ito 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



NOV, 13, 1839. 



AND HOHTICDLTDRAL RF.GISTER. 



Boston, Wednesdav, Movembeb 13, 1S35. 



CARROTS AND RUTA BAGA. 



The product of these crops is not so large in this 

 State !is to require mucli expense or pains in their pres- 

 ervation. An acre of rula bags or carrots is, upon the 

 whole, a large quantity fur nny one fiirru. As yet our 

 farmers in the cultivation of ruota for stock, are slowly 

 feeling their way. We hope they will come right at 

 last ; and that small experiments will encourage thcni 

 to extend the cultivaiion. They will presently luarn 

 that for keepingstock, ihrre are many much more pinfi. 

 table crops than English hay at a Ion or a ton and a 

 half to an acre ; and by turning their attention to other 

 crops, by which they will have it in their power to keep 

 much more slock, they will increase their manure heaps 

 and in (his way quadruple, in some cases increase ten 

 fdd, the productiveness of ibcir farms. 



An aero in carrots may be easily'made to yield six 

 humlred bushels. In the estimate of un experienced 

 and excellent farmer in Berkshire county, half carrots 

 and half oats are as good feed for a horse as all oats ; or 

 rather to uso his own expression, he would prefer one 

 hundred bushels of carrols and one hundred bushels of 

 oats to two hundrerl bushels of oats fur his hoieo?. The 

 experience ofa distinguished farmer in England, in the 

 prnctice of keeping eighty horses on his farm .ind in his 

 colliery, entirely confirms this stalcment. Now a bush- 

 el of carrols a day wilh chopped s:raw or salt hay, would, 

 we have no doubt, keep a work horse in high condition, 

 though it would probably be much better in the case to 

 give him in lieu of bo many carrots, some grain or meal. 

 Half a bushel of carrots per day, however, at twenty- 

 five cents per bushel, cut off' from the allowance made 

 above, would pay for an allowance ofa peek of oats per 

 day to a horse. Upon the supposition then, of his being 

 kept in the stable six months or one hundjed and eighty- 

 three days in a season, an acre of carrots yielding six 

 hundred bushels to the acre, supposing onchalf to be 

 sold at twentyfive cents per bushel and the money ex- 

 pended in oats at thirlyseven and a half cents per bush- 

 el, to eat with the carrols, would considera,Wy more llian 

 furnish three horses with half a bushel of carrots each 

 per day and two bushels of oats per week, or more than 

 a peck of oats per day besides the haUhusbel of carrots. 

 Under this feed a horse would require vary little long 

 feed of any kind to keep him in good condition. 



Now on the other hand, suppose the horse has Eng- 

 lish hay, and if he is worked he ought lo have as many 

 oats as in the former case, besides, one horse will con- 

 sume in that time, at twentyfive pounds per day, not 

 less than two tons and a quarter, or the three, six tons 

 and three-quarters : and this can hardly be obtained from 

 less than seven acres of land of ordinary yield. The 

 horses will not, in the next place, be by any means in 

 so good condition ; and the manure made from this feed 

 of not half the value as that made in the oilier case. 



This is, many will say, a remarkable statement, but 

 it is well founded and not at all exaggerated. In other 

 respects it deserves particular consideration. There 

 cannot be a doubt of the advantaj^es, to our animals, in 

 respect to health and comfort, which the use of succu- 

 lent vegetables in some proportions, would have over 

 the dry feed, which we are accustomed in our pre«ent 

 mode of keeping to give them in the winter season. 



We might go on to speak of the green vegetables for 

 stock in winter ; the sugar beet, the ruta haga, the pars- 



nip, &c. &c , but it does not come within our design to 

 treat this subject more full_7 at this time. 



Our intention now was merely to speak of the mode 

 of preserving the«e vegetiibles through the winter. We 

 say then distinctly and emphalicallv, that neither ruta 

 biiga, nor turnips, nor cabbages should ever under F.ny 

 cirenmstances be put in any considerable quanlilies in 

 the house cellar. The least decay produces an offen- 

 sive odor and poisons the air of the cellar and of the 

 house. C.iriols and beets are by no means lis bad, but 

 they, if placed in large heaps, are liable lo become heat- 

 ed and to decay ; or otherwise to sprout, when their nu- 

 trilive powers are of loiirse leS'iened. 



We have kepi them well in .several cases, and often 

 known them kept well by others, by pilling them in a 

 field thus. Take a dry kiioll neiir wiiere ihey were 

 raised ; dig a trench about afoot deep, lengthwise north 

 and south; and of Bucli width as you choose, and then 

 after the tops ofyoui carrots and ruta baga are cut off, 

 put them into this trench, pilin:T them up as high as 

 they will lay, in the form ofa houje roof — do this when 

 they are dry; then put in a light layer of straw and 

 'cover it lightly with dirt, piercing some holes in ihe 

 top of the heap with a crow bar, lo let off tlio steam ; 

 and so let them rem.iin until the severe frosls are about 

 setting in; then put on another covering of straw and a 

 thick covering of earili, fastening up the south end wilh 

 several bundles of stiaw, which can bo removed at pleas- 

 ure. They may be put up in heaps of one, two or three 

 hundred liushels, or more, .ts may be desired. They 

 will keep well in this way, and in pleasant days they 

 may be got at without inconvenience at any time as you 

 may want them for your live stock. You must be care- 

 ful to see that there is an escape for the sleani after they 

 are first put up, otherwise they may disappear without 

 your suspicion ajid very much to your chagrin. 11. C 



MORUS MULTICAULIS. 



Tfie Morns Multicaulis speculation is now at an end, 

 at least /or the present. It is, in common parlance, flat 

 upon its back ; and whether it can be made lo stand 

 again of itself, or be held up upon crutches, remains to 

 be seen. It has falhm suddenly like a tremendous Co- 

 lossus ; and it now lies sprawling with a good many un- 

 der it, who are crushed by its fall. Some are quite 

 dead ; others may crawl out wilh only some of their 

 limbs broken ; others may by careful surgical skill, be 

 restored a^'ain to soundness, if such skill should fortu- 

 iiateiy be at hand ; but vast numbers have fallen like 

 those who were revelling in the halls, which the giant 

 in llie old teslainenl pulled ilown over their heads. We 

 have no pleasure in conleinjilatiuff ihese wrecks of 

 hope; these enterprises of avarice stimulated to an in- 

 tensity which never can be reached without our integ- 

 rily as well as our happiness being put in extreme peril. 

 In all such cases ihe reaction is extreme — the ebb cor- 

 responds 10 the flood. The country in many parts is 

 covered wilh tlie Multicaulis ahiiost as thickly as most 

 wheat stubbles are with the Roman wormwood ; and 

 prices have gone down next to the point of giving away. 



Some years since, in Boston, when the marketing 

 was brought to town in panniers stung across the liorso, 

 wild pigeons w«re in such abundance, that a farmer who 

 had come to market wilh his panniers full of pioeons. 

 after selling as many as he eould for a penny a dozen, 

 at length in despair went away, leaving his horse, in 

 hopes that some person would steal what remained un- 

 told. But judge of his surprise, when on returning to 

 his horse, he found that some other marketer as iinfor- 

 tunale as himself, had turned his load upon what he had 

 left, it has not yet quite come to this with the Multi- 



caulis, although they haTe been sold in quanlilies a 

 public sale, at four cents and at two cents per tree ; am 

 then the sale was stopped for want of any furllier bids 



'J'his is certiiinly greatly undervaluing them. They 

 are a plant of inestimable value to ihe country. The; 

 yield an abundant foliage. The worms consume then 

 with avidity ; and they have not, as many feared, provec 

 unhealthy. The silk produced by them is of cxcellen 

 quality. Tliey will not endure our riyid winters; bu 

 the taking them up and storing them in the cellars, oi 

 covering thern up in the fields, is not an affair of any 

 great labor or trouble ; and the extra labor is amply 

 compensated by the ease of picking the leaves fiom Ion 

 shrubs compared wilh the difficulty of galhering leaves 

 from high standard trees. 



We have a right to hopr., thereforu, that the public 

 judgment will at length do iliem full justice; and al- 

 though they cannot be expected to go as high as they 

 have hereiofore been sold, yet they vi-ill bring such a 

 price as will fully pay for cultivating them; and be ob- 

 lained so reasonably that ihe farmers will be warranted 

 in maliiiig planlations of them ior ihe purpose of raising 

 silk. 



Our only fear is that the disappointmenls which many 

 must experience in failing to realize the brilliant prices 

 which their heated i naginations anticipateil, may dis- 

 gust many with the wliole matter, and operate lo pio- 

 dute prejudices against ihe business of raising silk. This 

 will be a great evil ; for in our humble opinion the rais- 

 ing of silk in New England may presently become al- 

 most as valuable an interest as the raising of cotlon in 

 one of ihe Southern States. When wo have a little 

 leisure and an opportunity of looking at the documents, 

 we design to give a history, little known to most per- 

 sons, ofwhat was done for the encouragement and ad- 

 vancement of this business many years ago and long 

 before Ihe American Revolulion. H. C. 



Jirajsitchusetti Horticulturia gocletjr. 



KIHIBITION or FRCITS. 



Saturday, Nov. 2, 1839. 



Dr James Jackson exhibited fine specimens of Coffin's 

 Virgalieu .' Pears ; also Passe Colipar, Grnsanne and 

 Green Sugar do. 



Henry Corse, Esq., our attentive correspondent at 

 Montreal, sent Upper Canada Seedling, a very dark red 

 apple, of medium size and oblong form ; St Lawrence — 

 this fruit is ill perfection in September, but it retained a 

 line flavor; Fameuse or d'Neige, a well known fruit; 

 Seedling Crab apples, of large size and remarkably beau- 

 tiful; St. Anloine, Golden lleinelle and another seed- 

 ling. 



Mr J. F. Allen, Salem, exhibited large specimens of 

 Beurre Uiel and Chaumontelle Pears, and also a. varieti' 

 name unknown. 



Mr Manning exhibited the Minister apple, a hand- 

 some striped fruit — form oblong — the size above medi- 

 um. This fruit sustains a very high reputation. 

 For the Cemmitlec, 



E. M. RICHARDS. 



Great Yield of Onions.— Mt Moses Greenleaf, of Bol- 

 ton, Muss, has raised ihis year on 3:i 1-2 rods of ground, 

 15-2 bushels of White Po'tugal (Jnions, which is al the 

 rate of 725 bushels per acre. Tlie ground was measured 

 by one of his neighbors, and we have no doubt but the 

 onions were properly measured. We saw the crop be- 

 fore it was gathered, and can say we never saw a finer 

 and more productive crop. J. B. 



