THE GENESEE FARMER. 



148 



frequently prepared for wheat, (by persons calling 

 tliemselvea fanners,) it will most certainly result in 

 a partial, if not an entire, failure. A clover sod, if 

 plowed in the fall or duriufi^ the winter or first spring 

 months, so that freezing and thawing may assist in 

 niellowing and pulverizing the earth is nearly certain 

 to produce a sood crop of barley, if the soil and lo- 

 cation be judiciously selected and the ground pre- 

 pared in the best manner in the spring, before the 

 Bced be sown, and then tliorougly harrowed in. 



There are several varieties of barley — the most 

 prominent of which are the " two-rowed,"' the " four- 

 rowed," the "six-rowed," and the beardless. The 

 " sii-rowed"' is generally supposed to be the best, from 

 the fact that it is the hardiest, and withstands the 

 rigors of the northern latitudes better than either of 

 the other l)earded varieties. The beardless is as yet, 

 not much known. It was discovered in the gulches 

 of the Himalayan mountains, and it promises to 

 be SI valuable acquisition, as it is entirely free from 

 b«ards. 



Barley should be sown as tarhj as the season will 

 admit of the necessary preparation. The amount 

 usually sown per acre varies from two to three bush- 

 els — poor soils when sown early, requiring less, and 

 rich, well prepared soils, especially if sown a little late, 

 requiriutr more seed. Generally there is more danger 

 from sowing too nmeh, than from a lack of seed. 

 I ]Iu harvesting barley, it is very important that it 

 be cut at the proper time. If it be cut too green, the 

 grain Vi'ill shrink, and consequently lose in weight, 

 and if too ripe, it will waste in the cutting and hand- 

 ling, as it shells out very easily. 



The main use to which barley is applied in this 

 country, is in the manufacture of malt liquors; but 

 there are other ways in which it can be used that 

 will ultimately give a better return to the consumer. 

 In Europe it is quite extensively used in feedmg 

 horses. When boiled and mixed with cut straw, it 

 acts as an excellent aperient, as well as sudorific — 

 opening the system, and softening the skin. The pre- 

 judices which have long existed in this country against 

 it as food for horses, (from the supposition that it is 

 too heating for them) would vanish if these persons 

 would reflect that the best horses in the world are 

 raised where barley forms one of the principal ingre- 

 dients in their food. It is also an excellent food for 

 hogs, if ground and mixed with their swill. 



The average number of bushels per acre is about 

 tv,-enty-*ive — costing the producer about fifty cents 

 per bushel. It ranges in price at present from $1.00 

 to $1.37 J per bushel, leaving a net profit of from 50 

 to 87 1 cents per bushel It leaves the ground in 

 good condition for wheat. There should not be two 

 successive crops of barley raised on the same held. 



Laceyville, Ohio. John G. Sampson. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF KOOT CK0P3. 



Beets. — I have had some experience in the culti- 

 vation of all the different kinds. For field culture, 

 I Mangel Wuizel, White and Yellow Sugar; for gar- 

 den, Long Blood Bassano and Blood Turnip are the 

 best varieties. For garden culture, the seed may be 

 «own early in April for early, and in June for fall and 

 (Winter use. The Bassano is the best early, and the 

 Blood Beets follow so.jn after. They all require a 

 ^eep, warm, rich soil, and should be sown about 

 tjrenty inches apart in rows, and stand about four or 



six inches apart in the rows. The Geld beets should 

 be sown about the first of June on a well prepared 

 soil, on ridges about three feet apart, and thinntil to 

 eight inches in the row. The seed should be soaked 

 in warm water three or four days before sowing ; 

 then roll in plaster, sow, and tread in the seed as you 

 sow, and cover lightly with a rake. This method of 

 sowing will make sure work, if the weather and 

 ground are dry; if wet, the treading in may be 

 omitted. The beets will make their appearance in 

 from four to eight days. As soon as large enough, 

 pass through the rows with a hoe, and weed and 

 keep them clean. The proper time ^or thinning, is 

 when the plants are about two inches high, when the 

 ground is moist after a rain. The cultivator can be 

 profitably used as soon as the plants are large 

 enough, and the last working should be with a small 

 shovel plow or horse hoe. I know of no better way 

 of harvesting than pulling them by hand and top- 

 ping with a knife, and this should be done before 

 hard frosts in the fall. 



Parsneps. — Very little attention has been given 

 to the parsnep as a field crop, it being confined prin- 

 cipally to the garden in a small bed, designed chiefly 

 for the table, and in ray opinion is one of the best 

 garden vegetables raised for winter and spring use. 

 Cannot they be profitably grown as a field crop ? I 

 think they can. Its culture requires much the same 

 treatment as the carrot, but should be sown very 

 early, as soon as the ground is warm and dry, ynd in 

 the same manner.* The seed should be f-own dry. 

 You must wait patiently for them to come up, for, as 

 every one who has raised them knows, it takes some- 

 time for them to vegetate, but if once up and clean 

 from weeds, they wifl .grow most luxuriantly. They 

 should be thinned to about four inches in the row. 

 They should be kept clean through the summer, and 

 they will grow till snow comes, and can be left in the 

 beds all winter without injury, which is convenient if 

 you are short of store room. When the frost be- 

 gins to come out of the ground in the spring they 

 are ready for use; or if wanted in the winter, some 

 may be dug in the fall and covered over in the cellar 

 with dirt. A good crop will produce five or six 

 hundred bushels per acre; ai-d as food for cattle and 

 hogs, they are most excellent. They may stand 

 where they grew till the ground is wanted for another 

 crop, and then harvested and fed after all other roots 

 are gone. Working cattle are very fond of them, 

 and will eat them as greedily as they will corn meal. 

 It small, they may be fed whole; if large, slice them 

 with a spade. They usually grow deep in the ground, 

 and may be leadily harvested by plowing close to 

 the side of a row and pulling them out, and then 

 plowing again till all are finished. 



EuTA. Bag.a. — This crop is not cultivated exten- 

 sively in this country, although a profitable crop for 

 a farmer to raise. Still, it is not without its draw- 

 backs. The fiist is, they are a very small plant when 

 they first come out of the ground, hardly discernable, 

 and many times the small black ground flea devours 

 them before the cultivator gets sight of them, and 

 more than likely he will say that the seed was bad 

 and never came up, when the fact is it came up the 

 second time before he thought of looking for it. 

 This flea is a great drawback to the cultivation of 



• See an article on the Cultivation of Carrots, in last aumbw, 

 page 110.— Eds. 



