330 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



APRIL 34. I'^^O. 



warm, alluvial sward of the intervale of the Hoosic, 

 6oes on either hand, the liill-sides covered with a 

 patch-wdrlt of grass and snow, and gives, with phi- 

 losophical accuracy, his judgment, that no spot can 

 there bo found for a profitable corn field. 



The physical circumstances, which principally 

 affect vegetable growth, are temperature and light, 

 moisture and soil. Soil may be improved in a 

 thousand ways. The influences of moisture may 

 be modified materially, by draining and irrigation. 

 Where found in excess, it can be reduced by open 

 or covered trenches, — where deficient, supplied by 

 dykes and subterraneous conductors. In the north 

 of Europe, and in this country, large tracts have 

 been reclaimed from mai-sh and moor, by drainage, 

 and swamps of sedge converted to lu.xuriant meadow 

 grounds ; and by irrigation, in the south of Europe 

 and Asia, entire districts have been transformed 

 from silicious barrens, into garden closes, and rich 

 fields of perennial herbage. Over temperature and 

 light, however, human agencies have little control. 

 The winds from Hudson's bay and Labrador, charged 

 with sleet and frost, will sweep over our corn-fields 

 in spite of us, and spread over the fruit trees a man- 

 tle of icy crystals. The winter, askedor unasked, 

 will make himself our guest from October till May, 

 consuming our own and the stores of our flocks, — 

 nor can we, do what we may, prolong the annual 

 visit of the sun, till, by his light and heat, he mature 

 for us a crop of rice and cotton, Tliese arc, how- 

 ever, no reasonable causes of dissatisfaction. If 

 there be>other suns of longer continuance, and oth- 

 er winters of shorter stay than our own, tliose who 

 enjoy thnm, have less of energy and more of lassi- 

 tude — more of the wearisome indolence of leisure, 

 and less of the gay activity of industry, than we. 

 We cannot rear the aiiimuls nor raise the vegeta- 

 bles of every climate : such is not the ordination of 

 heaven here or anywhere ; — it is enough, that a 

 greater variety of those which are ussful, can no 

 where else be propagated than here. The dwellers 

 upon the prairies of the west, may point us to their 

 wjieat-ficlds of a hundred or a thousand level acres ; 

 we in turn, can bid them listen to the blcatings of 

 the flocks from Saxony, upon our mountains, answer- 

 ed from our valleys by the lowings of our herds 

 from Devonshire and Durham. Climate and soil 

 have made theirs the business of tili,ige — ours, the 

 business of grazing husbandry. The assertion that 

 grazing must be the business of the Berkshire far- 

 mer, should perhaps be qualified. In some favored 

 localities, most of the plants of the temperate re- 

 gions can be successfully and profitably cultivated ; 

 but these, compared with the moist and elevated dis- 

 tricts, where their cultivation would bo expensive 

 and uncertain, are limited. It may, therefore, be 

 safely afiirmed, that grazing is and must continue 

 to be, our leading agriculturnl occupation. But 

 even to the profitable pursuit of this, it is said, that 

 our interminable winters are opposed, — that they 

 require large supplies of food, and leave a brief 

 space only in which to grow, prepare and store 

 them. True it is, that we are hurried from the 

 plough and hoe to haying and the summer harvest, 

 and thence without recess, to the autumn crops, 

 which are scarcely matured and gathered, before 

 the north pours down again the desolations of win- 

 ter. But it should not be forgotten that there are 

 benefits resulting from this state of things. Were 

 our winter period abridged, or its severity very con- 

 siderably miligated, the efiects would be witnessed 

 ultimately, if not presently, in the deteriorated sta- 

 ple, and diminished quantity of our wool, for it is 



an established physical law, v, ithfew exceptions, 

 that the fineness and quantity of the natural cloth- 

 ing of animals, are adjusted to the frigidity of the 

 climate in which they live. Besides, it is well as- 

 certained, that animal plants in general, attain a 

 greater size and a higher degree of perfection when 

 the winters are long, and the summers warm and 

 lights for the reason, that the alternate action of 

 heat and cold, rain and ice, meliorates ar.d softens 

 the ground, and prepares it the better for their nour- 

 ishment. Could not the objections to climate, sug- 

 gested, be obviated, in a measure, at least, by sub- 

 stituting for some of the crops at present raised, 

 others better suited to it, and requiring at the same 

 time, less labor and expense, and afibrding a greater 

 amount by the acre, of nutritious matter ? It is 

 thought by tliose whose experience should enable 

 them to form a correct opinion upon the subject, 

 that were the esculent roots substituted partially, at 

 least, for maize and other grain, a much greater 

 quantity of food might be obtained by the same la- 

 bor and expense. To this topic let our tliotights 

 for a few moments be directed. 



It is well known with what fondness we regard, 

 and with what care and perseverance we cultivate, 

 that native of American ground, Indian corn. It is 

 with great reluctance and difiidence, that anything 

 is said in disparagement of this king of plants. Its 

 excellence justifies the highest commendations. 

 Like every other member of the cereal family, how- 

 ever, it has its appropriate nourishment, soil and 

 seasons. It cannot be made to flourish everywhere 

 and in all seasons, as the past season has most 

 clearly demonstrated. In most of our towns, he is 

 unwise who looks to his corn-crib solely, for the 

 means of replenishing his pork and beef barrels, or 

 to help out his deficient hay-mows. There are 

 vegetables, valuable as food, and of great produc- 

 tiveness, to which all the varieties of our soil are 

 adapted, and of which a May snow storm, or aSep- 

 tember frost, cannot deprive us. To these the 

 whole turnip tribe belongs — a class of esculents, 

 which, in the country of our ancestors, has for more 

 than half a century, been highly appreciated ; but 

 which, till lately, has obtained with us but little fa- 

 vor. The published accounts in foreign journals, 

 of the turnip culture, induced several intelligent 

 farmers here to make a series of experiments, the 

 results of which have answered, in every respect, 

 all which could he anticipated. But many Ameri- 

 can husbandmen, slow to accredit the authority of 

 the books, and slower still to admit in practice any- 

 thing bearing the semblance of innovation upon 

 ancestral maxims or usages, liave remained unin- 

 fluenced by these results. Its advantages to Eng- 

 lish agriculture have been immense. No single 

 species of vegetables has wrought more good. The 

 introduction of the improved turnip culture into the 

 husbandry of Great Britain, says Mr Brown, " occa- 

 sioned one of those revolutions in rural art, which 

 are constantly occurring; and, though the revolu- 

 tion came on with slow and gradual steps, yet it is 

 now completely and thoroughly established. Be- 

 fore the introduction of this root, it was a diflicult 

 task to support live stock through the winter and 

 spring months ; and as for feeding and preparing 

 it for market, during these inclement seasons, the 

 practice was hardly thought of, and rarely attempt- 

 ed. Since its introduction, abundance of food has 

 been provided for man and beast, and soils before 

 sterile and useless, have been cultivated with profit 

 and facility, and turned to the uses for which they 

 were physically calculated." 



It IS made certain, by repeated trials, that i 

 several varieties of this root are at home in our i 

 mate. It was long ago told by Pliny, tliat it 

 lighted in " an air temperately cool, and preferi <! 

 elevated table lands, rich with decayed leaves, i 

 the fertile plains along the margin of the great se;.' 

 It is of rapid growth, and resists, uninjured, i 

 early frosts, which destroy a great majority of ti 

 annuals. With proper care in cultivation, it ran , 

 disappoints the hopes of the husbandman. Tl; i 

 both alone, and when mixed with other csculeii! . 

 it is very nutritious food for domestic animals, Id 

 experience has clearly determined. For sheep 

 is invaluable. A German or English shepher-;. 

 could not be persuaded to dispense vvith it. WhiMi 

 mingled or alternated with dry food, as cut hay and 

 straw, its succulence corrects effectually, their fe- 

 verish, obstructing tendencies, and by its laxative 

 action, heals or prevents many of the disorders 

 which so frequently depopulate the sheep-fold. A 

 member of our society, whose flock is one of the 

 largest, and best, and most carefully tended in the 

 county, raised several hundred bushels of the Swe- 

 dish variety the last season, which he fed out inter- 

 mixed with his dry fodder. He states that " 100 

 bushels of rutabaga are equivalent to 1 ton of hay ; 

 that he raised 800 bushels upon an acre ; that it is 

 food which sheep and cattle require during our 

 long winters, to prevent diseases contracted by be- 

 ing kept entirely on dry hay and grain. He fed 

 last winter, 2000 bushels of roots of various kinds ; 

 commenced with 1003 sheep, 20 head of cattle, and 

 2 horses, and all, except? sheep, left in better con- 

 dition than they entered the fold." He has now 

 growing 5 acres of rutabaga — a practical evidence 

 of his conviction of its utility. There are several 

 varieties of turnip, differing in amount of nutri- 

 ment they yield, the periods during which they 

 retain, unimpaired, their valuable qualities, and in 

 the modes necessary to their perfect cultivation. 

 The choice sorts, however, are limited to what are 

 commonly called the English globe, and Swedish 

 or rutabaga, as early or late supplies are wanted. 

 The globe, the more prolific of the two, rarely re- 

 mains good after the winter months, and is used 

 for early feeding. Upon this, the graziers of Eng- 

 land and Germany fatten their cattle and sheep for 

 the fall market. The Swedish variety has excited 

 the greatest attention with us. It is grown with 

 ease, and cultivated at moderate expense. If the 

 opinion of those conversant with it, is entitled to 

 regard, it is indeed an article of the greatest im- 

 portance ; affording green food of the choicest qual- 

 ity — highly relished by every kind of stock, and of 

 incalculable advantage in a late season. Its vig- 

 orous resistance to the inclemencies of the weather, 

 when growing, and its obstinate retention of succu- 

 lence, after vegetation commences in tJie spring, 

 entitle it indisputably to rank as a suie crop, and 

 as the farmer's latest spring food. Of its produc- 

 tiveness, accounts bordering upon the incredible, 

 yet within the strict lines of truth, have been given ; 

 accounts, which would stagger belief, were there 

 any ascertained limits to the productive powers of 

 a soil of the right constitution, under good manage- ! 

 ment. Our purposes do not require a repetition of 

 extravagant statements. A farmer in the eastern 

 part of our State, who has written and done much 

 for the good of our cause, reported to the committee 

 of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society on ag- 

 ricultural experiments, a crop of y03 bushels to the 

 acre of 56 lbs. to the bushel — the standard weight of 

 tlie society ; making 50,568 lbs., or a fraction more 



