1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



plants would have made ra]nd progress had it not 

 been for the ravages of the fly ; in consequence of 

 ■which nearly one-half had lo be sown a second time ; 

 thus retarding the general progress of the piece con- 

 siderably. By the end of July, however, the field 

 had acquired a uniform appearance ; and such was 

 the rapidity and luxuriance of the growth of these 

 turnips that received the guano that they attracted 

 unusual attention and admiration in this section of 

 the country,and by their excluding light and air from 

 the ground by the thickness of their foliage,complete- 

 ly extirpated every particle of witch grass ; an object 

 the accomplishment of which is esteemed by the 

 proprietor of infinitely more value than the large 

 crop of turnips. But to cut a long story short, 

 suffice it to say, that these two acres on being har- 

 vested, produced forty-eight tons of turnips after 

 being divested of roots and tops, or about 850 bush- 

 els per acre — all sound and handsome, and of ex- 

 traordinary size. 



The remaining two acres appropriated to ruta- 

 bagas being comparatively free from witch grass, 

 were prepared for sowing in drills, or rows, with the 

 machine. The ground was divided into four equal 

 lots, one-half an acre each, and manured as follows, 

 viz: — 



Lot first received six cords stable manure, sea- 

 weed and meadow mud in equal proportions, plow- 

 ed down broadcast. The seed was sown in rows 

 two feet apart, perfectly straight, and equi-distant ; 

 but although they came up thick and strong, their 

 progressive motion was slow compared with those 

 on the two-acre lot that got the guano. When 

 harvested the half acre produced seven tons of or- 

 dinary sized turnips, clean and handsome, but con- 

 siderable of thebi inclined to rot at the top. 



Lot second was treated in exactly the same way 

 as regards compost, &c., but in addition received 

 two hundred of superphosphate of lime put into the 

 drills with the hand before depositing the seed. 

 During the season no marked difference was ob- 

 servable in the appearance of the tops ; but on be- 

 ing harvested produced eight tons of very hand- 

 some, sound turnips of medium size. 



Lot third received the same amount of compost 

 and ten bushels of ground bones in the drills with 

 the seed, and produced nine and a half tons of clean, 

 sound turnips of good marketable size. 



Lot fourth, being the last, was manured with the 

 following compost, plowed down broadcast, viz : 

 six cords meadow mud mixed with twenty-four 

 casks of muriate of lime thoroughly pulverized. 

 The turnips on this lot had rather a sickly appear- 

 ance during the season, and produced, when har- 

 vested, only four and a half tons, and of inferior 

 quality, being small and stringy, with strong indica- 

 tions of disease. 



Judging from these results, as well as from many 

 former experiments of the same kind I have arrived 

 at the conclusion that concentrated manures in 

 general are applied in too small quantities to pro- 

 duce the desired effect ; and except their prices in 

 the market can be much reduced from what they 

 are at present, their extensive use as fertilizers of 

 the soil is yet of extremely doubtful expediency 



In 18o5 1 manured for beets with twelve hundred 

 of guano to the acre, and had an extraordinary 

 large crop; and on the adjoining lot, lonly applied 

 three hundred per acre, the usual quantity recom'- 

 mended, and they were scarcely worth harvesting, 

 With twenty- four barrels of ground bones per acre 



the same season, I raised a great crop of carrots ; 

 but where I only used ten bushels per acre, on the 

 same sort of land the crop was comparatively noth- 

 ing. Last season I had excellent cabbage and 

 cauliflower with poudrette alone, applied at the 

 rate of forty barrels per acre. Also, superphos- 

 phate of lime, where I gave an ordinary shovelful 

 to each hill, or at the rate of two tons per acre ; 

 but where these were applied in the prescribed 

 quantities of the manufacturers, the crops were a 

 complete failure. Much depends, however, on the 

 state of the ground to which these are applied, 

 whether it is poor or rich, and with what it was 

 cropped the previous season, &c., &c. But taking 

 all things into account, it is decided beyond a doubt, 

 and established by rea^ practical exjjerience, that 

 the manures above mentioned, with the exception 

 of ground bones, are nothing more than stimulants, 

 and have no lasting effect. Even guano itself, 

 which takes the foremost rank, and although a vig- 

 orous fertilizer, its effects are all gone with the first 

 crop it produces. On the lot of beets that received 

 twelve hundred to the acre and that which received 

 only three hundred there was no visible diflerence 

 in the crop of rye that succeeded them ; the whole 

 being a miserable concern, both as regards straw 

 and grain, scarcely worth harvesting. Whereas, 

 alongside of it, where the ground received twenty- 

 four barrels of ground bones per acre the previous 

 season, and produced a large crop of carrots, the 

 rye was a most luxuriant crop ; over forty bushels . 

 to the acre, and the straw of first quality, being tall 

 and clear. On the part that received ten bushels 

 per acre, the grain was good, but the qjantity com- 

 paratively small ; twenty- eight bushels per acre, and 

 the straw of moderate length. Other portions of 

 the ground had received a liberal allowance of barn 

 manure for the previous crop, produced good rye, 

 but not near so good as that which received the 

 greatest quantity of ground bones. Still from the 

 result of many experiments, I am ready to admit 

 that along with barn manure the greater part of 

 these concentrated fertilizers may be profitably 

 employed in producing early crops, even when ap- 

 plied in small quantities; and especially guano, 

 which is certainly a most powerful auxiliary to 

 market gardening, and no one following that busi- 

 ness ought to be without it. F. C. 

 Beverly West Beach, Feb. 5th, 1857. 



For the New England Farmer. 



ICE AND MILK HOUSE. 



Below find a description of an ice and milk house, 

 that works well. 



The outside house is 32 feet square, the frame 

 consists of 8 posts on each eave side, and 2 on each 

 gable end, 8 inches square, M'ith a stone the same 

 diameter of the post or larger, 2 feet below the 

 ground, and 6 inches above, and a dowel pin from the 

 end of the stone to the end of the post. Plates 6 

 by 8, with 4 joist stretching from post to post, say 

 32 feet long, 3 inches by 12, the centre ones running 

 only to the centre house in which the ice is placed. 

 The ice house proper is IG-i feet square, with an in- 

 sid ! shell 12A feet square, 14 feet high, the space 

 being 2 feet, filled with tan bark. The bottom is 

 water-tight, with 3 inches descent to centre gutter, 

 v/hich also descends 3 inches, and at the lowest end 

 a \ in. diameter copper pipe carries it through the 



