TURNIP CULTURE. 



207 



Wby we have had so little popular influence; we have 

 had no political platform. Agricultural reform must 

 be made a political measure; we must have an agri- 

 ailtural party; politicians must see that they can 

 devate themselves by the study and advocacy of gov-, 

 emment measures to foster agriculture. One single 

 great orator, who would espouse the cause in good 

 earnest, could do more with popular sentiment than 

 all of us who write for agricultural journals, and such 

 a course would place hiui in any public station he 

 might desire. If we coald wake up and rouse some 

 Henry Clay, or Da.niel Webster, to engage in 

 earnest iu this matter, he alone could revolutionize 

 popular sentiment in a short time. Cannot the 

 friends of the cause find a suitable man, who is able 

 to defend, and wiUing to stake his prospects on it ? 

 Can we not, in all our agricultural meetings, call out 

 politicians, and pass resolutions to sustain none but 

 those who will support our positions; and can we not 

 thus rally the farmers generally ? 



But what will be our platform ? I think the fol- 

 lowing will embrace the positions of most of us: 



1. A republican government holds out Equality, 

 Liberty, and Justice, alike to all. This is its theory. 



2. Our government ought to be in practice what 

 it is in theory. If it has protected, stimulated, and 

 added commerce with millions of dollars from the 

 treasury, and to some extent done the same thing by 

 duties, discriminating in favor of manufacturers, while 

 nothing has been done for agriculture, this is a dis- 

 tinction, an unjust inequality in practice, which ought 

 not to be tolerated by the farmers. 



3. A wise policy demands that the government 

 ghall stimulate and aid each of the three great branch- 

 es of production: 1st, in proportion to its national 

 importance; 2d, in proportion to the number of pro- 

 ducers employed in it; and 3d, in proportion to the 

 aggregate capital invested iu its operations. 



4. The agriculture of the Union employs ll-14ths 

 of the national capital, and consequently furnishes 

 ll-14ths of the revenue, while 4 Sths of our produc- 

 tive population are farmers. In view of these facts, 

 their receiving no aid from the treasury, which they 

 mainly furnish, while the other classes, who pay but 

 little, are so freely and liberally aided, the inequality 

 and injustice of such practices are intolerable, be- 

 cause it is double dealing. 



5. In view of the rap-d decline of our soil, if a 

 policy be not soon adopted to husband its productive 

 powers, and educate the productive cl.sses, our nation 

 as a mass, will relapse into poverty and ignorance: 

 and two of the great elements of national strength 



and power will soon be gone, namely, the intelligence 

 and wealth of the people; and however numerous our 

 population may be, it will be weak, and therefore an 

 easy prey to foreign ambition. 



6. The most important duty of our great states- 

 men is to develope and preserve the agricultural re- 

 sources of the country, and offer such facilities as 

 will educate and elevate all classes of producers. 



If we can get candidates for office to stand on this 

 or some similar platform, popular sentiment will be 

 speedily changed, our legislation will comport with 

 our highest interests, and our nation will become the 

 most prosperous and powerful on earth. 



I hope the Agricultural Convention, to meet in 

 Washington city next Febiuary, in adopting a plat- 

 form, will also resolve to support no politician who 

 will not sustain its platform. Respectfully, 



F. H. GORDOK. 



D. Lee, M. D., 



Prof. Ag., Ga. University. 

 P. S. I hope to hear from you soon on both of 

 the subjects herein embraced. 



TUKNIP CULTUKE. 



The round turnip may be sown at any time prior 

 to the 10th of August, broadcast. The land should 

 be completely pulverised, and should be rolled after 

 sowing. After the plants have come up, they should 

 be thinned out to eight or twelve inches apart each 

 way, according to the strength of the plants. 



M'Mahon aays: "The critical time of the first 

 hoeing is when the plants, as they lie spread on the 

 ground, are nearly the size of the palm of the hand. 

 If, however, seed weeds be numerous and luxuriant, 

 they ought to be checked before the turnip plant* 

 arrive at that size; lest being drawn up tall and slen- 

 der, they should acquire a weak, sickly habit. A 

 second hoeing should be given when the leaves are 

 grown to the height of eight or nine inches, in order 

 to destroy weeds, loosen the earth, and finally to reg- 

 ulate the plants; a third, if found necessary, may be 

 given at any subsequent period." 



The fly often injures the turnip, and Loudon saya: 

 "Arch. Garrib, a Scottish gardener of merit, tried 

 steeping tlie seeds in sulphur, sowing soot, ashes and 

 sea-sand along the drills, all without eBect. At last 

 he tried dusting the rows, when the plants were in 

 seed-leaf, with quick lime, and found that effectual in 

 preventing the depredations of the fly. "A bushel 

 of quick lime," he says, " is sufficient to dust over an 

 acre of drilled turnips, and a boy may soon be taught 

 to lay it on almost as fast as he could walk along the 



