PUBLISHED BY GEO. C. BARRETT, NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (at thk Acricultuual Wakehouse.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



BOSTON WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY IC, 1833. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



For the New EngUmd Farmer. 

 PROFITABLE CDLTIVATIOJV, USE OF ROOTS 

 191 FAKAIING, &.C. 



Mr. Fessenden, — Dear Sir, — Messrs. Feathci^ 

 stoiihaugh and J. Buel, Esqs. have written so nntrav 

 and so ably, on the advantages of raising and feed-'' 

 ing roots to stock, that it would he presumptumi^ 

 in me, to say any thing more on this subject, but 

 as their coniniuuication induced nie to try the e.v 

 perinient, perhaps an account of my success, may 

 prevail on others to follow my example. In Eng- 

 land it is well understood that no farmer can pros- 

 per without his turnip Tield, and it is likewise be- 

 lieved that in this climate it is impossible to ^od 

 the crop out to advantage, eveu from cellars dur- 

 ing the severity of winter; to remedy this mcon- 

 venicnce, I have erected a building jiartly on the 

 Pennsylvania plan, 40 feet square, and sufficiently 

 large to hold my grain, straw and threshing ma- 

 chine ; uuderneath this is a stone basement laid 

 with lime cement, 9 feet in the clear. Across the 

 upper end, and next to the bank, is a cellar, occu- 

 pying one fourth of the basement ; this is so 

 arranged that it can be loaded from a .shoot and from 

 a tipped-up cart, and with a door below sufficiently 

 large to admit a wheelbarrow, which is moved on 

 a level from the vault to the basement, in which 

 the air is expected to be at all tunes so temperate 

 that we can feed without freezing the roots, and 

 when the weather is more mild the wheeibarrow 

 can be pushed forward into the sheds adjoining on 

 the same level. By these means my roots are pre- 

 served at all times in a sound state, and may be 

 fed when wanted with a great abridgment of labor. 

 My crop of roots occupied this season two small 

 fields without manure, one containing one acre thir- 

 teen rodsof stiff" loam, resting on gravel ; this field 

 was manured last year with 2-5 loads of sheen dung 

 and 100 bushels of leached ashes, and produced 130 

 bushels of corn, (see N. E. Farmer, Vol. X, No. 20.) 

 This season it was ploughed and harrowed with a 

 fine harrow to a garden mould, then rolled and 

 thrown into narrow ridges, two and a half feet 

 apart. It was planted on the l-5th of June with 

 mange] wurtzel, the seed drilled on the ridges at 

 the distance of 10 inches; as my seed fell short the 

 field was completed with ruta baga. Part of the 

 plants came up and looked well, but the most of 

 the mangel wurtzel failed entirely. This jiart of 

 the field was agaiu ploughed ou the 25th of July, 

 and sowed broadcast with the common flat turnip, 

 harrowed and rolled. The plants were thinned to 

 8 inches, (my order was 16, but my man could 

 not bear to lose so many fine plants ;) he spent two 

 days in thinning and hoeing the turnips, which 

 grew with great rapidity and soon covered the 

 grouud, the tops were fi-om 15 to 16 inches in 

 height ; and the bottoms nearly half their thick- 

 ness out of the grouud, aud so large as nearly to 

 come in contact with each other. The other por- 

 tion of the field that was covered with mangel 

 wurtzel and ruta baga, appeared very thrifty, the 

 plants all standing and unconmionly large. This 

 field excited a great deal of attention, it was viewed 

 by most of the villagers as a curiosity ; three fami- 

 lies were plentifully supplied with them from the 



time they were of the size of an egg gntil harvested. 

 Twenty bushels were delivered on the field to pay 

 laborers for harvesting, two loads were taken toi)S 

 and all to the barn to feed, rather more that 100 

 bushels of the smallest were disposed of to fami- 

 lies in the village at 25 cts. per bushel, and IG 

 loads of common turnips, 10 of ruta baga, and 11 

 of mangel wurtzel, averaging 25 bushels to a load, 

 were stowed in the new cellar — but this is not all, 

 we fed 5 hogs with the tops of the mangel wurtzel 

 about 5 weeks, and 6 oxen at work at the same 

 time at noon v.ilh ruta baga leaves. Again, the 

 groimd is clean atid in good order for a crop of 

 barley and grass seed, and one team may easily 

 plough, harrow and roll the field in one day. The 

 tops left on the ground gave a full feed to 6 milch 

 cows and 200 sheep for 7 or 8 days. The other 

 field was an entirely different soil ; it was origin- 

 ally a hemlock swamp, it had been lately drained, 

 and the stumps drawn oft' or burnt ; this portion 

 was jdonghed last year for the first time, deep, 

 with a strong plough and 6 oxen ; it yirovcd to be 

 a rich vegetable mould resting on stiff" clay, and was 

 cropped on the furrow with buckwheat; it pro- 

 duced a large crop of straw aud a fair crop ol' 

 grain this season ; it was [iloughed once, but not so 

 deep as to disturb the original sod, and all sown 

 with oats and grass seed, excepting between half 

 and three quarters of an acre reserved for ruta 

 baga. Owing to the ground being wet, it was not 

 worked until tlie 2Sth of June ; it was then thrown 

 into narrow ridges and drilled ou the top of the 

 ridge with ruta baga, but it was yet too wet, the 

 ground baked, and the plants came up irregularly; 

 we were unable to work it until the 1st of August, 

 wheu the ground after a shower was ploughed, 

 hoed out, and the ridges filled by transplanting. 

 The groimd worked uncommonly light and mellow, 

 and from this time the plants grew rapidly, although 

 far behind the other field; we harvested them three 

 weeks too early, while they were in rapid growth. 

 Notwithstanding these draw*jacks, we pitted from 

 this field (the new cellar not bouig finished) 375 

 bushels. 



If I have been more successful in my crops 

 than my neighbors, it is owing partly to diligence, 

 and adopting the maxim that what is done shall 

 be toe.U done, and also to adopting the practice of 

 my friend Earl Stimpson, of Saratoga, of deposit- 

 ing my manure on the top rather than the bottom 

 of the furrow. I begun my improvements by 

 ploughing deep with six oxen and a strong plough. 

 This is done as well to level the ground as to 

 bring up the stones below any future ploughing, 

 which are carefully picked and carted oft" the 

 groimd, and after the land is perfectly cleaned, 

 worked into a fine garden mould ; the manure is 

 then applied to the amount of 10 to 25 loads of 

 26 bushels to the load. This is spread evenly on 

 the surface aud well incorporated with the earth 

 with a fine tooth harrow ; in preparing these fields 

 for their regular rotations much labor is frequently 

 expended, but in no instance, except in the wet 

 clay bottom, has the crop failed, always amply re- 

 payuig the extra labor, as well as the labor inci- 

 dent to the production, and the land is at once 

 increased in value from .f 10 per acre, (the original 

 cost,) to pay the interest on at least $100 per acre. 



It is womlerfld to notice the good ctt'ects of com- 

 paratively stnall quantities of manure applied as 

 above. It may he asked, How does the manure 

 operate ? Do nut the plants receive a greater pro- 

 portion of nourishment from the air than is gene^ 

 rally allowed .' does not the manure rather serve- 

 to attract this iiourishtnent by its fermenting or 

 other properties as well as moisture to the plants? 

 keeping by this means the ground soft and mel- 

 low rather than comnmnicating direct nourish- 

 ment to the roots. The ai)plication of plaster and 

 lime warrants some such ideas as suggested above, 

 which I leave to far more able heads to describe. 

 Thus far I have given a history of my rich crops 

 and mode of securing and feeding them ; I believe 

 there is no mistake, at any rate none is intended, 

 aud if worthy of record you are at liberty to pub- 

 lish it. I am yours, respectfully, 



Benjamin Butler. 

 Oxford, (Chenango, JV. Y.) Dec. 26, 1832. 



For the A'ew England Farmer. 

 AGRICirl.TURE, AS COMPARED WITH OTHER 

 PURSUITS. 



Tillage of the earth was the first employment 

 assigned to man, and it is of all occupations the 

 most pleasant and independent. It is one which 

 not only recjuires physical ability, but if carried to 

 the most profitable and praiseworthy extent, it also 

 requires mental exertion — and by these very requi- 

 sitions, it creates and preserves a healthy and 

 vigorous state of body and mind. No individual 

 need be ha])pier nor prouder than the cultivator of 

 the earth — to be sure he has his cloudy days ; the 

 seasons are sometimes unpropitious, cutting short 

 his crops, and grasping with an iron hand some of 

 his dearest interests ; — but wrecks are found else- 

 where than on his coasts. The merchant, and 

 mechanic, and manufacturer, all have tlreir mo- 

 ments of adversity to dread ; and perhaps with not 

 a single hope to cheer them on in their struggle be- 

 tween duty and self; the husbandman is never be- 

 yond hope, as long as his land exists and fertility 

 continues to abide in its vitals — and when did 

 either the one or the other fail .' 



But it is not the security of the farmer which 

 alone recommends his situation, it is the inex- 

 haustible source of ])leasure always at his com- 

 mand. It is he, who can study to the most ad- 

 vantage the mysteries of nature — it is he, who has 

 access at all times to her charms ; the happy song 

 of the bird strikes pleasantly upon his ear ; the 

 morning breeze comes gratefully to his brow; the 

 rising sun, the beautiful flower aud ever-varying 

 foliage, the joyous hisect, aud the thousands ami 

 tens of thousands of objects blessed and indulged 

 under the guidance of a kind Father — are to hmi 

 scenes glorious and great. He is not confined to 

 a dwelling, to ])crform the mental drudgery and 

 make the dry calculations of the merchant ; nor to 

 a shop, to go through the laborious and tiresome 

 operations of the mcchauic — neither has he to 

 traverse the ocean, encountering the dangers aud 

 partaking of the toils and hardships of the mari- 

 ner ; in the charming languag-e of Bloomfield, 



" No wilds has lie to roam. 



Cut bright euciosures circling round his home." 



Such is the husbandman's lot, which so many 



