P Pv A C T T C A L FARMER. 



183 



Parsnips — a field crop. — The labor and modo of 

 cultivating ,l'ne parsnip are about the same as those of* 

 the carrot. The parsnip produces a larger crop, its iiv- 

 erage product beinjr rated at "24 tons the acre, and that 

 of the carrot at 12 tons. The parsnip also contains a 

 far grcatf^r proportion of sacchaniio matter than does the 

 carrot, is grateful to the palate of fxrm stock, and is 

 {greatly conducive to their fattening. Tt fiosses-es anotli- 

 er advantan;e over the carrot, in its hardiness— it may 

 ho left in the ground till spring, and not be injured by 

 the frost, [n the Island of Jersey, it forms a regular 

 part of tiie field system. The roo;s arc fed in a raiv 

 state to the hogs and horned cattle ; the flesh of the for- 

 mer ihe}' are said to render delicately white, ami the 

 benefit derived from the latter, is in the opinion of ma- 

 ny growers, nearly equal to that obtained from oilcake, 

 in p(/int of the weight of fles.U, and so superior in flavor 

 thai ia the island it always commands the iiighest price. 

 C'Hv:- led upon them during llip; winter months are said 

 to produce butter of a color and flavor equal to that of 

 the most luxuriant grasses. In Jersey 25 pounds are 

 given daily to the cows with hay, and the cream is more 

 abundant than from an equal quantity of milk, and the 

 cows difFererrtly fed — seven quarts producing as much 

 as seventeen ounces of butter. — Yankee Far. 



DusG. — It is common, at this season, to haul to the 

 fields, the dung destined for the spring crops Fermen- 

 tation and waste often ensue before U is buried in the 

 soil. To avoid this loss — wfc allude to unf.rmented 

 dung — the dung should be 1 lid in compact piles, of nat 

 exceeding eight lo.ids, where most convenient to be dis- 

 tributed, and as soon as the ground becomes thawed, 

 covered with six or eight inches of earth, and the sur- 

 face smoothf^d wiili the spade. The manure will sel- 

 dom ferment before the ground thaws. The earthy 

 covering imbibes the gaseous matters, and protects tin; 

 dung froiii the wasting influence of the weather. When 

 crops are dunged in the hill or furrow, with long ma- 

 nure, the dung sometimes fails to rot, for want of mois- 

 tuie to bring on fermentation, and is consequently of 

 no henefil to the crop. When the dung issj)read broad- 

 cast, and ploughed under, this difficulty never occurs, 

 and the dung becomes better incorporated with the soil. 

 — Cultivator. 



Important to Farmers — An esteemed rorrej-pi^ 

 dent has given us some information relative to the 

 planting of corn, which we !hink must be highly use- 

 ful to farmers, and would perhaps prove a benefit to the 

 corn market generally, were it adopted. Hundreds of 

 thousands of bushels are annual y destroyed by birds, 

 (particularly the black-bird and crow) which might be 

 preserved by a very simple method Thehirds will pull 

 it up the moment it apjiears above ground, and eat the 

 seed. In order to prevent its destruction, the farmer 

 slioiiid first soak the seed well in soft water, until the 

 chit is just on the eve of bursting through, then 'urn it 

 into a vessel of tar, made soft by moderate warming, 

 and stir it thoroughly until every grain is well coated, 

 when i' may be se[)arated for planting. Work in some 

 pounded plaster, when planli'.ig, and this seed the birds 

 will not disturb; it will come u]) rank and fine, and pay 

 well for iIk.' trouble. If the corn is not soaked well be- 

 fore coating it with tar, it will not be likely to come up, as 

 the tar will natuially prevent the necessary moisture 

 from penetrating throagh it. This has been tried by 

 farmers who never could get a good crojj of corn in any 

 .other way, and found to succeed admirably. — Sun. 



How TO REMOVE A PoTATO FROM THE THROAT 



>F A cuoKi.NG Cow. — FaslfH the head of the ani- 



mal, staniling, firfiily to a post. Let a strong man 

 with hi.s hand, comphnely stop. tiie windpipe by 

 lii.s grasp just above the j»otato, and keej) a firm 

 hold for a minute or two, until the animal gives 

 an involuntary spring forward. Should the first 

 experiment not suececd, let more be made. Rea- 

 son — the wind obstructed in its passage through 

 tiie wind-pi[)e, e.x|»ands or largely opens the other 

 j)ij)e below the potato, and when the atiima! makes 

 a violent effort, the potato goes downwards. This 

 is a fact worth knowing to fartners, and upon in- 

 <iuiry I find that a few do know it. 1 had a fat- 

 ting cow thus choking with a potato. After try- 

 ing in vain several methods commonly known, I 

 sent for a butcher to kill the cow at once. He 

 came, but instead of killing, in a few moments re- 

 lieved the creature in the manner I have describ- 

 ed ; and informed me that in the same way he had 

 saved a number of cjittle before. A Farmer. 

 Yankee J^ar.] 



[from tlid Yankee Farmer. 1 

 TREES. 



The lime is fast approaching, when the people 

 of this country will devote more attention to the 

 culture and transplanting trees ; upon fe\^ sub- 

 jects have they now less information. In trans- 

 planting fruit and other trees, the common prac- 

 tice is lo violently pry up or ptill up the young 

 trees, breaking off or cutting off the main roots, 

 and most if notall the small fibres extending fi-oni 

 the ends of the roots, the pruning-knife is so thor- 

 oughly applied to the blanches, as often to leave 

 the main stock aliriost entirely denuded, "j'be 

 stock with a few remaining roots, is then often 

 set in chi}), door-yard or barn-yard manure, so 

 that small cavities remain around the roots. By 

 the exertions of nature, a young tree, after a year 

 or two, may push forth new roots and brancljj^, 

 and after being stinted in early gro^h, sometimes 

 live. That all this process is unnatural and wiong 

 vvrill a:;pear evident to those who will reflect upon 

 tiie' subject. Like others equally ignorant, we 

 formerly adopted the same erroneoirs practice. — 

 ]{ut to show its errors, let us attend to certain 

 fact.s. All the nutriment which the tree derive:? 

 from the soil, is, in the lij'st instance, received 

 tfirough the medium of the fibres, many being so 

 small as not to by perceptible to the eye, and 

 thence conveyed to tlie main roots ; thence to the 

 stock, thence into the leaves of the tree, where 

 tiie sap is elaborated, and finally converted into 

 wood, exce|)t that part, which, in fruit-bearing 

 trees, is converted into the fruit. If then, the li* 

 bres are all destroyed, how can the tree grow.' — 

 We answer, it never can, unless a new set of fi 

 bres shoot forth from the roots, 



The circulation of the sap is as necessary to the 

 tree, as the circulation of the blood is to the hu 



