228 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



iheir connexion with the etalii much better than 

 when the grass was cut after the clover hlopsoms 

 had assumed a dari? hue. Anoiher advantage 

 attending this early cutting is, that the stalks pre- 

 serve their pliancy and are eaten freely by cat lie; 

 whereas they are wat^ted when they become hard 

 from the mowing having been done at a late 

 period. 



My experience of six years of the union of the 

 two grasses enables me to say that the advantages 

 of sowing orchard grass in prelerence to timothy, 

 are as follows : 



1. Two crops in place of one. 



2. Good pasture late in the autumn instead of 

 none. 



3. The curing of both grasses in full perfeciion, 

 while, when timothy is sown, the clover blossoms 

 and leaves are dead, black, and chiefly fiill off in 

 the curing of llie hay, owing to the ripening of the 

 timothy from 12 to 15 days alter the clover. Farm- 

 ers will never cut their grass until the timothy is 

 fit for the scythe. 



4. Early pasture, even before the pestiferous, 

 hateful wild garlic makes its appearance, or at 

 least as early as the latter, and by its rapid growth, 

 smothers or lessens the crop of this enemy to the 

 products of the dairy. The same remarks apply 

 lo the autumnal growth of garlic. 



Orchard grass is upon a par with timothy, in 

 point of nutritive quality and of animal partiality, 

 and will command nearly as great a price as 

 timothy. Two crops, and the early and late 

 pasture of the orchard grass make up for the small 

 difference in the price of hay from the two grasses. 



PRESERVATIOIN OF PUMPKINS. 



From the American Fanner. 



We understand that Mr. C. S. W. Dorsey is 

 at this time feeding his milch-cows freely on pump- 

 kins of last year's growth, whicli are in a state 

 of perliict preservation. The butter is of the finest 

 quality, and of the richest color, as might be ex- 

 pected, I'rom such food. His mode of preserving 

 so perfectly a vegetable which, while it can be 

 kept sound, all consider so valuable, but which 

 has generally been found to be delicate and perish- 

 able, is worthy of being noted. We understand 

 his system to be to cover tiie space in his barn 

 intended lor their preservation with dry straw, say 

 !i loot or 18 inches thick. On this is placed a layer 

 of pumpkins, and on that another thick layer of 

 straw, and so on ; and the result is that his cows 

 iiave been supplied to the |)resent time with an 

 abundance of this superior Ibod, in a i)erlecily 

 sound and pure condition. 



SUGAR BEET AND RUTA BACiA. 



From the American Farmer. 



Wye, Queen ^rnne Co. Md., > 

 March 26, 1840. ^ 

 In a late No. of the American Farmer, Mr. 

 Earney's manner of storing roots for winter use, is 

 given. I have grown ruta baga for several years, 

 and also sugar beet for the last two, which 1 

 esteem more valuable, but intend still to plant ruta 

 baga. As the crops are planted at difli'erent sea- 



sons, success might attend one, where'the other 

 failed. From my observation the sugar beet at- 

 tains maturity by the middle of September — the 

 ruta baga coniinues to grow till the liest becomes 

 sharp. 'J"o preserve them through the winter, i 

 dig a lon'ii, pit sufficient to contain my crop, and 

 build over it a fi-ame composed of oak forks, and 

 pine poles ; the two sides are lour feet |)erpendi- 

 cular, which, with the ends and top, are thatched 

 with cornstalks, and the top covered thick with 

 the dry leaves of the pine. lam carelul to con- 

 struct the house so as to exclude liijht, wind and 

 rain. I insert a small wooden jiipe through the 

 top to carry off the exhalaiiona Irom the roots ; and 

 the door, which is also made to fit close, is never 

 opened, except to get out the roots. I have used 

 the last of my roots, witiiin a tew days. My cr"p 

 of both was twenty tons, and a trusty servant, who 

 has had the charge of them, tells me there is not 

 more than tvifo bushels damaged in the whole 

 lot. 



I pulled my roots about the last of October, and 

 after separating the tops, left them to dry, and then 

 stored them in bulk. The ru!a baga is a hardy 

 plant, and might safely have been lef; out longer. 

 Some of my neighbors tell me that their sugar 

 beets were much damaged by the early (rosts of 

 November. 



J do not intend to put my plan in comf^etition 

 with Mr. Barney's— in a grazing country, perhaps 

 his is the best, but in ours, where the principal 

 benefits derived from cattle are butter, milk and beel' 

 lor domestic use, and oxen for burden, it is an 

 object to save labor and cost. If a Pennsylvania 

 Farmer who expends as much in building hia 

 barn as his dwelling, reads this communication, he 

 will [ferliaps say ihe contrivance is worthy of the 

 country Irom vvliich it comes 



Wm. Carmichael, 



BEAN PODS POISONOUS TO SWINE. 



From tliu New England Farmer. 



3Jr. Breck—^owe years ago, I had thrown into 

 my hog pen, where there were six shoals, some 

 Saba, commonly called Civy, bean pods. When I 

 came from my work at noon, 1 found them all sick, 

 vomiting and in very great distress. Not knowing 

 then that the bean pods had been given to them. I 

 went to dosing them with such things as I supposed 

 might be good, but, in spite of all my efforts, in 

 about one hour after my first discovery of their be- 

 ing ailing, five of them were dead. 1 opened and 

 examined one of lheni,and Ibund that all of a 

 liquid kind was thrown up, and the potatoes with 

 wliich they were led in the morning, together with 

 whey, were in a hard lump, and the beai'i pods 

 mixed in with them. 



Some suppose that it is the spur on the end of 

 that kind oi'bean pod which does the mischief. I 

 am ofa different opinion, because those spurs, when 

 green, are too soil to have any bad effect. I be- 

 lieve them to be poisonous ; my hogs were evi- 

 dently poisoned. Every man, who keeps hogs, and 

 raises civy beans, ought to know that it is danger- 

 ous to give these pods to hogt=, and that it may be 

 more generally known, is the reason of this com- 

 munication. Levett Peters. 



Westborough, March 3, 1840. 



