358 



New ENGLAND FARMER. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



^^ considered ; on the contrary such seems to be 



SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 1824. 



FARMER'S CALEJVDER. 



Turnips. Every farmer will find it profita- 

 ble to raise a quantity of these roots. The 

 Mangel Wurtzel and the Ruta Baga, useful as 

 they undoubtedly are, will not completely su- 

 persede, nor altogether supply the place of the 

 old fashioned English turnip. In the Memoirs 

 of the Board of Agriculture of the Slate of New- 

 York, vol. i. page 26., we find the following re- 

 marks on the best mode of cultivating this va- 

 luable roof. 



" There is no difficulty in raising turnips on 

 new land; but it is very desirable to know the 

 best. mode of raising them, at least a small patch 

 every year, on old farms. Mr. Henry De Bois 

 of this county, [Renssellaer] and Maj. E- Cady, 

 of Columbia county, say, that they have succeed- 

 ed in obtaining good crops several years in suc- 

 cession by the following process. Turn over a 

 turf of old sward the first week in June. Yard 

 your cattle at night on this, in the proportion of 

 six head at least to a quarter of an acre, until 

 the 20th of July. Then harrow lengthwise 

 the furrows, so as not to disturb or overturn 

 them, and sow in the proportion of about half 

 a pound of seed per acre. 



" If it is not convenient to yard cattle upon it 

 sufficiently, about two inches of well rotted ma- 

 nure harrowed in as above will do as a substi- 

 tute. Mr. C, R. Colden applies the manure by 

 strewing it in shallow furrows two feet apart, 

 then buries the manure by two side furrows, and 

 harrows the ground level, lengthwise of the fur- 

 rows. This method requires less manure, and 

 he has the advantage of hoeing the turnins in 

 drills." ' 



We recollect, likewise, that we have read in 

 several of our New England newspapers that 

 fine turnips have been raised by ploughing up 

 old sward ground, some time in June, harrowing 

 well and sowing from the 1st to the 20th of July, 

 and this without the application of manure. 

 But, there can be no doubt that folding shee)! 

 or horned cattle on thfi land thus ploughed would 

 very mucli enhance tlie crop. 



All American writers on this subject, whose 

 works we have perused, advise to sow seed of 

 liie common English turnip as late as about the 

 middle of July. Thoy tell us that late sowed 

 turnips are much the best for the table, and 

 that they are le.ss liable to be injured by insects, 

 if sown so late, than wh<2n sown much earlier 

 in the season. 



Turnips are frequently if not most generally 

 raised in the United States as a second crop, and 

 no doubt this practice is often very eligible and 

 may be perfectly consonant with the°soundest 

 maxims of good husbandry. But when it is in- 

 tended to mcike the most of your crop of turnips. 

 or to obtain as great a product as possible for 

 the purpose of feeding cattle, we do not per- 

 ceive any objection to giving turnips a larger 

 portion of the season to grow in, than has been 

 with us the general practice. 



An English writer on agriculture, whose re- 

 marks on this and other agricultural topics ap- 

 pear to us to be judicious, and to display a tho- 

 rough knowledge of the subjects of his essavs 

 s.iy, " It is not pretended that there lies any so- 

 lid Objections to early sowing of turnips, simply 



the most proper means of obtaining a full crop 

 but the advantages of early sowing whatever 

 they be are given up, and the season post|)oned 

 from near three to five months by way of re- 

 tarding the growth of the crop ; that it may last 

 to a later period in the spring, and receive less 

 damage from the frosts than that to which it 

 would be liable in its early maturity. The dis- 

 advantages attending this plan are a crop far in- 

 ferior in weight to what might be obtained from 

 the land; the very common risk of destruction 

 from drought and fly. The weight and perfec- 

 tion of the turnips, being the objects, the land 

 may be got ready for them as for any other ear- 

 ly spring crop, and the seed sown with the first 

 warm showers. This will afford ample scope 

 for resowing, should the first seed fail, of which 

 however, granting it to be good, and the land suf- 

 ficiently fine,l believe there is scarcely any risk." 



" As to any advantages of a crop previous to 

 the turnips, nothing scarcely can stand in compe- 

 tition with the first crop of roots. 



" The true turnip-soil is a deep sand, or sandy 

 loam. Every gardener knows the proper time 

 to begin hoeing turnips. In general when the' 

 plants spread a circle of about four inches thoy 

 are ready for the first hoeing. They are com- 

 monly left about a foot asunder. The second 

 hoeing three weeks after the first," 



Those who desire to go extensively and suc- 

 cessfully into the turnip culture should raise 

 their own seed from the finest transplanted 

 roots. An English cultivator says, " It is won- 

 derful what a small quantity of seed suffices for 

 an acre of ground, and indeed equally so how it 

 can be delivered and spread over such a breadth. 

 A [lint might be more than enough, but it is us- 

 ual to broad cast a quart on an acre." 



Dr. Dcane's New England Farmer asserts 

 that '■ the quantity of seed sown on an acra is 

 never less than one pound, frequently a poimd 

 and an half, and by some two. According to 

 the same work it is very necessary fiir the suc- 

 cess of the crop that a heavy roller be passed 

 over the field immediately after harrowing in 

 the seerf. jjrovided the ground is sufficiently dry, 

 or as soon as it is in a fit condition. By this 

 mean? the clods are broken, and much of the 

 seed that would otherwise be exposed to birds, 

 kc. will be covered and the surface rendered 

 smooth and compact thereby, and consequently 

 more roienlive of moisture, which will greatly 

 promote the vegetation of the seed and growth] 

 of the plants. : 



If a quantity of lime were sowed over the , 

 field immediately after putting in the seed, it' 

 would probably preserve the crop against in-' 

 sects, and prevent the turnips becoming spun- ] 

 gy, as well as increase their size. Unleached ! 

 ashes, soot, and plaster, have also been highly ' 

 recommended as manure for turnips. Thomas 

 iMellville. Jun. Esq. of Pillslield, Mass. in raising 

 a crop ivhich received the premium from the! 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Society, in ItilT, ' 

 and which amounted to about 750 bushels to the 

 acre, sowed his seeds in -drills of twenty-eight 

 inches the 21st of June, on ground [ireviously 

 well manured. The following day sowed on 

 the acre thirty bushels slacked lime and fifteen 

 bushels house ashes. 



What wo have said about the early sowing of 

 turnip? we wnuld merely suggest as arhint, or 

 something to be thought of, and perhaps be- 



come a matter of experiment. It appears to \x? 

 that our custom of sowing turnips so late in the 

 season, as is commonly practiced, is an usage 

 borrowed from British husbandry without duly 

 considering the difference of our climate from 

 that of Great Britain, and the different uses to 

 which this crop is commonly applied in the two 

 countrie?. In England they usually feed turnips 

 off the ground with sheep; or draw them for 

 neat cattle during the wmteras fast as they are 

 wanted, and often let them stand in the field till' 

 spring to supply green food for sheep at the 

 time of their yeaning, kc. But in the United 

 States, this crop must be harvested in autumn 

 and secured from frost ; and it would seem to 

 be desirable that they should have had time to 

 obtain their full growth before they are ga- 

 thered. 



TO rr.sTRoy worms in frcit trees. We h?ve 

 repeatedly recommended the trial of semething similar 

 to the I'oUowinj, which is copied from the Hartford. 

 Mercury, to destroy worms in Fruit Trees. It point* 

 out the mode of operation somewhat more clearly than 

 any other article, which we have seen on the subject^ 

 which induces us to republish it. 



Take a half inch auger or bit and bore to the centre 

 of every tree ; then by means of a paper tube, fill the 

 hole with iulphvr, crowding it in with a ramrod ; then 

 cut out a g;reen limb from the same tree, and plu» the 

 hole. It will not require more than two spoonfulls of 

 sulphur for each tree, and in 48 hours the worms will 

 leave the remotest branches. The process will also be 

 beneficial for younj fruit trees, even when not trou- 

 bled with worms ; it renders them more thrifty. This 

 process has been found infallible. 



LICE OS APPLE TREES ONCE MORE. A gentleman 

 who has been very successful in cultivating^ fruit trees, 

 asserts that white washing- trees with lime will posi- 

 tively rftslroy this insect, if the application of the while 

 wash be persevered in for three years in succession. 

 The first year it checks their ravag-es, and lessens theii 

 numbers ; the second year, puts almost altogether a 

 period to their offensive operations ; and the third ytai 

 effects their total destruction. 



ON THE M.\NrFACTrnE OF STRAW AND GRASS EON 



NETS. We have this day published No. 6, of a seriei 

 of Essays with this title in order to give all the obser- 

 vations of the author under that head, without muti 

 lating or curtailing his productions. We would not 

 however, be understood Ic have set the seal of appro- 

 bation to alt that writer's remarks. We have no incli. 

 nation to become a party in any contest connected witl- 

 the Tariff, nor to set ourselves tip as umpire to decid*- 

 relative to any real or supposed clashing of claims, oi 

 conflict of interests between Manufacturers and Mer 

 chants. We wish well to Commerce, are very friendly n 

 to .Manufactures, and are er officio the advocate of A" 

 riculture. But when the fire of contention is kindled 

 by statesmen, kgislafors, speculators, authors, politi- 

 cians, or any other persons engaged or not engaged ii 

 any or either of those branches of national industry 

 we shall endeavor to keep to the windward of the blaze 

 Wc have no notion of becoming a burnt offering for thi 

 good of the public, at least till it can be clearly mad' 

 to appear that the public good requires of us such asai 



crificc. 



THE SEASON. We find complaints in the newspapers 

 iterated from various quarters of the coldness and back 

 wardness of the season. Cut we have often observer 

 that a cold backn m 1 spring is the common precursoi 

 of a fruitful summer. If the elements are unkind ir 

 May, they generally atone for their frowardness in June 



