rURNIP CART. 



the Indian com crop, denied to Europe, except 



uall space on or near the Mediterranean. 

 The value of this crop, far transcending that 

 of any other staple, is referred to under the 

 bead of MAIIR. In reference to the agricul- 

 tural value of the turnip and other roots, Mr. 

 ,;..ldlc in an address before the Phi- 



!ua Agricultural Society in 1842, made 

 ihe following interesting observations: 



-li is strange how things so lowly acquire 

 national importance. The best farming is thp.t 

 will give the greatest mass of suste- 

 nance to animals since the less land required 

 . |hi more can be given for the 



nance of human beings. That fine 

 : .,. Kngland, had reached the limit 



of it> power of supporting animals since it 

 turned to the root culture it more than doubled 



iruplcd its power and now, odd as the 

 niiiiuliiix of Mich dissimilar notions may seem, 



arcely an exasperation to say, that Eng- 

 land's potfer is ba^.-d upon its iron, its coal, 



- turnips. Then, that beet, which the 

 commercial jealousy of Napoleon endeavoured 



I to the dignity of the sugar-cane, which 

 at this moment yields to France more than 60 

 millions of pounds of good sugar, and has now 

 become so incorporated into the French agri- 

 culture as to divide the government of France 

 between the encouragement of the foreign 

 ane and the domestic sugar beet. To 

 ion is unimportant, since sugar is 



.|> in this country as to leave to us the 

 sugar beet as an excellent food for our cattle." 

 ugh the excessive frosts in the United 

 Stairs interfere with the English plan of feeding 

 t'rom ihe ground during winter, still 

 there is no question that great advantages may 

 be derived by the American farmer from the 

 cultivation of the turnip, the Swedish especially, 

 to lay up as green and succulent food for stock, 

 to be used conjointly with hay and other kinds 

 of provender. Very satisfactory experiments 

 have demonstrated the value of turnips appro- 

 priated in this way, for an account of which the 

 reader may consult Butt's Fanner's Instructor, 

 Colftnan$ Rtportt, the Cultivator, and other Am. 

 agricultural periodicals. 



xertt irhirh alt ark turnips in America will 

 'nlird under the heads CATERPIL- 

 ** ; v i s TnixiPB, &C. 



MP CART. This is an ingenious 

 adaptation of the disc turnip cutter to the tur- 

 nip cart. The disc is put in motion by a face- 

 heel fixed upon the nave of the cart-wheel, 

 as it revolves communicates by means 

 of cog-wheels with the axis of the "cutting- 

 a very convenient mode of 

 feeding sheep on pastures or lawns, and was 

 iced about the year 1834, by Arthur Bid- 

 dell, farmer, of Playford, the inventor of the 

 welMci rler. which bears his name. 



CUTTERa Although there are 

 turnip cutters, the principles 

 upon which they are constructed do not em- 

 brace much variety: setting aside the simple 

 application of the knife with a lever handle, 

 the others may be divided into two classes; 

 first, those which have their knives placed on 

 ; and secondly, those with their cutting 

 tdxes arranged on a cylinder. 

 1073 



TUSSER, THOMAS. 



As the obj'ect to be effected is simple, and 

 involves little mechanical contrivance, a swrt 

 description will suffice. 



Gardner's Paiciii Turnip Cutter, is pronounced 

 the best known in England. In Ransotne's Bar- 

 row Turnip Cutter, Gardner's machine is used, 

 the disc of which is attached to the side of a 

 barrow, which serves as a hopper ; the knife is 

 nearly the length of the radius, and when re- 

 quired to cut the turnip in slices is alone used; 

 if it be necessary to cut small slices for sheep, 

 the small cross-knives are, by a simple con- 

 trivance, adjusted to dissect the slice; and in 

 this case the barrow is useful, as it is easily 

 moved from trough to trough, into which the 

 small slices may be made to fall. 



It is intended to cut into small slices for 

 sheep, and is generally acknowledged to be the 

 best implement for the purpose that is at pre- 

 sent in use in England. 



TURPENTINE. A transparent, oleo-resin- 

 ous substance, which exudes naturally, but is 

 chiefly obtained by incision, from various spe- 

 cies of pine. There are several kinds of tur- 

 pentine, namely, common, Bordeaux, Cana- 

 dian, Strasburg, Venice, and American white. 

 The Chian turpentine is the production of the 

 Pistachio, terebinthus; but all of them possess 

 the same general and chemical properties. 



TUSSER, THOMAS, a celebrated agricul- 

 tural writer. Five-and-twenty years after the 

 publication of the first English work upon agr; 

 culture (Fitzherberfs Boke of Husbandrye), ap- 

 peared (in 1557) the One Hundred Points of 

 Good Husbandry, by Thomas Tusser. This 

 celebrated work must be regarded more as a 

 series of poetical good farming, and domestic 

 directions and axioms, than as a regular treat- 

 ise upon agriculture. All that is known of the 

 author of this curious production has been col- 

 lected by Dr. Mavor, in his able edition of 

 Tusser's book, and by my brother, Mr. George 

 W. Johnson, in his History of English Garden- 

 ing: and both these authors have been obliged 

 to content themselves chiefly with Tusser's 

 own account of himself; for Tusser did what 

 few men ever attempt he wrote his own life, 

 and in a manner still more rare, in verse. His 

 life was full of adventure ; for he evidently had 

 all the restlessness of genius, with the unsettled 

 habits too commonly confirmed by continued 

 change of occupation. 



He was born about the year 1515, at Riven- 

 hall, a village on the high-road between the 

 towns of Witham and Keldevon, in Essex, of a 

 family allied by marriage to the higher ranks 

 of society. 



He was buried in the church of St. Mildred 

 in the Poultry, according to Stowe, with this 

 epitaph: 



" Here, Thomas Tusser, clnd in earth, doth lie, 

 That sometime made the Points of Husbandry : 

 By him then learn thou may'st ; here learn we must, 

 When all is done, we sleep, and turn to dust : 

 And yet, through Christ, to heaven we hope to go ; 

 Who reads his books, shall find uis faith was so." 



In whatever capacity he at various times 

 lived he acted with ability, yet never so as to 

 benefit his fortune. That he excelled as a 

 chorister, to which he was originally edu- 

 cated, though strongly against his inclination. 



