Vol. X No. 39. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



309 



may be added. It is tlius tliyy are treated in Ger- 

 many, where tin? root stands in the stead of mea- 

 dows or grass lauds, and whose excellent horses 

 are well known. 



"Hogs, fed upon them raw, after they have 

 been cut up fine and mixed with milk or other 

 drink, fatten as well upon them as upon boiled po- 

 tatoes, by which, the fuel and trouble of boiling is 

 saved. 



"As to the quantity given to animals, mucli 

 will depend on the ])roportion of other fodder 

 which you allow them. Cows fed twice a day in 

 winter, upon eighteen jjounds of these roots at 

 each time, together with four pounds of hay or 

 chopped straw, will give as much and as good njilk 

 as in summer, and they will be kept in the best 

 possible state. 



" Oxen fed with forty weight of these roots per 

 day, with ten pounds of hay, for one month, and 

 after that with fifty weight per day of the roots 

 alone, will be fat enough for sale in two months 

 more. 



" Any person disposed may, from the facts above 

 stated, calculate how many cattle will be support- 

 ed by a single acre of land on which this plant is 

 cultivated. 



Men can eat this vegetable throughout the year; 

 it is agreeable and healthy. No insect attacks it, 

 and it suffers but little from the variety of the sea- 

 sons. The leaves of this plant form, alone, an ex- 

 cellent food for every species of domestic quad- 

 ruped, during four months in the year. Turnips 

 and other vegetables are, besides, liable to be de- 

 stroyed by insects, whereas this beet is not. The 

 roots can be preserved eight months in a sound 

 state, while turnips are of little value after March. 

 In some soils turnips will not grow, particulai'ly in 

 those which are very stiff or strong. The root of 

 scarcity grows everywhere. The milk of cows 

 fed on turnips, has a bad taste. That of those fed 

 on this plant is excellent, as is also the butter made 

 from it. This forage on green fodder comes also 

 at the hot seasons, when almost all other green 

 food is scarce, and sometimes not to be procured. 

 Cattle never get tired »of it. In many parts of 

 Germany, where it is raised with success, they 

 prefer it to everytldng else, to fatten those large 

 herds of cattle which they annually export to 

 France. In feeding cattle with beets, the same 

 dry food must be given which is usually given 

 with turnips." 



Col. Powel observes, "My neat cattle prefer 

 mangel wurtzel to any other root which I have 

 offered to them. I have found its effects in pro- 

 ducing large secretions of good milk, very great. 

 I selected, in November, two heifers of the same 

 breed and very nearly of the same age, and in 

 similar condition ; they were ted in adjoining stalls, 

 and have been fed regularly, three times a day, by 

 the same man. One of them has had three pecks 

 oPmangel wurtzel, and four quarts of corn meal, 

 daily; the other, four and a half pecks of mangel 

 wurtzel. The last, which has had mangel wurt- 

 zel alone, is in the condition of good beef; the 

 otlier is not more than what graziers call half fat. 



" The api)lication of mangel wurtzel as food for 

 sheep, is not the least important of its uses. Ewes 

 yean usually at the season when grass cannot be 

 supplied. The health of themselves and the thrift 

 of their lambs, essentially depend upon succulent 

 food being had. I am inclined to think, that no 

 small portion of the success which English breed- 

 ers have met, is to be ascribed to the large stores 



of roots, which they always have at command. It 

 cannot be denied, that Indian meal ,v.ill, of itself, 

 in most cases, produce extraordinary fatness as 

 well as great size ; but I have been led to believe, 

 that diseases are generally engendered by this spe- 

 cies of forcing, which is always expensive, and too 

 often, eventually destroys the animal which has 

 been thus reared." 



A writer in the Farmer's Journal says, " This 

 root is now generally allowed to stand eminent for 

 the excellence of its fattening qualities. Among 

 our field productions, parsnips and carrots may 

 justly be declared the most nutritious; Swedish 

 turnips, as holding divided empire with it ; while 

 white turnips and cabbages sink into insignificance 

 before it. The taste, both of the leaf and root, is 

 most gratefid to every description of stock — bul- 

 locks, sheep and hogs, instinctively h'y hold of 

 them, and, when once accustomed to their flavor, 

 they reject every other sort of green food, if they 

 have the election. 



" No edible root has yet been brought into use, 

 which has an affinity to the one under considera- 

 tion, with respect to its imperishable pro|)erties. 

 The white turnip is in March entirely divested of 

 its fattening power ; the Swede in May becomes 

 shrivelled, and is almost refused by cattle ; the ])o- 

 tato, after this time, entirely sprouts away all its 

 vigor, diminishes in bulk, and dries up ; but not 

 so the mangel wurtzel. It is nof only ready for 

 use in the autumn, the winter and sjjring, but may, 

 if required, be continued with unabated advantage, 

 and in the following autumn it may be found in 

 full possession of its most valuable properties, un- 

 diminished in weight and abounding in saccharine 

 juices." It has, however, been thought by culti- 

 vators hi this country, that the ruta baga is more 

 easily preserved, and will remain useful to a later 

 period in the spring and summer after its growth, 

 than the mangel wurtzel. 



Messrs T. and H. Little observe, as to the value 

 of the roots for feeding stock, "there is a variety 

 of opinions ; but, from a number of years' experi- 

 eijce, we think them a valuable addition, and high- 

 ly worth cultivating. Comparing them with En- 

 glish hay, — and we know of no better standard — 

 in our opinion, three tons of mangel wurtzel, or 

 potatoes, — of the two, we value the mangel wurt- 

 zel the highest, — are equal to one ton of hay, for 

 feeding stock generally ; but for milch cows, we 

 think two tons of equal value; for feeding store 

 swine, mangel wurtzel is the only root that we 

 know of, which we can cultivate and feed to profit. 

 Six bushels of raw mangel wurtzel we think equal 

 to one bushel of Indian corn." 



Quantity to an acre. — The premium crop of the 

 Messrs Little was 33 tons, 10 cwt. and 14 lbs. on 

 an acre. Col. Powel, inclosed certificates to the 

 president of the Penn. Agr. Society, showing that 

 sixteen hundred and thirtyfour bushels of mangel 

 wurtzel, weighing seventyeight thousand four hun- 

 dred and fortyeight pounds, were produced upon 

 one acre and fourteen perches ; and a part of the 

 same field, containing thirteen contiguous rows, 

 produced at the rate of two thousand and si.xtyfive 

 bushels per acre, weighing 44 tons, 5 cwt. and 27 

 lbs. 'In Great Britain, it is said that upwards of 

 sixty tons have been raised on an acre. 



Gathering and preserving. — -In gathering the 

 roots, care should be taken to cut off the leaves 

 about half an inch above the crown, as they will 

 not keep so well, if cut more closely. Messrs 

 Tristram and Henry Little say, " As to the best 



mode of preserving them, we liave fried divers 

 ways — by pitting them, by putting them into a 

 barn anil covering them with hay, and by putting 

 them into the cellar ; the last mode we think the 

 best." Col. Powel observes, that one of his crops 

 was "piled in a cellar, in rows, as wood, and cov- 

 ered with sand." _ A writer in the English Farm- 

 er's Journal observes, that he practised with suc- 

 cess, the following inode of preserving this root: 

 " I packed it in long heaps, about seven feet wide 

 at the bottom. I begin by forming the outside 

 with the roots, not .stripped of their top ; tojjs out- 

 wards ; the internal part to be filled with roots 

 without leaves ; continue one layer over another, 

 imtil the heap is about six feet high, and about 

 two feet broad at top, which may be covered with 

 straw and earth ; the ends of the heap should be 

 covered in the same way ; the leaves form an effi- 

 cient covering against rain and frost." 



Mr Hall, the editor of the Jerseyman, a Jackson 

 paper, is about to vacate his editorial chair in favor 

 of a Mr Robbins from Massachusetts, and devote 

 his time and talents to a cultivation of the earth. 

 May the "teeming mother " of us all be propitious 

 to her returning child, who leaves the creation of 

 paragraphs for the growing of parsnips, and drops 

 his pen to take up the pitchfork. May he find 

 potatoes more profitable than ])olitics, and peaches, 

 rather than peltings, ihe fruit of his application. 



We applaud the resolution of our brother ; the 

 new profession, if it is as little productive of 

 wealth (which is scarcely possible) as that which 

 he has left, will, nevertheless, minister directly to 

 health, the mother of happiness. The rounded 

 visage, the firm muscle, the steady gait, and smile 

 of content, all owe themselves to rural labors ; 

 while dimness of vision, trembling nerves, bowed 

 frame, imeven tread and an early grave, come 

 from the editorial desk. Men may talk of exer- 

 cise as they will ; the best functions of the human 

 frame fail before these labors. Point to the man 

 who sits among newspapers, inditing paragraphs 

 and pasting selections, and you may designate one 

 to whom belongs, either in profession or short 

 perspective, decayed physical powers, the sunken 

 eye and sallow sickly visage. Early habits may 

 for a short time prevent these things, but " to this 

 complexion must he come at last."— [7. S. Gaz. 



WHEAT AND CORN. 



That like begets like, is a generally acknow- 

 ledged truth ; and yet how often do we see peo- 

 ple" in the every day concerns of life, denying in 

 eflect this important fact ; and to say nothing of 

 the absurd practice of sowing chess, tmwhere is 

 this inconsistency more apparent than among 

 many of our respectable farmers. 



They seem not to be sufficiently aware that if 

 the)' sow poor wheat and plant poor corn, poor 

 wheat and poor corn they nmst expect to harvest. 

 So in all other productions of the farm. Our 

 mother earth is not so propitious as to return us 

 fifty, sixty, or a hundred fold, even of a better 

 quality than was entrusted to Iter care, and indeed 

 it would be an unjust expectation. 



Some years ago, I took pains to select from my 

 wheat in the sheaf enough to sow about half an 

 acre, of the longest, fullest and most perfect heads 

 I could find. 



I sowed it in the same field with my other wheat 



