AND HORTICULTUrJAL REGISTER. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK k CO., NO. 62 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultural Warehou3e.)-ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



VOli. XIX.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 12, 1841. 



[NO. 45. 



N. E. FARMER. 



For the New England Farmer. 



CAUSE OP ROT IN TURNIPS. 

 Mr Editor — Much has been said of late about 

 the cause of the rot in turnips. One attributes it 

 to their being sowed on wet hinds; another to ear- 

 ly sowing-; another to sonietliing- else. Now I 

 believe farmers often form their opinions too hasti- 

 ly. An opinion may be formed from one or two 

 years' experience in a particular kind of manage- 

 ment, or cultival ing a particular Idnd of soil, in par- 

 ticular seasons, while the real cause of their suc- 

 cess or failure may be attributed to some other 

 cause, aside from what they suppose. 



I have not been troubled with the rot in turnips 

 until the last year, when I planted several pieces 

 at ditferent seasons, and had different management; 

 but the result was such that I am not satisfied as 

 to the cause of the disease. 



The first piece was in 183!) well manured and 

 planted with potatoes. Last spring it was again 

 well dressed with compost manure, ploughed, and 

 planted with ruta bagas the 4th of June. The 

 crop was light and many of the roots were defec- 

 tive. 



The second piece : the grass was turned in 

 about the first of June — rolled and harrowed — ma- 

 nured in the hill with compost made of about one 

 part stable manure and two parts meadow mud, 

 with a small portion of wood ashes ; planted the 

 UthofJune. We had a tolerably fair crop and 

 3ut few defective roots. 



The third piece was managed as follows : a part 

 )f )t was ploughed the 15th of June ; rolled, dressed 

 *-ith about 30 loads of compost manure to the acre : 

 larrowed and planted the )9th. On the other part 

 .he manure was spread on to the grass ; it was 

 iloughed the 16th 



ightly in the hill, and planted the 20th. The ma- 

 nure that was harrowed in and that put in the hill 

 yas of the same kind, and was made from loam 

 ;arted into the cow yard and hog-pen, thence be- 

 ng removed to the field and being well pulverized 

 )y overhauling. The manure that was ploughed 

 n was also compost, made of loam hauled into the 

 larn cellar and mixed with the droppings of the 

 :attle: this was applied in an unfermented state. 

 S^early the same quantity of manure was applied to 

 loth parts of the piece. After the turnips came 

 ip they were dressed with wood ashes. That part 

 «f the piece where the manure was ploughed in, 

 iroduced a tolerably good crop, and but few de- 

 ective plants: on the other part the crop was 

 lucli lighter, and many of the roots were defec- 

 ive. A small portion of the piece extended into 



dry knoll, where they were very free from roL 



In the second piece named, there was a small 

 oilow extending across the piece, where there 

 ■as a much better yield and where the plants were 

 lore free from rot. 



There was a sma 



yard. It was a yellow loam. I ploughed it the 

 20tli of June; manured it in the hill with hog ma- 

 nure, and planted it. The land was, to appearance, 

 alike and the manure alike. On a small portion of 

 the piece the plants were nearly all defective, and 

 on the remainder there was a tolerable crop. 



One of my neighbors had a piece which ho 

 highly manured and prepared with groat care for 

 an extra crop. It was almost an entire failure. 

 Another neighbor planted a piece on a gravelly 

 knoll, where the land to appearance was hardly 

 worth cultivating: he had a very fair crop. 



From what information I have gathered from 

 the last year's crop in our vicinity, I think dry land 

 has produced the best crop, although there are some 

 exceptions. 



Yours, with sincere respect, 



JOSEPH HOW. 



Melhuen, .ipril 12, 1841. 



Though the facts given by our intelligent and 

 observing correspondent from Methuen, do not 

 solve the mystery of the rot, yet he has laid us un- 

 der obligations by his statements. A collection of 

 facts from various quarters, is the only process by 

 which we can hope to learn the cause of the evil 

 in question. A few men having given what light 

 they can furnish, we trust that others will imitate 

 their example, and help to detect the agent which 

 ruins one of our valuable crops. — Ed. N. E. F. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



BEFORE 



than they had been previously fed, in order, as he 

 said, to have their bags well filled ; and at the 

 time of calving to give them warm water thickened 

 with meal, (similar, I suppose, to the mash recom- 

 mended.) The consequence was, that the extra 

 feeding caused the bag to fill too soon, and the 

 milk continuing to press in, caused inflammation. 

 Our co«s were much troubled with hard and swol- 

 len bags. Thinking what might be the cause, I 

 last spring requested father to try an experiment 

 on a cow that the year before was very trouble- 

 some, by reducing the quality of her food instead 

 of increasing it. The result was that she calved 

 before her bag was full. She gave but little milk 

 at first, but in a few days gave a good mess ; her 

 bag milked down well, was soft and pliable. We 

 have had no trouble since, excepting with a heifer, 

 which calved about the first of July, when the 

 grass feed was good. This would probably have 

 been prevented, had she been taken to the barn 

 and fed on hay eight or ten days before she calved ; 

 and we should thus have saved her much pain. 



The treatment of milch cows is a subject upon 

 which little, and I think too little, has been said in 

 the agricultural papers of the day. Who can tell 

 what effect one week of intense pain and sufferinir 

 arising from an inflamed and swollen bag, has up- 

 on the health of the cow and the quantity of milk 

 for the season ? A FARMER'S BOY. 



Essex Co., Mass., Jlpril 30, 1841. 



The above communication coming, as we know 

 it does, from a youth who has received none but a 

 common school education, and whose days have 

 thus far been spent in diligent labor upon the farm, 

 we trust may have an influence in leading other 

 boys to trace effects to their causes, and suggest 

 remedies for existing evils. We shall have no 

 fear that the interest or value of our paper will bo 

 diminished by inserting the opinions of boys, if 

 they but give us as good reasons for the opinions 

 as are furnished by this Farmer's Boy. We shall 

 be happy to hear from him again. — Ed. N. E. F. 



TREATMENT OF COWS JUST 

 AND AFTER CALVING, 

 Mr Editor — Your paper of April 28th, contain- 

 ed some important questions relative to the man- 

 agement of cows after calving, answered in part by 

 an extract from Youatt's Treatise on Cattle. I do 

 rolled, harrowed, manured I not feel competent to give any answer to the ques. 



tioris, but wish to say a few words respecting the 

 inflammation or garget in the udder, mentioned in 

 the extract. This, I think, is caused by too great 

 an accumulation of milk; for as far as my limited 

 observation extends, I have never known a cow 

 that calved before her bag was full to be troubled 

 with it. Whether this is the true cause or not. 

 we want a preventive. Youatt recommends a 

 "drink consisting of a pound of Epsom salts and 

 two drachms of ginger." From my experience in 

 taking salts, I should think this a tough dose, and 

 would much rather have one ounce of some milder 

 preventative than a pound of such cure. The 

 warm wash which he recommi'iids, has a tendency 

 to increase the quantity of milk, and if my opinion 

 is correct, is injurious. My opinion (this I confess 

 is a small affair, when compared with the opinion 

 of older and more experienced farmers and herds 

 men — but such as it is,) I will give you, with the 

 reasons upon which it is founded, and then you 

 may think as you please of it. 



My father's practice, until last autumn — and it 

 patch in the first mentioned 

 eld where I had carted off the soil into my hog. ' his cows for a short time before calving, higher I by the°use of two yoke of oxen." 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



SUBSOIL PLOUGHING. 



Extract from a letter to Messrs J. Breck & Co. 

 dated 



"Braintree, Jlpril 2'J, 1841. 



"I have just finished ploughing a piece of sod 

 land of about an acre and a half, with Howard's 

 subsoil plough, and deem it but justice to admit 

 that the plough has done all that I expected from 

 any subsoil plough, which is contrary to my expec- 

 tations, as expressed to you and Mr Howard. The 

 ground was unfavorable to a fair trial, it being sto- 

 ny, sideling, and occupied by a young orchard. I 

 have ten acres more to plough this season, part 

 old ground, and intend to make use of the subsoil 

 plough for the whole of it. The plough got round 

 the stones in the subsoil in a manner that I did not 

 expect, ploughing to the depth of seventeen inches, 

 may be the practice of many others— was, to feed moving and loosening the same in a tenacious soil, 



