1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



211 



For the Neic England Farmer. 

 TUSNIPS ABE A PKOPITABLE CROP. 



Mr. Editor : — Several conflicting accounts re- 

 garding the cultivation of rutabagas have lately 

 appeared in your journal, and some farmers of 

 experience, even, seem yet to be undecided, 

 whether they are a profitable crop, or even will 

 pay for raising. In your last No , February 12, 

 your correspondent, Otis Brigham, asks the 

 question, "When compared with other crops, are 

 they worth raising ?" My answer to that gentle- 

 man is, that like himself, I have raised them for 

 the last 45 years, in quantities varying from one 

 to twenty acres, each season, and find them, when 

 compared with corn and other farm crops, deci- 

 dedly the most profitable of any crop that I have 

 cultivated in this country or in Europe, during 

 that period. Mr. B. admits, that he raised 500 

 bushels, on half an acre of ground, last year, when 

 and where nothing else could be raised. 



That quantity exceeds, considerably, what I 

 have ever been able to produce, even under the 

 most favorable circumstances ; still I do not 

 doubt the statement, as I know that such quan- 

 tities have been raised, and will be again. 



Now, taking into consideration, as ]Mr. B. ex- 

 presses himself, that they will grow where and 

 when nothing else can be raised ; I would sim- 

 ply ask the reason why they should not be worth 

 raising ; or in other words, why will they not pay ? 

 He admits that they are good food for cattle, &c., 

 and yet appears to be in doubt with regard to 

 them as a remunerating crop. Is Mr. B. aware, 

 that his 500 liushels are now worth in Boston or 

 New York market $165 wholesa^' ? or at the rate 

 of $o30 per acre, which I should think is a pret- 

 ty good return, and ought to satisfy any ordinary 

 man on the subject in question. To go into de- 

 tail, however, would occupy too much room in 

 your valuable paper. Allow me, therefore, to 

 state a few simple practical facts, regarding the 

 cultivation and use of that valuable. 



In the first place, a tolerable crop of bagas can 

 be raised on ground too poor to produce almost 

 anything else, and that with comparatively little 

 manure, say 3 cwt. of guano, or the price of it in 

 bone meal, per acre, which quantity would scarce- 

 ly make any impression on an acre of corn, or 

 potatoes, &c. &c., and fair crops are often raised 

 after hay and early potatoes have been removed, 

 the same season, as bagas can be planted success- 

 fully any time during the month of July, and even 

 later' some seasons ; and by leaving the tops on 

 the ground, to be plowed down, immediately af- 

 ter the roots are removed, will overbaJance any 

 bad effects that their exhausting properties may 

 have on the land for producing the subsequent 

 crops. 



A luxuriant crop of bagas will clean the ground 

 better than any other hoed crop ; and if properly 

 treated, will effectually eradicate every vestige of 

 switch or icitch grass, that common curse to 

 cultivators of the soil over the world, and the ex- 

 pense for labor will not exceed that of an acre of 

 corn or potatoes. It is a well established fact, 

 that an acre of good bagas, fed out to cattle, will 

 produce more manure, and of better quality, than 

 three acres of corn. It is also an old and well- 

 established fact, that young growing cattle and 

 swine will thrive, and grow faster, on turnips, 



than any other description of food ; and every 

 farmer who has cellar room to preserve them in 

 winter, ought to produce a liberal quantity of 

 them, every season, for that purpose. They are 

 also good for producing beef and milk, although 

 I certainly prefer beets for the latter purpose, 

 notwithstanding it costs more than double the 

 expense to raise them. 



On the farm that I now cultivate, there are 

 two acres of neglected, hard, gravelly land, that 

 prior to last June had not seen a spadefull of 

 manure, and had been cropped with rye for the 

 last four years in succession preceding that date, 

 by a former tenant, by which means it had be- 

 come a real consolidated sward of sictfch or 

 icitch grass, and thought by many to be past re- 

 demption, for any kind of crop. In June last I 

 made an attempt to break it up with a double 

 team, but only succeeded in scratching the sur- 

 face with plow and harrows, so as to change its 

 color a little. After tormenting it with the har- 

 row for awhile, I marked it off into rows three 

 feet apart, manured in the hill the same as for 

 cabbage, and planted the piece with rutabagas, 

 finishing on the 3d July. All the manure I had 

 for the two acres, was the scrapings of the dung- 

 yard, which was deposited in the hills, in the usu- 

 al way, at the rate of not more than two and a 

 half cords per acre. The seed was dropped on the 

 top of the manure and covered with the foot ; 

 the ground being too rough to admit of any 

 speedier method of planting. The seed germinat- 

 ed quickly, and in less than three weeks, the piece 

 was fit for thinning, and much in need of hoeing, 

 and the final result was an excellent crop of the 

 handsomest turnips that could be produced un- 

 der any circumstances, notwithstanding the in- 

 surmountable and complicated difficulties with 

 which their cultivation was beset ; and the tops 

 were so luxuriant, that they rotted, or choked 

 out every vestige of switch grass, and the piece 

 is now as clear of that obnoxious weed as any 

 part of the farm. The produce per acre was 580 

 bushels, but if it be taken into account, that in 

 consequence of the unparalleled wildness of the 

 ground — the hills were far apart in many places — 

 it may be safely computed, that at least a third 

 more weight might have been produced, had the 

 ground been under a better state of cultivation. 

 This experiment corroborates, however, in a cer- 

 tain degree, what Mr. B. says about turnips 

 growing when and where nothing else can be 

 I'aised. On another piece, half an acre in extent, 

 from which a tolerable crop of hay had just been 

 removed, I planted rutabagas on the 19th of Ju- 

 ly, and had a fair crop, 320 bushels of good sized 

 turnips. The piece received about two cords of 

 sea-weed and dung-yard scrapings, which was 

 harrowed in on the plow furrow, and the seed de- 

 posited by the machine in rows, 18 inches apart. 

 The next and last piece appropriated to that crop 

 last season, was half an acre of rather clayey sort 

 of land, where a crop of onions had been cut off 

 by the maggot. These were deposited by the 

 sowing machine in rows 18 inches apart on the 

 3d of August, and as the ground had been heav- 

 ily manured for the onions, it produced 402 bush- 

 els of handsome turnips after that late date ; or 

 at the rate of 804 bushels per acre. 



In conclusion, I may here state, that in conse- 

 quence of the barn that contained all my hay, 



