380 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JUNE 4, 1R34. 



From the Gtntsee Firmer. 



RUTA BAGA AND MANGEL, Wl'RTZEL. 



As I have cultivated these roots more or less 

 every season for the last twenty years, I suppose 

 a short account of my practice may he acceptable 

 to such as are now commencing. 



Three times ploughing, with a harrowing and 

 rolling after each, puts the ground in complete 

 order to receive the seed of the ruta baga, which 

 should he sown immediately after the last plough- 

 ing — tin; longer time the ground lays between each 

 ploughing the better, so that the grass and weeds 

 don't grow large, say not less than a month. 



The time of sowing may vary according to cir- 

 cumstances and convenience — any time from the 

 first to the end of the seventh month (July), will 

 do for ruta baga in this latitude. If I wauled the 

 roots for table use I should not think of sowing 

 before the middle of the month — if for cattle, it 

 might do to sow the beginning; hut I may remark 

 that most of the failures I have noticed have been 



in < sequeuee of too early sowing on land not 



well prepared ; for, though turnips do not require 

 a very rich soil, it should he perfectly mellow, and 

 every particle of grass or perennial weeds ought 

 to he entirely dead before the seed is sown. Thus 

 the hoeing and weeding is performed with far less 

 labor than would otherwise be required, and the 

 roots will grow quick — this they must do to be 

 sound anil well flavored. 



I have usually put on about six or eight two 

 horse loads of dung previous to the first or second 

 ploughing, as most convenient. This, however, 

 is not necessary if the ground is naturally rich, 

 or has been in grass for some time. 



The method of sowing in rows is the best, in 

 my opinion. I have tried various distances for 

 the rows from two to four feet — the former is de- 

 cidedly too close, and the latter distance may he 

 thought too wide; but I have found the bulk of 

 crop greater on four feet space than on two feet — 

 at any rate I think it a positive loss of labor to 

 SOW closer than three feet. This leaves room for 

 a cultivator to pass between the rows. The plants 

 should be thinned so as to leave only one in a fool ; 

 it is important that this should he done as soon as 

 the plants are large enough to resist the attacks of 

 the turnip fly. The crop will he much diminished 

 if this is not attended to, especially when vegeta- 

 tion is rapid. One pound of seed is amply suffi- 

 cient for an acre if sown in rows — if broad cast, 

 the same or rather less will suffice, on account of 

 the increased difficulty of hoeing and thinning. 



The! common English turnip I consider hut a 

 very poor root to cultivate for cattle ; but if man- 

 aged as above directed for ruta baga, except to 

 sow the seed two or three weeks later, very heavy 

 crops could he raised ; hut I think mangel wurtzel 

 is the most valuable root for cattle. It is a trifle 

 more expensive to raise it — requires to be sown 

 about a month earlier than ruta baga — is not so 

 easily preserved through the winter, and requires 

 rather a richer soil. On the other band, it thrives 

 best on soils too heavy for the turnip — the bulk of 

 crop is greater — it can be sown to advantage after 

 once ploughing, and is never eaten by insects as 

 turnips are. Thus being a very certain crop, it 

 received the name of root of scarcity, meaning, I 

 suppose, that it never failed in times of general 

 scarcity. Cattle, sheep anil hogs, prefer it to any 

 other root that I have ever seen, after they he- 

 • come used to it. Two pounds of seed will suffice 

 for an acre, in rows three or four feet apart. I 



have always been sensible of a loss of time and 

 labor, when I have planted this crop closer than 

 four feet by fifteen inches from one plant to an- 

 other. It is a gross feeder, and I believe no soil 

 can be too rich for it, hut it will simply repay the 

 labor bestowed on it. I have raised them weigh- 

 ing twenty-five pounds each, and I believe there 

 was one of these roots exhibited in London weigh- 

 ing !2 pounds. 



Lastly, 1 may just say how I proceed with the 

 work of sowing the seed, which, for each kind, 

 does not vary much — having no drilling machine, 

 I get a piece of plank or slab si\ feet long, more 

 or less, according to the distance I intend to have 

 the rows — saw out three blunt teeth, one at each 

 end and one in the middle — put a long handle in 

 the centre, and draw this thing over the ground 

 crossways of the last ploughing, letting one outside 

 tooth go in the last marked row, thus making two 

 rows every time. To expedite the sowing, I mois- 

 ten the seed a little, and add a little lime or some 

 white substance. This makes it easy to see bow 

 thick I sow it, and enables me by going tit a 

 quick step, to put in several acres in a day if re- 

 quired. J. S. 



Oivasco, 5 mo. 7, 1834. 



From the Nortliern Farmer. 

 ROIXERS-SOWING GRASS SEED. 



Farmers who are in the practice of using Rol- 

 lers to level and smooth the ground, are fully i'om- 

 vinced of their great utility. How inconvenient it 

 is to mow, when the surface is very uneven, or 

 where small rocks lie upon it. And tliere is a 

 I. iss n|' labor in being obliged frequently to grin 

 the scythe, or in case of breaking to get a new one. 

 In laying down the soil to grass in the spring, the 

 roller makes " smooth workj" and drives down the 

 pebble stones and small rocks beneath the surface, 

 and also renders the appearance of the fields more 

 delightful. But the use of the roller is very bene- 

 ficial in sowing grass seed. The harrow unless 

 made with very fine and very short teeth, ought 

 not to be used ; because the grass in-fi\ t which the 

 common harrow buries one, two or three inches 

 beneath the surface does not vegetate. In sowing 

 grass seed, I now use only the roller, and it " catch- 

 es in" much better than it does by harrowing it in. 

 After a light gravelly soil has been well ploughed 

 and harrowed, it may often do very well to sou 

 the grass seed upon the surface before a rain. 

 This feet, perhaps well known to many I (earned 

 by accident. I directed my hands to lay down a 

 field with rye and grass seed. But they forgot to 

 sow the grass seed, as I learned after the rye had 

 sprouted. Believing that the use of the barrow 

 would then destroy the rye, I scattered the grass 

 seed upon the surface and never had any catch in 

 better. But there were several rains soon after. 

 This experiment has induced me to use only the 

 roller. 



To make a roller some take a log, others a stone 

 hewed round. Either is much better than none ; 

 but they often drag the small stones, &c. forward, 

 instead id' beating the same down perpendicularly 

 into the ground. 



A roller made of old truck or cart whpels is pre- 

 ferahle. My men made one of a pair of old truck 

 wheels in the following manner. A two-ineb 

 while oak plank was cut into short pieces, one end 

 ol each piece resting on the hub, and the other 

 end projecting about half an inch above the felloes 

 by wooden pins. A heavy uxlctree was then put 



in, about seven feet in length, the ends project- 

 ing out of the hubs about five or six inches. The 

 wheels were next covered with narrow thick pine 

 plank, and spiked into the ends of the white oak 

 plank. — But the planks must be hewed, so as to 

 form a perfect circle, previous to driving the spikes. 



The planks which cover the machine, must not 

 only hi: very narrow, but thick, the edges being 

 hewn obliquely, being well jointed, resting upon 

 and supporting each oilier, and therefore capable 

 of resisting a great external pressure. Narrow white 

 oak plank, or small timbers are then to he form- 

 ed in the shape of an oblong square. In the cen- 

 tre of the sides of this frame, a square bole is cut 

 so that the ends of the axletree may enter, and in 

 this frame the roller revolves. To the front end of 

 this frame the tongue or spire is attached, so that 

 the machine may be drawn with horses or oxen. 

 Many farmers now use rollers of a similar con- 

 struction. Should it be desirable to pick rocks 

 while operating with the machine, it would be 

 easy to construct a box to be attached to the frame. 

 The strength of the roller maybe increased, by 

 nailing iron hoops round the outside. 1 think 

 that large are preferable to small wheels. In or- 

 der to turn the machine with the cattle with great- 

 er ease, it may be judicious to have the circum- 

 ference in the middle a little larger than at the 

 ends, But when the middle rests upon rising 

 ground, or a little hillock in the act of turning, 

 there is no great difficulty. 



Many farmers suffer their cattle, in the wet sea- 

 sons ol Spring and Fall, to graze in their mowing 

 , fields. By this practice the soil is not only beat- 

 en down and rendered uneven, counteracting the 

 good effects of the roller, but the grass roots are 

 much injured, and, by the fall feeding are indeed 

 more liable to be winter killed. It is a practice 

 which ought to he discontinued. The inevitable 

 consequence of it is, either to reduce, or else pre- 

 vent the increase of the quantity of hay. 



W. Claggett. 



Portsmouth, March 24, 1S34. 



From Haywai d's Scii nee of Agriculture. 

 ON HAYMAKING. 



Having observed that in a season when there 

 was no rain whatever, and the hay had been 

 made with rapidity, and carted within a short 

 time after it had been cut, that a greater quantity 

 was destroyed and injured, by being overheated 

 and burnt, than in a catching irregular season; 

 that when hay had not heated in the slack, it was 

 frequently mouldy ; that as hay lost ils native 

 green color, and approached a brown, it lost its 

 nutritive qualities ; and that altogether the making 

 of hay, as usually conducted, was a very precari- 

 ous and leasing operation: I determined on trying 

 to arrange a system on some more regular and 

 certain principles, in which I succeeded; and by 

 adopting a'certain and regular course of operations, 

 was enabled to make my hay of a uniform good 

 quality ; and, let the weather be as it might, at a 

 regular expense of labor. And considering such 

 a process not only of importance, as it ensures 

 a more perfect quality ; but as it affords a more 

 certain protection ngainsl the injuries usually con- 

 sequent on the uncertainty of the weather, and 

 overheating ill the stack . and that it thus removes 

 i wo great causes of anxiety, it may he well worth 

 the public attention. 



In the first place as to the state of the weath- 

 er, it generally happens at this season of the 



