FIELD CROPS. 55 



To raiee roots profitably, we mnst, of course, do awav as far as possible, 

 with all hand labor. The garden or field should be long and narrow, with 

 ' the drills running lengthwise, eo that horae-power may be used to advan- 

 tage when cultivating them. For sowing, the garden seeder, run by hand, 

 is the best implement, \nien rightly managed this work need not interfere 

 with other farm work. Many farmers have an idea that such cra^ mnst be 

 in the ground the very first of the season, before the other field crops are 

 sown; but such is not the case. Those calculated for feeding out to stock 

 should not be started out before the first of June. By lea>nng them until 

 this time, the seeds will germinate more surely and rapidly, and the weeds 

 will not have three or four weeks the start of the plants, as is the case when 

 sown early in the spring. 



Let us have acres of roots this year instead of rods. I am confident that 

 the farmer who sows and properly cares for an acre of roots this year, will 

 want two acres or more next year. 



Storing Rootii. — A writer in the Xebraska Faitnet- says: " We always 

 find turnips put in the cellar become pithy and worthless. My method is to 

 obviate this, and I do it in this way: VVTien I pull my turnips I cut oflf the 

 top way down into the turnip, cut deep enough to cut all the eye out; then 

 cut the root off smooth and nice, and you have them in a condition to place 

 in a cool part of the cellar, or to bury out in open ground, and you need 

 have no fear of pithy turnips. Beets should be buried out of doors, with 

 manure over the dirt, so the ground will not fireeze. In this way you can 

 get at them any time in the winter. A part of the parsnip crop should be in 

 the fall; they may be put in the cellar; no matter if they do wilt, they are so 

 much the sweeter." 



Catting Clover Hay. — Clover hay is greatly improved by curing in the 

 cock. The method is as follows: The clover cut in the forenoon is left to 

 wilt in the swath until evening. Before the dew begins to fall it ia raked 

 into winrows, and is thus left until noon the next day. Then it is spread, 

 and is exposed for an hour or two to the sun. It is then raked and heapsd 

 into cocks, about four feet wide and five feet high, and then left until the 

 whole crop is ready to carry off the field, or at least twenty-four hours. In 

 the cock it ferments, heats and sweats, but takes no injury, because the 

 heated vapor passes off freely, as may be noticed by walking in the field at 

 night. During this curing process, some of the woody fiber is changed to 

 starch and sugar, and the quaUtj- cf the hay thereby improved. Before the 

 hay is hauled the cocks are thrown over, and the insides are aired for a 

 short time, to evaporate any moisture. It is then drawn to the bam, and al- 

 though it may heat again, it will suffer no injury. Generally it will not heat 

 after the first fermentation, and will go into the bam green, sweet and with- 

 out any loss of leaf by over-drj-ing. Sometimes immature buds have bloomed 

 in the mow when the clover has been thus cured, and the hay has preserved 

 even the color of the fresh blossoms. 



Making Hay—\ Good Suggestion— Farmers who have cut grass for 

 hay should let it alone during the continuance of wet weather. There ia no 

 greater mistake than to break the swath, as grass never takes less harm and 

 throws off more wet than just as it is left by the scythe or machine. Every 

 blade of grass is provided by nature with a waterproof mantle in the shape 

 of an impenetrable glassy covering of siUca. This envelope is perfectly abl« 

 to keep out the rain; but tedding and turning iH-eaks it and opens joints into 



