134 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



OCT.S7, iSii. 



A.M> UORTICULTCRAL REOISTEK. 



BosTOK, VVedhesdat, Octobek 27, 1841. 



ROOT HARVEST. 



The cold wealhor of the last two or three weeks has 

 hurried on iho hnrveming of most aulumnol crops, and 

 perhaps wo are late in our notice nf this subject. 



Those who cultivate the bi-el, should endeavor to 

 gather it before the cold is severe, for if once frozen 

 this root is injured; though it is not ruined by slight! 

 nippings of frost. It is good husbandry on the dairy 

 farm, to bring in the root crops gradually, and feed out 

 the tops to milch rows. No other food for them that 

 the season affords, will produce a greater Oow of milk ; 

 and the bpct lenf imparls no unpleasant taste to ihu 

 products of the dairy. Hut the quantity nf dirt on the 

 leares, pariicularly ifgalherod when wet, is often greater 

 than it is good for cows lo consume, and will frequently 

 ahowr itself at the bottom of the milk pitcher. This 

 fact, viz: that when cows feed freely upon root top.", 

 (bmcdirt will work its way through the railk veins, and 

 be found in the milk, has not been often, if ever, alluded 

 lo by agricultural writers, and yet we have often noticed 

 it — noticed it not in the taste or color, but as a sediment 

 at the bottom of the milk pilcher. The usual way of 

 harvesting is to pull the beets, strike two together lo 

 beat ofl' the dirt, throw into the carl, take them to the 

 proper place for topping, take off the top with a knife, 

 and then put ihem into the cellar. But Mr W'illard, of 

 Cambridge, has made use of n small inslniment — call it 

 a hoe — one side is sharp — ihe other has two proags. 

 With the sharp side the top is cut off while the root is 

 in the ground, and then the instrument is turned over 

 and Ihe two prongs are used to pull the root out of its bed 

 This ia spoken of highly in harvesting the ruta baga, 

 and would do nearly as well for the beet. 



Carrots are as susceptible to injury from frost aa tho 

 beet, but growing generally entirely below the surface 

 of tho soil, they may esciipo injury when the beet would 

 Bufi°er harm from the cold. The tops of these are very 

 good for cows. If Ihe soil in which these roots grow is 

 hard, it is well when digging, lo run the plow along by 

 the side of each row and then pull out the roots; but if 

 the soil is mellow, more dispatch can be made to t»ko 

 the spado and bring the back to the work. 



Whether the ruta baga is injured by some freezing, 

 is not a settled point. We should choose to stow it 

 away in winter quarlers before Jack's leelh were sluck 

 into it Hut I'uuli l.athrop, Etiq., of South Hadlev, in- 

 formed us last winter, that it is his custom lo dig and 

 top this root, nnd lot it lie sraltered upon the ground on 

 which it grew for ten or twelve days " If thoy freeze," 

 he said " it docs not hurt them, and after this exposure 

 lliere is no danger of iheir heating in the cellar." The 

 leaves of this, are taken greedily by cows, but when 

 thny feed upon Ihem the flavor of the milk is atTocted. 

 This unpleasant flavor may be removed, mostly if nol 

 entirely, by pouring into each bucket of milk while it ia 

 yet warm from tho cow, a pint of boiling water. 



Tho English or flat turnip, may be left in the field 

 until the last. This bears thn frost well. Its tops give 

 as much unpleasant flavor lo milk as those of the ruta 

 baga. 



Every thing of the turnip or cabbage kind should be 

 denied a place in the house-ceWuT. Their odor is loo 

 strong for storngo there. But lot them bo kept in the 

 barn collar or in beds in Ihe field. If there bo room for 

 them under the barn, that ii the tnoal convenisnt place 



ofdeposiie. Bui they will probably keep sounder and 

 belter in iho open field. 



Ca|it Cliiindler, superintendent of the House of In- 

 dustry, South Boston, who has had much experience 

 in various methods of keeping roots, prefers to put them 

 in beds; iind he recommends that a spot of gently slop- 

 ing ground should be selected ; that trenches should be 

 dug up and down the slope, four feet wide and G or 8 

 inches deep. Then fill the trench with roots, carrying 

 Ihe pile up roofahaped 3 or 4 feet high. Over them 

 thus plactrd, put sea-weed, salt hay, any old refuse hay, 

 oak leaves, or any ihing of the kind. Let this covering 

 be a foot thick. Upon this put two inches of earth ; let 

 the bed remain in ihis stale until winter comes in earn- 

 est, and then make Ihe coaling of earth nearly a foot 

 thick, and the roots are well secured. Here they will 

 keep well until April. When any are wanted in win- 

 ter, open one end of the bed, take out a few days' sup- 

 ply, and close up the opening. 



It is well for every farmer to know how many bushels 

 of roots he has ; for this knowledge will let him know 

 how many bushels per day ho can feed out, without dan- 

 ger of coming short in the spring. 



CATTLE SHOWS. 



We i>vve an apology — or rather an explanalion — lo ou 

 subscribers and friends in several counties, for not n. 

 ticing th»ir cattle shows. About ihe time of their tak 

 iiig place, we were too unwell to perform labors whii 

 would liave been pleasant in our days of heolih. W 

 are as much dispossd to record ihe doings of the hut 

 bandmcn in Middlcsoi, Berkshire, Bristol and Ply 

 moulh, as in any other counties, and would have don 

 it ere now, but tur the circumstance above named. 



The accounts have been givi:u in ihe local papers, an 

 we probably can furnish nothing new to any reader i 

 relation to the shows. Tbey appear to have been we 

 attended, and have doubtless dune as much as in precec 

 ing years to promote the objects for which they wer 

 instituted. 



PATENT OFFICE. 

 Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth, who is at the head of the 

 Patent Office, whom we had the pleasure of seeing for 

 a short time on Saturday last, reminded us that a hall 

 273 feet long, fiO feet wide, and 30 feet high, is now in 

 readiness for the reception of models and specimens of 

 all manufactured articles. He desires all persons who 

 can, to help in replacing the loss occasioned a few years 

 since in the destruction of the Patent Office by fire. He 

 will be glad to receive from manufacturers a sample of 

 iheir work. An arrangement is made requiring our 

 consuls in all foreign countries to collect seeds of every 

 kind, which our national ships bring here to Mr Ells- 

 worth, and he through members of Congress, sends them 

 lo all parts of the hnd. We have few men in the coun- 

 try so efficient in aiding tho advancement of agriculture, 

 as the accomplished genlleman at the head of the Patent 

 OfEce. 



AIR SPRINGS. 



Where will be tho end of mechanical inventions and 

 improvemenis ? Who will believe that a roilroad car is 

 already constructed and proved, which rests upon air 

 springs? Mr Ellsworth informs us, that just bel'nrc 

 leaving Washington, he signed a patent fur a man who 

 proposed to construct springs for cars such that passim- 

 gers should be able to read and write without any in- 

 convenience. " Of whot do you make your springs — 

 Iron?" "No." '-Of wood.'" "No." " What then .'" 

 "Mr." "How.'" " Take a strong metalic cylinder, 

 12 inches long ; set it perpendicular; force into this 13 

 atmospheres — (ihnt is, by use of ihe forcing air pump, 

 make iho air in Ihe cylinrler 13 times as dense or as 

 heavy ne common air;] — on tho top of this put oil, and 

 then insert a piston which shall fill the cylinder, and 

 this makes the spring ! " Mr Ellsworth rode in a car 

 carrying 80 possengers, which is thus constructed, and 

 it answered fully the expectations and promises of the 

 patentee. 



JYature't Object. — Nature seems to say — " I have ven- 

 tured sii great a stake ns my success, in no single crea- 

 ture. I have not yet arrived at my end. The gardener 

 aims lo produce a fine poach or pear, but my aim it the 

 heallh of iho whole tree — rool, stem, loaf, flower and 

 seed — and by no means Iho pampering of a munsiioua 

 pericarp at the expense of oil the other functions.'— /J. //'. 

 Emerson. 



AlUCK AGAIN. 

 The article in another column which speaks of th^ 

 value of muck as an absrirbent of tanners' waste, i 

 another evidence of the worth of this article. Our fail 

 in its value is growing stronger. This material bein 

 so abundani, and well distributed through tho lard, i 

 within the reach of almost every farmer ; and lo ihii. 

 more than in limes pasi, attention must be given. Lt 

 il but have exposure enough to fro.<is and ihe atnio* 

 phere, to destroy ihe acidity which it contains whe 

 taken (rom ils bed, and it becomes a very considerabl 

 fcriiliztr; but it will generally be found more valuabi' 

 in compost than as an article to be applied by itself 



THE ELECTION OF STATt; OFFICERS. 



The time is near at hand, farmers of MassachusetlH 

 when the people are to make choice of those who shat 

 sit in the executive chairs, and in the halls of legislation 

 in li;4-. Among the farmer's duties, is that of going t 

 the polls and expressing his preferences. Thai nobi 

 gencraiion which achieved our independence, bequeatbt 

 cd lo the people of this day — to farmers as well as to otI« 

 en — Iho Inest and best political institutions which ma 

 ever enjoyed. They bequeathed them as a legaiy I 

 be transmilteil lo those who shall come after us. An 

 can that citizen discharge his duty to our revoliiu uar 

 sires and to the coming generation, who vtill r..>i s 

 much as help to choose lo whoso keeping these trei 

 aures sliall be curumiiied .' Can the man who will n( 

 exercise the elective franchise, be true to his counit 

 and lo patriotism ? If it is heller for freedom, pm-peri ' 

 ly and public virtue, that the reins of governmeni slinul 

 he entrusted to the hands of the wisest and most lioneil 

 ihan thot they should he held by the less coinpi iini am 

 less Iruetworlhy, Ihen il becomes your duly — jts, i/o« 

 duty lo determine in your own mind who is tho wisei 

 and best, both as a private citizen and as a public agent 

 and to give him support at the ballot box. Indill.renci 

 in relation to the principles and practices of our nrlers 

 will nol exist in the bosom of the good citizen m irui 

 lover 6f his country and its inslilutinns. Aciicu — no 

 noisy and boisterous — but quiet and efficient anii.n di» 

 playing itself in the depositing of a vote in the I1.1II01 

 box — Ihi^ we like lo see on the part of every respi ciabU 

 and intelligent citizen, whether ho agree with "r diffei 

 from us. Whoever from inditfircnce, fails In rl 1 ihil, 

 is undeserving of the benefiis which our instilulijns con- 1 

 fer upon him. 



A man was born nui for prosperity, but to sufTir for 

 the benefit of others — like the noble ruck-maple, whioii 

 all around our villages bleeds fur the service of man.— 

 /i. It'. Emerson. 



