1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



49 



an out-growth from the joints, answering the de- 

 scription given of fowl meadow precisely. Near 

 this which had crippled, grew that which had not 

 crippled, but which v/as precisely similar, except 

 the new growth at the joints. I traced it along to 

 the upland and to high land, and found the same 

 grass there, precisely the same. And it is that 

 grass which 1 had before supposed to be the na- 

 tive grass of this country. Our farmers call it 

 blue grass. It grows in all our pastures and cul- 

 tivated fields more or less, and by the road-side, 

 up and down the country everywhere, in soils 

 suited to its growth. It produces the finest and 

 s-oftest seed of any grass, and it is the heaviest 

 and most valuable hay. I have saved some from 

 the meadow and some from the upland for seed, 

 and if there is any difference, should be glad to 

 have it pointed out. As usually cleaned, the seed 

 ■weighs about fourteen pounds the bushel, and 

 farmers get for it from three to five dollars the 

 bushel. 



There is another kind of grass among us, some- 

 what resembling this, which we call "red-top," 

 called by some "Rhode Island blue grass ;" it 

 looks of a beautiful blue when mown down. It 

 grows taller perhaps, but thinner, not having the 

 thick bottom of our blue grass, and is conse- 

 quently not so productive ; the quality of the hay 

 not as good, and the second growth is nothing. 

 This may be the German grass of which you 

 speak. 



But I have no doubt that your fowl meadow 

 and our blue grass are identical, and if so, fowl 

 meadow seed is raised here in large quantities. 



R. F. COPELAND. 



East Bridgewater, Mass., Nov., 1858. 



For the New England Farmer. 



VALUE OF TUKJflPS AS FEED FOB 

 STOCK. 



Mk. Editor : — I should like to ask your cor- 

 respondent, W. F. P., for a little more informa- 

 tion than he has given me, as to the culture and 

 feeding of his turnips. I say turnips, because it 

 was turnips that I spoke of particularly, in a 

 former article. 



He says he has raised over 2,500 bushels of 

 turnips this year. How much land did he culti- 

 vate with turnips ? How does he feed them ? 

 How much manure did he put on it, and what 

 was the state of the land when he commenced on 

 it this year ? How many days labor of man and 

 oxen did it require to put the crop in the cellar ? 

 How far was the field from the house or barn 

 where he housed them ? 



If I am wrong as to the profit of the turnip 

 crop, I shall like to be informed of it. I experi- 

 mented on turnips until I thought they were no 

 profitable. 



I had an ox that would eat two bushels of tur- 

 nips a day, and about as much hay as though he 

 had not had the turnips, but he did not care 

 about any water. It was a great saving of water. 

 I would recommend turnips for any one who is 

 short of loater. 



A cow may be put into the barn and given 

 half a bushel of turnips or ])otatoes night and 

 morning, with other dry feed, and she will do 

 M'ithout water by the month at a time. I tried it. 

 I have put up a breeding sow, and kept her four 

 months on turnips ; she had nothing else except 

 what she picked out of the manure of two horses. 

 She lived and brought a great litter of pigs. I 

 gave her about three pecks of turnips a day, and 

 one quart of corn in meal a day would have kept 

 her better. 



I think turnips have from 92 to 95 per cent, of 

 water. If that is the fact, my friend's 2,500 bush- 

 els of turnips had from 2,300 to 2,375 bushels of 

 water in them. I think his comparison of one 

 and a half tons of hay, or fifteen tons of turnips, 

 to the oxen, should be looked at a little more. 

 He should take his turnips and cut them as fine 

 as the hay, and then spread them over an acre of 

 ground, and let them have the advantage of two 

 good hot days' sun in July or August — carefully 

 turning it as we do hay, and then weigh it, and 

 he will find his fifteen tons of turnips have lost 

 a great part of their 90 to 95 per cent, of water, 

 and would then weigh less than the hay. As 

 my friend has disposed of that lion, if he will 

 give me the above information asked, I will be 

 much obliged. Ed. Emerson. 



Hollis, Nov. 25, 1858. 



For the Neio England Farmer. 

 A KE'UT COKN. 



Messrs. Editors : — I have what I consider a 

 new variety of corn, which I obtained in the fol- 

 lowing manner. 



A few years since I purchased some corn at a 

 seed store and planted it, and while it was in the 

 process of maturing, I discovered two or three 

 stalks, each having two and three ears upon them, 

 and being eigJd or ten days earlier than the rest. 

 I picked these stalks with the corn ripe upon 

 them in the middle of August, and this is the 

 origin of the corn. 



For two years past I have raised the Rhode 

 Island premium corn, in order to test it,andlam 

 able to state that mine is at least one week ear- 

 lier, and 1% fifteen per cent, more productive than 

 that, while it has the advantage in color, being 

 a bright yellow, with a trifling intermixture of 

 blue. Taking into consideration its color, com- 

 pactness, shape of the ear and the remarkably 

 short time required to bring it to maturity, I can- 



not but believe that it is the best variety of corn' j^;;;;;^;' ^,{^^^i j^ ^gH known. That they 

 that has yet been introduced among us. ^ ^ ^-^^^^^^ ^^^ j^^^.^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^.j^j^ ^ 1^^, quantity than 



■n i£ Ti -n/r yr -. o -..'^^^^'^^^ ^^^ ^* they des'ire, or compelled to do without any ex- 



Brookfidd, Mass., Nov., 18ob. ^^^/^ ^^^^ '-^ accidentally supplied^ by melting 



snow or rain, no reasonable or merciful man can 



A77ATERING SHEEP IN" WINTER. 

 That sheep can do with less water than other 



Remarks. — We have seen specimens of the 

 corn mentioned above, and they are certainly 

 very handsome. We have no other knowledge 

 of it. 



believe for one moment. In some experiments 

 on South Down sheep, at Rothamstead, we found 

 that in the summer months each sheep eat three 

 pounds of clover hay, and drank about six pounds 



