the feeding and nourishment of stock. Still, we need something more. Even if it were only for a change of food, as a sort of condiment, a supplement to the regular feeding, we should find a more extended cultivation of roots judicious and economical. But apart from their importance in this respect, it can be shown, we think, that a greater amount of nutriment can be raised from an acre of well-cultivated roots, be they English turnips, Swedes, or mangolds, than can be raised from an acre of grass.

It may not be generally known that even horses soon become very fond of Swedish turnips, and that they thrive upon them as well as carrots, while the cost of raising them is undoubtedly far less, bushel for bushel. It is not necessary, in this connection, to cite instances to show how many tons can be raised upon a given space of land, nor to compare the nutritive value of these roots with that of hay, which might easily be done. The yield of the Swede and the mangold, under good cultivation, and on a suitable soil, is often enormous, and generally, it may be stated, as vastly superior, when its nutritive value is considered, to that of any crop of hay ever raised on the same extent of land.

Swedes and mangolds, therefore, must be regarded as among the most important and valuable of the root crops, and those most worthy of the attention of every farmer. These plants require very different cultivation and treatment. For the former, take a warm piece of light land which has been in grass from some years, and on which the water is not likely to stand for want of drainage, and plough it deeply, about the middle of June, turning in the grass, and then spread on a little well-rotted barnyard manure, and harrow it in with a good harrow,—for this purpose we consider Share’s harrow as the best,—and then mark out the rows with a marker, about twenty-eight inches apart, and scatter a little superphosphate, bone, ashes, or other concentrated phosphatic manure in the rows or drills, at the rate of three or four hundred pounds to the acre. This may be sown by hand in the rows. Then sow the seed in these rows with a seed-sower that will cover the seed well. These are the main points to be observed.

Avoid strong nitrogenous or ammoniacal manures. They cause the plant to run to tops, and make large tops and long necks at the expense of the root, which is the main thing you want in the cultivation of this crop. [The Swede] wants a light, warm soil; it wants no forcing or over-stimulating manure; it wants clean culture, and plenty of room to grow without being crowded.

Now the mangold is quite different. It needs to be sown much earlier, for it requires a longer time to grow. It does best on good, strong, stiff soil, well cultivated, and full of manure left and retained in the soil by previous cultivation. Land that will easily bear three tons of hay to the acre is none too good for it. Plough it early in May. Put it in as good and mellow condition as you can, and plough in not half straw or muck, but solid manure, that has only compost materials enough to hold the liquids, and no more. Plough it in once, and mix it up by a second ploughing. Then harrow thoroughly, and drill it by a small plow or marker. If you have any refuse salt, a little scattered along these drills will do good. A little old rotted manure will help. Sow the seed early, the earlier the better after the land is ready, and take care that it is well covered, and the earth pressed down solid over the seed, so as to keep a uniform temperature and moisture. The seed is slow and difficult to germinate, and these conditions are essential to it. Now if you cultivate these plants well, and keep the weeds out, you may expect ten or twelve hundred bushels to the acre. Much larger crops have been raised. Nineteen hundred bushels have been obtained, and seventy-three tons were raised on Deer Island. Is not such a crop worth taking a little extra pains for?

In feeding out the roots in the winter it is always best to begin with the English turnips, as they keep a shorter time than either Swedes or mangolds. They are very useful as the cold weather and stall feeding approaches, and serve to break the otherwise sudden transition from green and succulent feed to dry hay. After them will come the Swedish turnips, to be continued as long as they last, perhaps till the first of March, when it is time to begin on the mangolds. The saccharine matter in the mangolds is not fully developed till towards the end of winter, and if fed at the beginning of winter they are less nutritive and more apt to scour the cattle. They may be continued in increasing quantities daily till grass.
[Thomas’s]

Harvesting roots. These people appear to be making a pile of mangel roots and covering it with tops. This was a common practice. Later on the pile would be taken to barn or cellar storage, or stored in earth-covered pits closer to the barn.

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Root crops were very important in the Agrarian Nation (they are frequently mentioned in the 19th century farm almanacs), and there is renewed interest in growing these crops for animal fodder. The previous almanac excerpt offers a lot of valuable information on the subject. For more insight into this topic, I offer this next excerpt from 1864. Pictures of different kinds of roots follow.

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Now that's a big beet!

 -1864-
About Roots

The root crop requires great labor, unless both the ground and the manure are very free from weed seeds. But they form a most excellent and important article of feeding for stock. especially as an occasional change from other food. No farmer, therefore, can afford to neglect them. Ruta bagas and the English turnips are best fed out in the early part of winter. The mangel wurzel should be kept till later, say as late as March, before being used.

Ruta Bagas.—At eighteen inches apart, in drills, or in ridges, three quarters of a pound of ruta baga seed is enough for an acre. About a pound is usually allowed on an average. Skirving’s King of the Swedes is one of the latest varieties.

Mangel Wurzel.—The varieties of mangels most cultivated here are the Long Red, the Yellow Globe, and the Long Yellow. The Long Red is a very hardy root, and keeps well. It grows fast, and is usually very productive. The flesh is sometimes marbled or mixed, varying very greatly, from almost uniform red to nearly white; but the color does not affect the quality of the root. The Yellow Globe is about ten inches in diameter when fully grown, and often weighs from ten to twelve pounds. The part under ground has a yellow skin, but above ground it becomes nearly brown. The flesh is white, marked with yellow, fine-grained and sweet. The leaves are not very large and stand erect. This is one of the most productive of all the varieties of beet, and is very excellent for stock of all kinds. it keeps sound and fresh late into spring, and it does not sprout as early as many other varieties. It is well adapted to hard and shallow soils. Yield from thirty to forty tons, according to soil and culture. Sow, like the long reds, in drills eighteen to twenty inches apart, and thin out to ten inches in the drills. About three or four pounds of seed are required per acre. Sow from the 1st of May to the 1st of June. Early sowings are most productive. It can be harvested with the common plough.

The Long Yellow.—is a very productive variety. The roots are not smooth, but often forked into many branches. it is excellent for dairy stock, giving a rich color to the milk produced from it.

The White Sugar Beet.— is a valuable variety, much grown in this country for feeding to stock, very good for the table, and when young, tender, well-flavored and sweet. It is cultivated like the Long Red Mangle, that is, sown from the middle of April to the last of May, in drills eighteen inches apart, thinned to ten inches in the drills, on deep, rich, mellow land.
[Thomas’s]
 

I grew these red mangels several years ago to feed my chickens in the winter. I can report that chickens love mangel beets. CLICK HERE to read the story.

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I want to try to clarify for you what kinds of beets the old-timers were talking about in the above almanac excerpts. First, there are Mangel Wurzel beets, which are typically called mangels. In the picture above, my sons (when they were quite a bit younger than they are now) are holding what I assume are "Long Red" mangels. Here is a picture of Long Yellow mangels, or "mangolds"....

Yellow Mangels

English Turnips are the common turnips that some people grow in their garden...

English Turnips

Swedish Turnips were often called just "Swedes" in the old almanacs. It took me awhile to figure out that Swedes are what we now know as rutabagas...

A Rutabaga

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I suspect there are numerous varieties of red and yellow mangel. Johnny's Seeds now sells a Mammoth Red Mangle seed (which doesn't look very mammoth in their picture), and  Yellow Cylindrical Mangel seed.

For a very insightful and informative article about these old roots I recommend The Roots of Taste.

I see that Keene, New York (in the Adirondacks) has a rutabaga festival. Click Here to see Marcy Neville with a fine example of an Adirondack rutabaga.

If you have experience growing and feeding these kinds of roots, or you know of a good internet link with useful information, please use the comments section here to share your experiences for the benefit of others (now and in the years ahead).

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Root Cutters 

Roots need to be cut up before animals can eat them. This old hand-crank Bamford root cutter was made in England.

This is another style of Bamford root cutter. It is larger and driven by a belt. But the cutting mechanism is the same as the hand-driven cutter and this picture shows shows you the spinning disc with the teeth that cut the roots.

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-1830- Sweet or Carolina Potatoes

#17

Old-timers with a nice pile of harvested sweet potatoes

The Sweet or Carolina Potato, has of late been cultivated in New England with wonderful success. They have ever been raised in great abundance in the southern states, and many have found their way to our markets, where they found a ready sale, at an exorbitant price. It must be very pleasing to our yeomanry, to know that this most delicious root, can so easily be raised in Massachusetts, as it is stated to be in our newspapers and other periodical literature of the day.

It is advisable to plant out the slips early in the season, as soon as the ground becomes dry in April, and choose a high warm situation. The slips may be procured at the seed store of the New England Farmer, 52 North Market Street, Boston. A writer in Taunton Advocate, gives the following mode of cultivating them:

“I raised the last season (1828) a bushel and a half of sweet potatoes from thirty hills, an average lot of them were exhibited at the Cattle Show in Mansfield. They were from six to eight inches in circumference, and from six to twelve inches long. I planted them in hills, which were about the size of a bushed basket, and made as near together as the soil would permit; so that the bases of the hills nearly touched each other. The slips were cut in two, and three pieces were put in each hill, about eight inches apart, and covered an inch or so with the earth.

All the attention which was paid to them after planting was merely pulling up the weeds with the fingers until the potatoes  made their appearance. The vine grows with great rapidity, and soon covers the hills, so that no further attention is necessary. The soil best suited for the potato is a light sandy loam, manured with compost or house dung, spread and ploughed in.  
[Thomas’s]

Sweet Potatoes

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I was attracted to this 181-year-old almanac excerpt because I plan to grow sweet potatoes in my upstate N.Y. garden this year, and it will be a first for me. Very few gardeners I know of in these parts grow sweet potatoes, but I have a homesteading neighbor who grows a lot of them and has done so for years. He even uses his potatoes from one year to sprout slips which he plants to grow the next year's crop. That's sustainable agriculture for you.

Sweet potato slips, ready for planting

If, like me, you've never grown sweet potatoes (especially here in the North) it may seem like a hard thing to do. But the 1830 farm almanac excerpt for today makes it sound easy, and my neighbor says it's easy. Like so many other such things, it only seems difficult if you've never done it before.


As a  matter of fact, I will be planting some Beauregard sweet potato slips tomorrow, May 28, 2011. I will plant them as explained in an excellent article in the current issue of Mother Earth News magazine (June/July 2011). The article is by Ken Allen, who lives in Canada and has been growing sweet potatoes for 37 years. Allen is author of the book, Sweet Potatoes For The Home Garden. The book is now out of print but you can read about it and get some insights at This Link.


Why grow sweet potatoes? Well, they are remarkably good for a body (far more nutritious than "Irish" potatoes). They store well (if properly cured, as the Mother Earth article explains), and if you grown your own slips, from your own sweet potatoes, you can be sweet potato self sufficient for the rest of your life. Oh, and they taste good too— I'm partial to baked sweet potato fries.

Baked sweet potato fries.

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The next issue of Agrarian Nation will feature a lengthy essay titled Culture of Roots from Thomas's 1871 almanac.

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