426 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 7 



present state of things, if very high prices should conti- 

 nue to be maintained through another year. But all 

 prudent holders and planters here ought so to act as to be 

 prepared to meet a great reduction of price. The few 

 persons who are so fortunate as to have many growing 

 plants, of course, will do right to make the most of the 

 present demand for their surplus stock. But with a 

 view to all interests, it will be better to plant next 

 spring than to sell abroad now; as 8 cents, or even 

 6 cents the tree, in 1839, will pay a far better profit, 

 than to sell the stock grown in 1838 for four times 

 those prices — which may now be readily obtained. 

 Much money must be brought into Virginia from other 

 states by the mania for this trade; and so far and to 

 effect a general spreading of the muUicaulis, which 

 this mania certainly will, it will produce much be- 

 nefit to public interests. But when the violent fever 

 shall have subsided, it is to be feared that as great a re- 

 action (or non-action) will follow the unnatural ex- 

 citement; and that the proper business and regular and 

 good profits of silk-culture will be scorned and ne- 

 glected. 



From the ("British) Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. 

 THE CULTURE OF RHUBARB. 



My notice of this exquisite vegetable shall be 

 connprised in a few lines ; but these, I trust, will 

 avail to extend its culture more and more; lor any 

 thing more productive, salubrious, profitable, and 

 expressly suitable to the purposes of the cottager, 

 can scarcely be found in the entire list of vegeta- 

 ble productions. A lew years only have elapsed 

 since the rhubartic hybrid, green rhubarb, was 

 cuhivated for tarts; and held in very slight estima- 

 tion: but since the introduction of the larger (giant) 

 varieties, the demand has increased with surpris- 

 ing rapidity. Of the two sorts which I earnestly 

 recommended, one is called, if I mistake not, Rad- 

 ford^s scarlet Goliah ; and the other is a small red 

 variety which is crimson throughout when boiled 

 or baked. These will supply the fable from April 

 to August, and suffice lor every purpose. 



Culture. — Let the ground be prepared pre- 

 cisely as for asparagus beds. Select clean offsets, 

 with two or three bold eyes: the first week in 

 March is a very suitable season. The eyes or buds 

 of the Goliah will be of a deep, rich red, hence 

 its name : the leaves, however, and stalks are 

 green, though of difierent hues, and the latter are 

 spotted and streaked with red. In the smaller 

 pink variety the red tint prevails throughout. 



The plants of the great Goliah should be set 

 firmly in the soil, five feet apart, or five feet one 

 way and four feet another : the smaller kind may 

 be set three feet asunder, plant from plant, giving 

 a free watering to each to settle the soil among 

 the roots. Dry weather, an open condition of the 

 ground, and a temperate unfrosty state of the air, 

 should be preferred. When the growth becomes 

 established, the ground must be kept free from 

 weeds ; and if dry weather supervene, water ought 

 to be freely given round the roots, two or three 

 times, with intervals of four or five days. 



Not a leaf or stalk ought to be touched during 

 the first year : and in aulumn, when the leaves are 

 all decayedj they should be laid in little trenches 



formed along the centre of the spaces, between the 

 rows, sprinkled with a handful or two of salt, and 

 covered wiih the earth that had been dug out. 

 Thus the plant will itself furnish a portion of the 

 manure that will be annually required. As winter 

 approaches, a coating of well decomposed stable 

 manure or leaves, or a mixture of both, two or 

 three inches deep, should be laid round each plant, 

 to the extent of two feet ; and in the open weather 

 of February and March, the whole bed must be 

 forked over. 



Asa proof of the excessive productiveness of the 

 scarlet Goliah, i need only mention, that, in the 

 2d week of March, 1331, twelve plants were set 

 in ground prepared for asparagus. In June, the 

 leaves met and the whole plot was covered. Jn 

 1832, the plants yielded [irofusely, many leaves 

 measured above a yard and a half over the sur- 

 liice, the l()ot stalks being an inch and a half 

 broad, and from two to three feet long. The out- 

 side leaves were, as required for use, stripped off by 

 an oblique pull, not cut ; the family was amply 

 supplied till July and August, and yet the plants 

 increased; the neighbors also were furnished vvith 

 leaves, throughout the summer, and with offset 

 plants in the succeeding spring. During the two 

 past seasons the root stocks increased to such a 

 size, that when it became needful to remove 

 some, it required a barrow to contain the weighty 

 mass ihat was raised, after great labor, from the 

 soil. If any one try the experiment in a favo- 

 rable soil, and with anything like judicious ma- 

 nagement, he will scarcely fail to discover that 

 the growth and production of the plant will exceed 

 every demand that can be justly made upon it. 



From the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 ROOT CULTURE. 



No crop is so important to the farmer as roots, 

 and yet they are seldom appreciated, either as a 

 means of enriching the soil or of supporting stock. 

 The produce of an acre of roots with the hay that 

 may be cut ofl' the ground previous to sowing the 

 crops, will feed six or seven cows during the winter 

 season, which, vvith a reasonable allowance of lit- 

 ter, will make thirty cart loads of manure. To 

 try this experiment, we sowed an acre ofruta baga 

 turnips, last season, in the Ibllowing manner. The 

 ground had been laid in clover the previous season, 

 whicli we mowed the 20th of June, and yielded 

 two tons of the first quality hay. We then 

 ploughed it down immediately and spread upon 

 it sixty bushels of lime. In a i'ew days we har- 

 rowed it and spread over it 30 loads of compost, 

 which had been collected through the winter, and 

 turned twice ; the consistency and cost of whicli 

 were as follows : 

 2 loads of bone dust, say 50 bush- 

 els at 30 cts. . . S15 00 

 2 do. ground oyster shells, 50 bush- 

 els at 10 cts. . . 5 00 

 2 do. leached ashes, 50 bush. 8 cts. 4 00 

 2 do. glue-makers' offal, . 4 00 

 4 do. well rotted stable manure, at 



SI 50, ... 6 00 



18 do. shovellings from under fences 



and old houses, 75 cts. . 13 00 



60 do. lime at 18 eta. . . 10 80 



90 bushels. Total for manure 



#58 30 



