VOL. XVI. NO. 33. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL, 



171 



•orU all tlie juices anil gases that would otherwise 

 escafie (Voni the rennentiiig inaniire. 1 notice 

 you dill not cart out your heaps of slahle manure 

 last spring, ami from tlie decayed condition of the 

 boards nearly up to the windows, I presume yon 

 are in the liahit of letting them lie through the 

 summer, and ferment in the open air, losing there- 

 by more than half their intrinsic value. I advise 

 yon next year to plant no more land to curii than 

 you can manure by S(ireading on, ami ploughing 

 in thirty loads of long manure lo the acre and 

 put fifteen or twenty loads of fermented manure 

 m the hill. Hoe it well three times, and more if 

 necessary to extirpate all the weeds ; and the 

 next year you will tind no difficulty in raising a 

 fine crop of any kind of small grain you please. 

 STou should put at least twenty loads of good nia- 

 lure upon every acre of land you jdant to pota- 

 oes. Sow grass seed with your small grain 

 ivhere you had corn the preceding season, and 

 veep no land up more than three years at a time. 

 \ni\ vvhen you have gone over your tillage land 

 n this manner, my word for it, your farm will 

 wear a very different appearance from what it 

 low does. Atjfl as long as you go to all the auc- 

 ions and trainings in the vicinity, and to three or 

 bur musters that you are under no necessity of 

 ;oing to, and spetul four or five days at court 

 vithout any business, do not say that you have lu) 

 ime to make improvemsnts, or to attend an ag 

 icultural jneeting." 



SnsAR Beet. — Robert Tripp, of Decatur, in- 

 uires of us, 



1. If the Sugar Beet is cultivated in the United 

 Itates ? — It is, in various parts, pariicidarly about 

 'hiladelphia and Northampton, Mass. The nian- 

 facture is expected to commence this fall. 



2. If it can be made profitable .' — Well inan- 

 iged, it certainly can ; but experience can alone 

 iach us good management, and of this, we have 

 IS yet but a stnall stock. 



3. Can it be conducted by individual enter- 

 rise, or does it require associated capital .' — The 

 eet culture may be managed by individuals, and 

 nth adequate capital and intelligence, so tnav the 

 lanutacture ; but as the profit of the culture de- 

 ends essentially upon a ready market for the 

 Dots, or the means of promptly manufacturing 

 lem into sugar, the culture and preparation for 

 lanufacture ought to be simultaneous. 



4. Can a knowledge of the manufacturing pro- 

 383 be obtained without visiting a sugary person- 

 lly ? — A sutficient knovvdedge, we think, can- 

 ot ; and indeed we should advise no one to em- 

 irk largely in it, without the assistance of a 

 lanager who has a prai tical knowledge of the 

 iisiness. 



5. Is the soil of the western jirairies adapted to 

 le beet culture.' — If it will grow wheat and 

 )rn, it will grow the beet. The rich prairies are 

 idoubtedly well adapted to the beet culture, and 

 e country being very remote from the sea-board, 

 well adapted to the profitable manufacture of 



•gar. 



6. Can seeds and machinery be obtained in 

 is country.' — Seeds may be had in all our large 

 wns, at the seed shops. We do not know that 

 achinery for the manufacture of sugar is made 



the country, but it probably will be in the 

 lUrse of the coming year. Inquire of the 

 liladelphia Sugar Beet Company. — CulUvator. 



BOOK FARiVIING. 



Allow me to make a further digrcsj^ioii, to 

 speak of a means of im|)roving our husbandry, 

 which is too much neglected, and too oflin con- 

 temned and ridiculed. I allude to what is some- 

 times, in derision, termed Book Fanning, but 

 which in reality offers the most snbstajilial facili- 

 lies to iin(ir(ivem;nt, and the acquisition of wealth. 

 Let us inquire what this book farming is. 



A German, by means of study and observation, 

 aided by a long course of practical ex|)i'rience in 

 husbandry, has been able to ascertain the degree 

 of exhaustion in fertility, which soils ordinarily 

 undergo, from the growth of conmion grain <-ro[)s 

 — and how much their fertility is increased by 

 given quantities of manure, and by pasture — :ind 

 thus teaching how to maintain, or to increase, the 

 fertility of the soil, and consequently its products 

 and its profits, from the resources of the farm. 



Other men have been assiduously engaged for 

 years in studying, and have satisfactorily ascer- 

 tained the laws by wiiich heat, air and water, are 

 made to exert their best agency in preparing the 

 food, and accelerating the growth and maturity 

 ol plants — and have piddislied directions how to 

 derive the highest advantage from these primary 

 agents of nutrition. 



And others have invented new and improved 

 implements and machinery, calculated to relieve 

 agricultural labor of half its toils. 



A farmer in Ohio raised fifteen hundred bush- 

 els of Swedish turnips on an acre of ground 

 enough to feed and fatten ten bullocks seventy five 

 days. A farmer in Massachusetts, by a new way 

 of managing his corn crop, has realized a net 

 profit of $150, on little more than an acre of land, 

 while his neighbors, in the same season, and in 

 adjoining fields, have not been remunerated, in 

 their crop, for the expense of culture. A farmer 

 in New York has proved, by experiment, that by 

 a new process of making hay, he can save ten 

 per cent, in weight, something in labor, and other 

 ten per cent, in the quality of his forage. An- 

 other farmer of my acquaintance, has cu.'tivateil 

 twenty acres of Indian corn, and eight acres of 

 beans, the present season ; — the former estimated 

 to average forty bushels the acre, and the latter 

 giving more than an ordinary yield — without em- 

 ploying a plough, or a hand hoe, in the plintiiig 

 or culture — the whole work having been perform- 

 ed with the drill harrow and cultivator, impk'- 

 ments of modern introduction, thus ectmomiziiig 

 from one-half to two thirds of the labor ordinarily' 

 bestowed. 



These are all matters of recent I'ecord, but as 

 they happen to be printed, they very properly fall 

 under the denomination of Book Farming. But 

 are tlicy, on this account, less true, or is the in- 

 formation they contain less useful in your prac- 

 tice .' If a neighbor makes a valuable improve- 

 ment, by which he doubles the value of his labor, 

 you readily avail yourselves of his discovery, 

 though you do it by stealth. Through the means 

 of agricultural [)ublications, the entire farming 

 community stand in the relation to you of neigh- 

 bors — you become acquainted with all their im- 

 provements, and are enabled to profit by their 

 skill and science. I nught detain you for hours 

 with details of improvements in husbandry, which 

 are essential and accessible to the farmer. Hun- 

 dreds of men of profound science, and thousands 

 of the best practical farmers, in this and in other 

 countries, are engaged in improving agriculture — 



n making two, three and four blades of grass, and 

 two, three and tonr bushels of grain grow, where 

 but one blade, or one bushel, grew before ; and 

 they are tendering you the beuelits of their labors 

 in t'le agricultural works of the day. The accu- 

 mulated experiince, and the improvements of cen- 

 turies, have been registered by the [iress, and their 

 benefits are temlcrud to all who will read and 

 profit by them, almost without money and with- 

 out price. He that will read may learn. — Buel. 



Sii,K CcLTURE.. — This subject seems to be 

 exciting the attention of Western Virginians. 

 The last Kanawha Banner speaks of a specimen 

 prepared by Mrs Ballard in the vicinity of 

 Charli'stovvn, from worms fed by her last season 

 with leaves of the native mulberry. The editor 

 says — "It compares well in quality with the 

 best Italian silk, the tliread being much evener 

 and smootlier. Mrs Bal'ard, we understand, es- 

 timates the product of this her first experiment, 

 at abont ten pounds ready for itse." 



A Mrs McDonald on upper Guyandotte, has 

 also been equally successful, and had a number 

 of cocoons ready for reeling. The Banner says 

 of the interest manifested vn that region : " We 

 learn with pleasure that the silk business is ex- 

 citing considerable interest in the adjoining coun- 

 ties, and that J. W. Bunibardner, of Mud river, 

 has from 1500 to 2000 yoiirig mulberries, and 

 will be Tible to feed a large nitmber of worms 

 next SCO son." — Poughkeepsie Journal. 



Thf. Farmer. — Happiness seems to have fixed 

 her se at in rural scenes. The spacious hall, the • 

 splendid equipage, and the poii^p of courts, do not 

 sootl-ie and entertain the iidnd of man in any de- 

 gree like the verdant plain, the enamelled mead, 

 the fragrant grove, melodious birds, the sports of 

 bef ists, the azure sky, and the starry heavens.- 



It is undoubtedfy a fact, that, in proportion to 

 our poptdation, too many leave the occupation of 

 t he agriculturist for other employments. If this, 

 arise from its being considered that the emploj'. 

 ment of «he farmer is not respectable, it is a very 

 great mirlake. Every filing is honorable which 

 is lisijful and virtuous. This is an employmeiij; 

 instituted by God himself, and by him particular- 

 ly owned and blest. It is that on which every 

 thing depends. True it is- Uihorious ; hut then 

 labor l)rings healthy is the foundation of ths farm- 

 er, is the condition of independence, his little do-, 

 minion ja his own, his comforts are his own, and 

 lie is not at the mercy of the' public whim and 

 caprice. It is not necessaj-ily the case, in this 

 happy country especially, tluu the farmer must be 

 a stupid, ignorant man. He is taught in his youth ' 

 the first rudiments of education, and he has many 

 sfiare hours to read. In the heat of the summer's 

 noon, and by the long winter evening's fire, he 

 has much time for his books, and in this country 

 they are placed within the reach of nil. 



To PRESERVE PtJMPKiNS. — Slew youT pumpkin 

 as usual for pies, sjiread it thinly upon large open 

 tins or platters, and place them under or over 

 your stove, where, if kept four or five days, it will 

 be dry enough to keep in bags or boxes through- 

 out the year. Pumpkin preserved in this way is 

 far superior to that preserved in the old method of 

 drying, making much richer and better flavored 

 pies, besides requiring much less labor. 



