NO. 19. 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



295 



If it should be asserted that the trouble of 

 cutting the stalks is an objection to their use, 

 we would remark that tliere are always a 

 sufficient number of inclement days through- 

 out the winter, when hands cannot be occu- 

 pied out of doors, to perform all the labor re- 

 quisite to prepare them, without its bearing 

 in the least as a tax upon time. Of the ex- 

 pense of a cutting box, we will not speak, as 

 no farmer or planter, without detriment to his 

 interest can be without one, and should it be 

 said that steaming is an onerous preparation, 

 and that the fixtures are costly, we would re- 

 ply, that it is neither one nor the other. An 

 ordinary sized pot, fitted up in a furnace, with 

 sufficient number of oblong boxes, with tight 

 covers, to hold the requisite quantity of pro- 

 vender are all the fixtures that re necessary ; 

 40 gallons of boiling water poured upon half 

 the number of bushels of cut stalks, would 

 in one hour cook and render them fit for use. 

 Surely then, there is no individual worthy of 

 pursuing the noble calling of a cultivator of 

 the earth, who would maintain such objec- 

 tions to the impairment of his real and sub- 

 stantial interests. — Baltimore Farmer and 

 Gardener. 



A Corn ITIeal Rusk. 



Among the many delicacies in the form of 

 bread, which render the enjoyment of break- 

 fast so acceptable, we know of none rriore de- 

 serving of notice than the one prepared ac- 

 cording to the following recipe : 



Take 6 cupsful of corn meal, 4 of wheat 

 flour, 2 cupsful of molasses, and 2 tablespoons- 

 ful of sal araetus, mix the whole together, 

 and knead it into dough; then make two 

 cakes; bake them as you would pone, for 

 three fourths of an hour, and you will have 

 one of the most grateful descriptions of bread 

 that ever graced the table. — ib. 



Carrot Field Culture. 



We had a conversation a few days since 

 with a Yankee Farmer, on the above subject, 

 and being pleased with the course of his re- 

 marks, we prevailed on him to commit them 

 to writing, in the hope that as the season is 

 now approaching when this fine vegetable 

 may be sown, we might, by bringing the to- 

 pic to the notice of our readers, induce some 

 of them to try the experiment of raising a 

 crop for feed for their milch cows. The 

 Parsnep too, should command attention; the 

 same mode of culture will serve for them as 

 for the carrot, with these exceptions — that 

 the drills should be about 18 inches apart and 

 the plants stand about 4 inches asunder. 

 Thus planted in the month of April, in suit- 

 able soil, manured with well rotted manure, 

 or a compost of spent ashes and mould, kept 



clean and hoed three times, they would yield 

 from 5(10 to 1,000 bushels of roots to the acre, 

 which might be left in the ground all winter 

 to be dug up as wanted for feeding. 



To those who desire to have butter in win- 

 ter, possessing all the virtues of that article 

 made from cows fed on May pastures, it will 

 be only necessary to say that by a very little 

 trouble they may realize their wishes, 



Tlie communication alluded to above will 

 be found subjoined. 



" The carrot flourishes best on a loam or 

 sandy soil. The ground should be prepared 

 by ploughing very fine to the depth often or 

 twelve inches, fine manure, in quantity suffi- 

 cient for common crops should be ploughed 

 in, and the ground harrowed merely suffi- 

 cient to level if, the seed should be sown in 

 drills from twelve to fourteen inches apart; 

 a machine made for the purpose is the best 

 for sowing : four or five plants to a foot is 

 sufficient to be left to come to maturity; a 

 good day for planting corn is a good day for 

 sowing carrot seed. The crop is usually 

 from four to five hundred bushels to the acre. 

 There is not a more profitable crop for feed- 

 ing stock, raised in the N. England States, 

 than the carrot, where the soil suits the crop; 

 with a little more labor, you will get as ma- 

 ny bushels of a much richer vegetable than 

 the potatoe. One experiment has been made, 

 by putting six cows into the stalls in Decem- 

 ber, and feeding five with corn-meal and hay, 

 and one with corn-meal and carrots, and when 

 slaughtered, the one fed with carrots was 

 pronounced the fattest and handsomest beef. 

 They are equally good for milch cows, in- 

 creasing the quantity, and adding color and 

 richness of flavor to the butter, but little if 

 any, surpassed by the best pasturing. They 

 can be profitably used in many other ways 

 by a farmer." — Ib. 



On Pruning Orchards. 



There is no branch of the management of 

 orchards less understood, or more unskilfully 

 performed, than the operation of pruning; a 

 belief of its necessity is so general, that even 

 the most careless will seldom omit it — such, 

 however, is the want of skill in many of the 

 operators, that total neglect would be less 

 prejudical, than their preformance of it. If 

 judiciously done, pruning promotes health 

 and early fruitfulness : and will continue a 

 tree in vigor, long after the common period 

 of its duration. Nothing has contributed 

 more to the imperfect knowledge of this ope- 

 ration, than the wordy and unintelligible 

 systems which have been published respecting 

 it ; in a mere practical system, it is unnecessa- 

 ry to lay much stress on wood branches and 

 fruit branches ; which, however well under- 



