336 THE YKAU-liOOK OF AC Kl CI" LITRE. 



practice. Tbc principal reason for the extensive culture of root crops, the effect their growth 

 hat on the eoU, and the amount of fertilizing matter which their consumption furn&thet for the 

 higher order . ifl overlooked. Nearly, if not quite, as much nutritious m ■ be 



obtained from an acre cultivated with Indian corn as from the same acre cultivated with 

 turnip*. In (his respect, therefore, there ia little advantage in growing turnips. But take 

 another view of the subject: suppose that one acre is planted with Indian corn, and another, 

 alongside, with turnips, and that the crops from the two acres are consumed by anim 

 and the manure! made from them returned respectively to each acre, and both are sown to 

 wheat : tin wheat on the turnip acre would be a better crop than on the corn acre. We think 

 there can hardly be the shadow of a doubt on this point. The value of roots, then fore, 

 partly, if not principally, due to their fertilizing effect on the soil; and in deciding which 

 root to cultivate, we mu-t by all means bear this in mind. — New l'ork Country Gentleman. 



Beets vs. Turnips for Feeding Stock. 



Tuunips are raised to a greater extent, both in Great Britain and this country, than any 

 other kind of roots, except, perhaps, potatoes. But water enters very largely into their 

 composition, so as to detract from nutritive qualities. According to Dr. Anderson, the 

 chemist to the Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland, the beet is much more profitable 

 for feeding than the turnip. He states that he has analyzed a crop of mangel-wurzel, 

 amounting to thirty-four tons per acre, and ascertained by that analysis that the nutritive 

 matter produced exceeded two and a half times that of a good, and three and a half times 

 that of an average, crop of turnips. 



Mr. A. V. Moore, President of the State Agricultural Society of Michigan, states that the 

 kind of root which lias produced the greatest quantity of milk with him, is the sugar-beet. 



Other- have found the SUg ar-beets of superior value, so much so, that one farmer within 

 our knowledge ha* raised them as a field orop for a great many years. Be says they yield 

 as abundantly as any other root, and are at the same time more nutritive than others, with 

 the exception of carrots. He, too, thinks they are superior, for milch cows, to any other 

 root or vegetable whatever. He informs us that butter made in winter from cows fed on 

 this runt, in addition to their dry feed of hay, is nearly as great in quantity as in the fall, 

 and of nearly, if not quite, as rich a color and quality. 



On the Art of Cultivating Fruit-Trees. 



Thx absolut ty of proper preparation and deep and thorough cultivation of the 



■ peciafiy for certain fruit--, is now generally admitted, though regard must always be 



had to the natural activity in the Bap of the Bpecies, and to the degT t fertility of the soil. 



Barely it would be unwise to apply the same cultivation to the peach and the cherry as to 



the apple aid tin- pear, or to treat any of these 09 m w and fa tile grounds a* in old and ex- 



h ante i lands. The iniiuei f soils is remarkable. Bui by these we do not mean the 



Identical spot, the artificial bed in which the tree stands : for, in time, the root- take a wide 



range in lesrcfa of food. Some fruit- are good in nearly all plaOSB; other-, onlj in their 



,'ity: some succeed best on light, loamy, or sandy -oils; other-, In -tit! 



Boils. Ill the latter, many pears — for in-taiee, the BOORS' hose ami Napoll as- 



tringent ; while in the former they are entirely free from thi- quality. The I'.eiine rSI 



in England and in some parts of Prance, Is the best late pear. Bo it is also In some parts 



,e loils in Belgium; while with others, and with us, it is generally Inferior. The flavor 



sf fruit is inuch influenced no! only by soil, but al mate andmeteorolo ents. 



Tl,,, Bad on. Iiaiie-. I soil, di-ea-e OOOUnencc- in the root, and, a- a natural 



ssnseqoenoe, the Juioes of the b tty elaborated, end nnabls to supply the 



exigency of the fruit Even Injurious sun-' • ken up. A plain-tree has b 



known I Of Iron, BO as not only to OOlor the foliage, but a ode and 



form ii, n the bark, and finally to kill the tree. As an instance of climatic 



