No. 9. 



Sugar Beet vs. Biitabaga — Lime — Chickens. 



275 



For the Farmors' Cabinet. 

 Sugar licet vs. Rutabaga— Iiinic. 



* In my last communication on sunrar beets, 

 I was unprepared to say fully, vvhethm- I con- 

 sidered that or the rutabaj^a the more prefer- 

 able crop for general cultivation, as a winter 

 feed for stock. With another winter's expe- 

 rience, I am now willinjr to assert, that I 

 consider the beet crop worth fifty per cent, 

 more than the riitabajiu turnip, comparing 

 acre with acre. The results of the dillbrent 

 root*!, when fed to the cattle the past winter, 

 have been very similar to those of 1838 and 

 '39, namely — when the stock of beets was 

 exhausted, and the cows fed the same quan- 

 tity of rutabaga per day, there was no appa- 

 rent dimiinition of the quantity of milk, but 

 the quantity of butter was about one third 

 less. Now, if sub:^equcnt experiments, or 

 other men's experience confirm these two re- 

 sults, I am allogetlier safe in making the 

 above estimate of comparative value, as the 

 beet crop with me has been by far the most 

 productive ; and, I believe, as a feed for hogs, 

 their value would support the same estimate 

 as for cows. So much has been said on the 

 subject of their culture, selection of soil, ma- 

 nure, &c., as to deter some good farmers from 

 experimenting with such troublesome affairs: 

 to these, 1 will just say, my experience justi- 

 fies me in saying, these rules are all stuff; 

 and any man who raises beets in his garden, 

 can raise them in his field with equal facility, 

 and he may manure the ground with what- 

 ever anifnal or vegetable matter he pleases — 

 fermented or unfermented, just as is most 

 convenient: plantptoi/y of seed (well soaked 

 in hot water,) — keep down the weeds, and 

 the crop will be almost certain. 



Grant me a little more room, Mr. Editor, 

 if it be not already engaged, and I will pick 

 a bit of a quarrel with the Maryland State 

 Geologist's Report, as published in the last 

 number of the Cabinet. He says, " Get lime 

 at almost any expense, and apply, if the soil 

 is good and imder good cultivation, at once, 

 the whole quantity necessary to permanently 

 improve it, and this quantity need not exceed 

 one hundred and fifty bushels," — I suppose 

 he means per acre. I would recommend 

 those who would follow this advice, to do it 

 with caution, and offer them two instances to 

 support my views. My father had a field of 

 twenty-five acres of as good wheat soil as 

 could be found — a deep loam. Its produce 

 for years stood almost unrivalled : he, wishing 

 to make it still better, applied to a part, fifty 

 bushels to the acre — to the balance (except- 

 ing half an acre), about sixty-five or seventy 

 bushels per acre. The result was as follows : 

 in 1837, wheat crop, not much more than the 

 seed ; 1838, corn, about ten buahels per acre, 



on the heaviest limed part— on the other, 

 forty busliels per acre; 1839, onU, good, 

 whore tliere was the least lime— on ihe other 

 part, fifteen to twenty bushels per acre. Tlie 

 lialf acre above alluded to, received filly 

 bushels; the result was as follows: of wlieat, 

 not a handful — of corn, some stalks three feet 

 high, and two busliels of nubbins— of oats, a 

 growth of straw sixteen inches high, which 

 refused to show any symptom of ripening, 

 and was cut to get it out of the way. The 

 whole is now well set with clover, and most 

 probably will be restored in anotlior year to 

 its former state of tliritl and usefulness. 



The second case is that of John Green, of 

 Penn's manor, than whom we have no better 

 farmer. I am credibly informed, that he says 

 he has applied, at different times, fifteen hun- 

 dred dollars worth of lime to his fiirm, and 

 has lo:;-t more by its retarding the ripening of 

 !\is wheat crops — thus keeping them longer 

 exposed to rust — than all he has gained from 

 its application to his farm. I have other re- 

 sults similar to these, but do not think it ne- 

 cessary to oflTer them ; and, in conclusion, 

 would say, I believe a dressing of twenty or 

 twenty-five bushels of lime per acre, an all- 

 •sufRciont quantity to last five or seven years, 

 and will bring the farmer better returns than 

 much larger dressings applied at longer in- 

 tervals of time. 



M. S. KiRKBRIDE. 



Morrigville, 3d mo. 22d, 1840. 



P. S. — Can any of the city correspondents 

 inform me where I can purchase the book, 

 called " The Young Man's Travelling Com- 

 panion on Farriery." It has been recom- 

 mended to me by a distinguished veterinary 

 suro-eon, as " worth all the other similar 

 works," as a book of general reference for 

 tlie farmer. 



M. S. K. 



For tlie Farmers' Cabinet. 



"Way to Produce Male or Female 



Clxicliejis. 



It has been handed down from ancient 

 authors, that hens' eggs that are round, pro- 

 duce, when hatched, female chickens, and 

 that those that are long and very pointed at 

 one end, produce males. This has often been 

 confidently stated to be a fact— yet, so far as 

 the writer has knowledge, it has not been 

 tested by experiment in this country. Will 

 some of the raisers of poultry be pleased to 

 make a decisive trial this season, and inform 

 the readers of the Cabinet of the result, so 

 that tliere may no longer be doubt on the 



subject ] ^ 



^ B. S. 



Be temperate and industrious, and happi- 

 ness, health, and fortune, will bo thine. 



