374 



Root Crops. — Highlands Farm. 



Vol. IV, 



simply on the course of the winds and the 

 condition of the atmosphere ; and that what- 

 ever store of the seeds of the parasite may 

 be supposed to remain after the most blight- 

 ing season, they are still found perfectly 

 harmless in warm and genial seasons ; and 

 after the interval of a number of years of 

 exemption from the malady, one shall sud- 

 denly occur, in which the disease shall be 

 epidemic, and its cause an atmosphere un- 

 favourably changeable, so obvious, that if a 

 blind man cannot see, he shall be sure to feel 

 it. In the mean time, what betides the seed 

 of Fontena's favourite parasite plant 1 does 

 it remain floating in the air, buried in the 

 earth beneath, or in the waters under the 

 earth? partially holding itself in readiness 

 to obey the summons of that boisterous jEolus 

 east-north-east, and to nestle in the body, now 

 prepared for its reception, in order to suck 

 up its life-blood !" J. D. 



Pottsville. 



Root Crops. 



By the cultivation of roots, the soil be- 

 comes finely pulverized and cleansed of 

 weeds ; and as a large surface of leaves is 

 presented to the atmosphere, they imbibe the 

 rich gases, and obtain from the air the prin- 

 cipal nutriment for the crop. In this way, 

 a large crop is raised without injury to the 

 soil, and that crop is converted into manure, 

 which, again applied to the soil, enriches it 

 more than the produce from any other crop. 

 So, as the root crop takes less from the soil, 

 and returns more than any other, the advan- 

 tages to be obtained by such culture are of 

 infinite importance to the farmer. And as 

 root crops are increased, the means of keep- 

 ing stock are increased, and of course the 

 quantity of manure is also increased ; so the 

 Toot crops and manure increase each other, 

 •with a correspondent increase and profit in 

 the stock and improvements in the farm, 

 until the profit and value of all is quadrupled ; 

 and this is no false theory, but sober calcula- 

 tion, founded upon facts. — .American Farmer. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Highlands Farm. 



Sir, — I have had the pleasure to spend a 

 day at this noble establishment, belonging 

 to George Sheaff, p]sq., of Whitemarsh'', 

 Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and have 

 been exceedingly gratified with the style and 

 neatness in which every thing around it has 

 been planned, executed, and,'\vhat is of still 

 more importance, sustained. The house and 

 ofiices, the gardens and pleasure grounds, 

 are " beautiful to look upon ;" but to an 



agriculturist, the farm, consisting of three 

 hundred and twenty acres of land, with its 

 three enormous barns, elegant cattle-stalls, 

 stables, granaries, well-planned yards for 

 foddering cattle, and securing the washings 

 of the manure, and large quantities of ma- 

 nure from last winter's feeding, turned up 

 and covered with earth to prevent the evapo- 

 ration and dissipation of the gaseous sub- 

 stances, and large compost heaps with earth 

 and lime intermixed ; with tool and imple- 

 ment houses — " a place for every thing, and 

 every thing in its place," — all this is of far 

 more importance, and greater interest. The 

 large enclosures, thirty and forty acres each, 

 with living springs of water in almost every 

 one, and crops of uniform appearance, straight 

 fences of substantial post and rail, with not 

 a weed to be had for love or money — these 

 things have been to me a source of the high- 

 est gratification. And all has been created 

 on a soil, by nature not fruitful, by the pre- 

 sent pro])rietor ; and is evidence how much 

 can be accomplished by talent, perseverance, 

 and capital well employed ; its healthy sub- 

 soil, however, and particularly airy and de- 

 lightful situation, contributing, I am con- 

 vinced, in a great degree, to the facility with 

 which, in the space of fourteen years, the 

 estate has been clothed in magnificence and 

 grandeur, and rescued from a state of com- 

 parative sterility and barrenness, the former 

 proprietor having been compelled to purchase 

 hay for his horses ; while the present intelli- 

 gent cultivator, the son of the present pro- 

 prietor, contrives to fatten about one hundred 

 oxen a yea*-, and to sell large quantities of hay 

 in Philadelphia. It may be denominated a 

 model farm ; I have seen many such upon 

 paper, but, if it be not invidious, never be- 

 fore in reality one other such in this country. 

 Here is breadth and depth, and space for 

 action ; and a visit to it must, to every prac- 

 tical man, be attended with lasting benefit. 



I do not, however, consider the land well 

 adapted to the feeding of cattle, it is not 

 deep enough for that purpose ; not that beef 

 cannot be made with hay and corn, but to 

 those who have witnessed the deep fatting 

 meadows in various parts of England, some 

 of which are at Willersley's Gate, on the 

 road to Hereford, within a few miles of the 

 town of Hay, with which many of your 

 readers might be acquainted — and upon 

 which it is said that three sets of oxen are 

 fatted in the course of one summer; and the 

 enormous yield of the adjoining arable lands 

 for winter stalling ; to such persons, the lands 

 at the Highlands farm will appear more suit- 

 able to the rearing and feeding of sheep, a 

 purpose for which, indeed, it is peculiarly 

 adapted. The herbage is naturally short and 

 sweet, the sub-soil dry and healthy ; and 



