322 



Preservation and Use of Roots. — Cultivation. 



Vol. IV. 



plained, viz. by duly attending to their qua- 

 lities and habits, when selecting the breed- 

 ers ; and again, to the means by which these 

 qualities and habits are sustained. If great 

 size be the valuable quality, and the utmost 

 which nature will admit of has been pro- 

 duced by an artificial climate and lodgings, 

 and a selection of food, it must be obvious, 

 that with the same climate, lodging and food, 

 the same stock may be kept up by breeding 

 in and in ; but with a less congenial climate, 

 lodging and food, the progeny of such ani- 

 mals must decline, and become less in size ; 

 and at the same time it might be observed, 

 that under these circumstances, no crossing 

 can keep up the size and properties. And 

 again, if animals or vegetables, of whatever 

 size, bred in a certain climate, and with cer- 

 tain lodging and food, can be furnished with 

 a lodging, climate, and food, more congenial 

 and nutritive, they may be increased and 

 improved by breeding in and in." 



my cellar doors and windows, but am careful 

 in having them closed in cold frosty nights. 

 In this manner I have preserved my roots for 

 several years, and I feel persuaded it is wor- 

 thy of patronising. I wish you much suc- 

 cess in your useful calling. 



John Barney. 



Preservation and use of Roots. 



The following remarks, which we copy 

 from the American Farmer, are from Mr. 

 John Barney, of Philadelphia, one of the 

 most eminent graziers in the country. 



I commenced two years ago to improve a 

 large tract of land on the river Delaware, 

 about three miles below my former residence, 

 and if spared a little longer, intend spending 

 most of my time there. I waat to give you 

 a few hints on my success in raising and 

 manner of preserving and feeding the good 

 Roots, the sugar beet in particular, mangel- 

 wortzel and rutabaga. I succeeded in raising 

 a large crop last season of all the three kinds, 

 and fed them to a large number of cattle, 

 sheep, and horses ; they are incalculably va- 

 luable to all kinds of stock, judiciously fed. 

 I use them as follows : — Cut hay of ike very 

 best kind, oats in the sheaf, the roots chopped 

 fine, a small quantity of Indian meal and oats 

 ground, two-thirds oats, and one-third Indian 

 meal, or bran, a small proportion of pure wa- 

 ter, just to make it moist. I preserved them 

 in a large stone wall cellar, commencing as 

 follows : — Provided a number of cart loads 

 of sandy lime, j)laced it so as to be handy, 

 placing my beets three tiers thick against the 

 wall all round the cellar, between every 

 stack of beets a little lime sand, and so on 

 as high as a man could pack them, the mid- 

 dle of the cellar left for the turneps. I have 

 been taking them out ever since the middle 

 of December, from five to six bushels per 

 day, and expect to do so till grass takes their 

 place ; as my ewe sheep begin to lamb, I ex- 

 pect my roots will allow me to increase the 

 number per day. In warm weather, I open 



From the N. E. Farmer. 

 Cultivation. 



Sir, — I have been a dependent farmer, 

 standing in need of the avails of my fields 

 for defraying the necessary expenses of the 

 farm and family ; therefore it has caused me 

 to experiment (though not extensively,) more 

 or less every year, and especially in plough- 

 ing, and that too in the commencement of my 

 farming system. Deep ploughing, where the 

 soil is thin, either naturally or made so by 

 shallow ploughing and tillage, calls for 40 

 or 50 cords of manure to the acre, to prepare 

 it to bring a good crop of corn. If a dry 

 season ensues, and the manure is not incor- 

 porated with the soil, the plant suffers for 

 the want of moisture, and the crop is light. 

 The farmer in the country where liis means 

 are limited for making or procuring manure 

 by purchase, can do justice to but a few acres ; 

 and therefore cannot raise one quarter of the 

 grain or roots necessary for fattening their 

 swine and beef cattle, and for family con- 

 sumption. Of course he cannot meet the de- 

 mands that will come against him, and con- 

 sequently he must fall in arrears. Should he 

 have one or two hundred acres of thin til- 

 lageable land, much of it must lie a number 

 of years in a dormant, useless state, before he 

 can, by ploughing and manuring, bring it in- 

 to a state of fertility, which Avould require 

 surplus funds to some considerable amount 

 to carry on his business. " Necessity," with 

 me, has been to some extent, "the mother of 

 invention." This plan, therefore, I have 

 adopted, and as rigidly as I have been able, 

 have pursued the method of ploughing which 

 I have stated in my communication to the 

 committee of the Massachusetts Society on 

 farms ; that is, to make all the manure I 

 can, plough deeper and deeper every year, 

 accordingly as I can manure, and bring my 

 lands in a steady progression up to a high 

 state of cultivation. I would explain myself 

 more fully by giving you a statement of the 

 management of one lot of twelve acres, 

 which had been ploughed shallow ; being 

 rather cold clayey land, as much so as any I 

 have. 



The first years after it came into my pos- 

 session, it was almost useless to rne. It had 

 no sward and yielded no production of much 

 value. The sight of this lot gave me pain 

 every time I crossed it, though my neigh- 

 bours would sometimes say to me they had 



