i'84 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



(Fromlhe Ohio lieview 5 

 CULiTUKE OV KUTA BAGA. 



If you tliink the enclosed worthy a |)l;;ce in 

 your cohimns, yon rue at lil)erty to insert it. 



H.iving seen much ])iiblitilie(l upon the subject 

 of raising ruta baga, all of which has fallen short 

 of the croj) 1 took last f;ll from a sinall |)iece of 

 ground, I aui induced to give, not only ilic amount, 

 but the manner of cultivating. To give the 

 amount alone of any particular crop, without the 

 irianner of cultivating, is no benefit to any ojie. 



J had a piece of dry sandy land, facing the 

 south, which I wished to prepare for a fruit gar- 

 den, and make more rich and level than I could 

 do by ploughing. I therefore covered tlie ground 

 aliout an inch thick with manure, and with a 

 spade dug and turned in the whole, to the full 

 depth of the spade, taking care that each load was 

 covered as soon as poss'hle after spreading, to 

 P'-event loss by evaj.oralion. This was <lone, or 

 finished, the 5th of June. I then waited until I 

 discovered indications of rain, which f Ihink was 

 on the 10th of the same month, when I imme- 

 diately took a hand with me and commenced 

 raking the ground witli an iron rake. I next took 

 a large rake, made of three inch scantling, with 

 iiva teeth, ^//een inches apart, and having a man 

 to hold, drew it across the ground, the direction 

 which I wished to have the rows run, making 

 tiic marks. After that, we placed one outside 

 tiioih in one outside mark, making four marks, 

 until the whole was completed. I then dropped 

 the seed o.uite thick in every row, except the last 

 ei:;!it, where I skij.'ped every other row, leaving 

 tiiem thirty inches apart, instead of fifteen. They 

 <':::!ie up in a very few days. I then took of gyp- 

 sum one part, of ashes two [larts, and having 

 ■ iixed the same, sprinkled about a quart per rod 

 on each row. 



In five or .six days I thinned them out, E?o as to 

 l:-ave them from four to six inches apait. Ten 

 days after, I hoed them again lightly, and gave 

 Ih'jm another dressing as before, which was all 

 t.'-e labor bestowed upon them, until they wore 

 pulled. 



From five rods of the ground planted fifteen 

 ii'ches apart, I gathered 61 bushels, mea-ured in 

 :i two bushel measure, weighing 5S pounds to the 

 l';i.4iel, which would make 1,952 bushels to the 

 i'C.R, or 113,216 |>ounds, equal to 50 tons, 1,21G 

 pounds. From the ground where the rows were 

 30 inches apart, the yield was at the rale of 1,434 

 busliels to the acre, the turnips larger, conse- 

 quently not quite so heavy p.-r bushel. ' One of 

 tifc largest weighed 15 lbs. The above statement 

 njay appear incredible — still it is true. I was 

 ai lirit loth to believe it myself, and went and 

 remeasured my measure, examined my li^nircs 

 and found that all was correct, and tli.'it " f;;ct» 

 are stubborn things." 



;n sidimUlingfhis to the judjlic, I aio influenci'd 

 less from a desire .to boast, than from a ;;inc(.'re 

 wish to have others .«(>m|owt.icato the r.^sult of 

 their experience in agriculture, tlurci.i.y benefiting' 

 community at large, ilespeclftdly yo'jj^-^,' , *' 

 Will: A 51 Wtri-tifi -.k. 



KiNQULAtt. — A discoveiy has bei u recentiv 



ti::i le near IJordiftuix of ancient toujbs, vvbicii 



probably date from the timo of Marcus Aurulius 



or that of Clovis. In these tombs were seeds in 



— l/.'rfdct pre.servation, some of whiidi, being sov.-n 



j; produced flowers and iVuit. 



MARCH in, t836. 



Value 

 Mr II. Me 

 foIloM'ing 

 long time 

 chantable 

 never ssi 

 were woi 

 weight an 

 Dr. 

 1835. 

 Sept. 16. 



r Potatoes for fattening Hogs. 



rrell, in the Genesee Farmer, makes the 

 statement. " I have been satisfied for a 

 I that pork for market made with mer- 

 grain was not profitable, and as I have 

 n any account showing what potatoes 

 ih to feed, I concluded to ascertain by 

 d measure, as per account below. 



IJOG PF.N'. 



To shut up n hogs, 

 weighing 1305 

 lbs. 



To bo't 7 (to fdl »]) 

 pens, weighing 

 883 lbs. 



2188 atS'jc. $fc 58 



To 500 busiiels potatoes, at 11 

 73-500ths cts. 



To 45 bushels peas, at 4s. 



To salt, sulphur and charcoal. 



To 2 cords of wood for steam- 

 ing, at 6s. 



To killing hogs, 



$160 68 



Doc. 3. 



Cr. 



I!y 2444 lbs. pork, at 



3*5 1-8, .$1.50 88 



J5y 60 lbs. lard, at 3 cts. 4 80 

 By tongues and hearts, say 1 00 

 By- inwards cleaned for 



soap, 4 00 



SI6O 68 



The potatoes were all washed (with machine), 

 steamed, mashed, salted, and mixed with the swill 

 of the house, and allowed to st:>nd three days be- 

 fore feeding. Thirty bushels of the peas were 

 ground and mixed with the last of the potatoes, 

 and 15 were fed last without grinding. I think 1 

 did not commence feeding early enough, and did 

 not feed long enough, but will try again and mix 

 more ground provender the last half of the time of 

 feeding." 



Fence Posts — An excellent method of ren- 

 dering these durable in the ground, is published 

 in the American Eagle. It consists, — 1, In peel- 

 ing the [losts, and in sawing and splitting them, if 

 too large ; 2, In sticking them up, under cover, 

 at least one entire summer; and 3, In coating 

 with hot tar, about three feet of the butt ends" 



which are to I)e inserted in the ground after 



which they are ready for use. We have no doubt 

 the advantages of this mode of prejiaration will 



moi-c than remunerate for labor and expense 



Our reasons for this belief are briefly as follow's : 

 The sap of all non-resinous treses, will ferment in 

 the presence of brat and iiioisture, and cause the 

 decay of the wood. To prevent this natural 

 consequence, the first object should be, when a 

 tree is f:lled to expel sap from the pores of the 

 wood. This is done by jieehn'g, splitting, sawing, 

 or hewing, and exposin;: the wood to the drying 

 infiuenco of the Kui.i, or at least the air. The 

 process is fiicilitated too by immersing 'the wood 

 V.I water for a time, which liquifies the sap, and 

 fivciM its expulsion. And when the moisture has 

 beep expelled, the next object is to keep it out, by 

 paint, tar or charring. In the mode recommend- 

 ed abi.ve, thi! moisture is expelled by the peeling. 

 xnu;.,o. :„||| summer drying, and its return is pre- 



vented by the coating of tar. The retention of 

 the bark uj on the timber is particularly prejudi- 

 cial, not only in preventing evaporation, but 

 aflording shelter to various species of the borer, 

 which, under its cover, carry on its de|)redalions 

 upon the tiitiber. We have seen pine logs nearly 

 destr lyed in a summer by worms, w here the bark 

 had been left on, while those which had i)een 

 peeled remained uninjured. The best timber is 

 obtained from trees which have stood a summer, 

 or a year, after tliey have been girdled and peeled. 

 — Cullivalor. 



SoAr Stone — The utility of soapstone is im- 

 mense, and is only beginning to bo realized among 

 us. It is an admirable building material; cut 

 with almost as much ease as timber, and readily 

 shaped to any form for utility or ornament ; it is 

 as handsome as granite and marble, and houses 

 constructed of it would not be injured by fire, as 

 it resists that powerful agent, even in furnaces ; 

 (it is said, however, not to stand in the furnace for 

 smelting iron,) for which it forms an excellent 

 lining. 



Anthracite furnaces, when lined with it instead 

 of fire bricks, flo not accumulate the slag and sco- 

 ria;, and the walls remain perfectly clean ; this 

 arises from the infusibility of the soap stone, which 

 prevents the slag from adhering to it. The slag 

 consists of the earthy and metallic impurities of 

 the coal, which melt in the intense heat of the 

 anthracite furnaces, and then adhesion takes place 

 in consequence of softening of the fire-bricks at 

 their surfaces, where they are in contact with the 

 slag. Soap stone, on account of its inslbility, is 

 also an excellent ingredient in pottery and porce- 

 lain ; and magnesia, which is its cliaracteristic 

 ingredient, may be extracted from it by very easy 

 chemical- process. — AT. Y. Mec. Mao-. 



F.GOS — The reason why hens do not lay ego-s 

 in tlje winter is because the earth is covered with 

 snow 60 tbfit they can find no gravjl, or other cal- 

 careous matter to form the shells. If the bones of 

 meat or poultry be pounded and given to them 

 either mixed with their food, or by itself, they 

 will eat greedily, and lay eggs as well as in warm 

 weather. When hens are fed with oats, they lav 

 better than when fed on any other grain. 



Gu:.P0wnER. — Langles, in a memoir before the 

 French National Institute, gives an opinion that 

 gunjjowder, (or in other words, the process of 

 making it,) was conveyed to Europe by the re- 

 turning crusaders. It i.'^ certain that the Arabs 

 made use of it in 690, at the siege of Mecca, and. 

 he therefore supposes they must have deiivcd it 

 from the Indians, among whom it was known from 

 iimnemorial time. — Scientific Tracts. 



Atmospheric Pressure The hamlet of Anti- 



sana, which is 13,500 feet above the level of the 

 ocean, is the most elevated inhabited place on ihe 

 globe. Condamine and Bouguer, with their at- 

 tendants, lived three weeks at an elevation of 14 . 

 604 French feet, where the barometer stood at 15 

 ncdies, 9 lines, and consequently, the pressure on 

 the body was 16,020 pounds ib. 



The Mediterranean contains 762,000 square 

 miles, from which there is daily evaporated 5280 

 millions of tons of water. — ib. 



