|>Ii. x:(ii. NO. 34. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



267 



Fifty ton. to the acre have been raise.!, ' «ome of them to feed stock witl. in winter ; yet 1 j boilin- and reducing them to a pulp and mixin? 

 ^ raise very feiv. Tlie R.ila Haga which is believed with a portion ol meal, the animal would cat more 



ched. 



even more. These, wiih ruta ba^'tie, sugar 

 ts, and other roota, succeed best when raised 

 ridges. 



:^if(h. Parsnips. This root has not been extcn- 

 ;ly cultivated for feeding cattle, to my knowl- 

 ■e ; yet in many points it may be considered of 

 Huch or more importance than any other root. 

 )n rich and well manured lands, we have ac- 

 nts of 30 tons having been produced to the 



■e. 



rhc parsnip contains more saccharine matter 

 n the carrot, and have tiie advantage of stand- 

 out all winter, and can be fed fresh from the 

 .und in April and May. This root is very 

 teful to the palate of animals, and liighly con- 

 :ive to their fattening, and it is a iiialter uf as- 

 .ishment that no more attention has been paid 

 its culture. 



Mr Sea»er, of Townsend, said he had made an 

 jerimentwith plaster on potatoes, and would 

 te the result. He had plowed up a pasture, on 

 ich he planted potatoes. He reserved four 

 vs through the middle of the field, in which no 

 nure was used. In two of these rows he used 

 ,8ter, which was thrown over the potatoes before 

 ly were covered at the time of planting: the 

 intity used was about as much as he could hold 

 the palm of his hand: about the same quantity 

 s applied again on the surface when they were 

 ed. In the other two rows no plaster was used : 

 these, there were many more potatoes in num- 

 r than where the plaster was used, but not half 

 a weight. Those that were plastered were large, 

 .cable, handsome potatoes— the others, fvcry in- 

 rior. 



The Hon. Morrill Allen, of Pembroke, said : 

 The soils of Massachusetts, I believe are gene- 

 lly favorable fur root culture. Some of them 

 ay require considerable labor in the first prcpara- 

 )n ; deeper stirring and something iimre of ma- 

 iritig, at least in tlie outset, will be necessary 

 an for many oilier crops. I am not aware that 

 ere is any particular difficulty in raising the 

 iriou.ii kinds of roots in any part of the State. 

 /Miat kinds can be raised to great extent, by far- 

 ers generally with profit, is a question of great 

 iterest ? Carrots can be raised in Plymouth 

 lunty from 500 to ;,30t) bushels per acre. The 

 3it of raising is not very accurately ascertained, 

 ut will not fall much if any thing short of §100. 

 low it is a questionable point whether the farm- 

 rs there can apply to (JOG or 800 bushels of car- 

 jts to farm stuck in a manner to realize even the 

 ost of raising. In the neighborhood of the city, 

 ■here every quart of milk is immediately converti- 

 le into money, it is good policy to provide great 

 nricty of food for cows, but in the interior, where 

 early all the profit from the cow is a more re- 

 lote object, and labor quite as high, it will be 

 ifudent to feed on less expensive food even at the 

 isk (if receiving something less of milk. 



My views are nearly similar of the several fami- 

 ies of beets. They can be raised to great extent 

 ilmost any where, but in few situations with pro- 

 it. I'arsnipa in some soils I believe might be rai- 

 led at less expense, and probably contain more 

 lutrinieiit for animals than any other roots. The 

 .urnip family can be raised with less expense than 

 iny other roots within my knowledge. With me 

 hey Mill grow almost any where and with very 

 itlle culture. They furnish food of some impor- 

 tance for animals : I should like always to have 



to contain the most nutriment, cannot be stored in 

 large heaps without producing a surrimnding at- 

 mosphere deleterious bolh to man and beast. One 

 gentleman of my acquaintance ofler storing at 

 considerable! expense a fine crop of Ruta Baga 

 in his cellar, was reduced to the alternative of ta- 

 king them out again, or removing himself and fa- 

 mily. 



Our situation is widely diflTerent from farmers 

 in England, where the turnip crop can be left in 

 the field nearly or quite through the winter. I 

 have one other objection asaiiist this crop which 

 discourages mo from raising it more than all others: 

 I have never been able to make any other crop 

 succeed well after turnips of any kind. 'I'ho 

 Knglish turnip, which is raised with great ease, 

 seems a great exhauster of soil, and the Ruta Ba- 

 ga is something worse, I know that turnips have 

 long been successfully raised in England, and 

 nothing is heard of the exhaustion of their soil. Jl 

 should be remembered that all the soil of England 

 is now artificial, and that the ammonia produced by 

 sixteen millions of people and their domestic ani- 

 mals must be immense. The exhaustion of soil 

 rarely comes into the account there. But, we must 

 study to keep our land in decent condition with 

 comparatively little manure. 



For extensive culture, the potatoe seems to 

 me preferable to any of the roots, it will grow 

 with very little cultivation and will amply pay for 

 the best that can be given. When the soil is fa- 

 vorable, well pulverised and good attention given 

 to the selection of thj seed, we obtain from 400 

 to 700 bushels pr. acre. As food for stock [lotatocs 

 are of less value than carrots, but better than tur- 

 nips. There is less danger of placing them in 

 large heaps, and when not needed for stock, they 

 will always command some price for the use of 

 man, and in seasons of scarcity of provisions, they 

 fill an important place in the market. 



Having expressed these views of root crops, in 

 conclusion 1 remark, that surface ciops are regar- 

 ded by me as far more valuable : possibly one rea- 

 son of this preference may be the superficiality of 

 my genius. 



(Concluded on editorial page.) 



From the Farmer's Cabinet. 



POTATOES. 

 The time is fast approaching, when the farmer 

 will have to look about and gather up his iinple- 

 menls and prepare for action. 



It is believed by many that the potatoe may be 

 cultivated to great advantage, both for feeding 

 milch cows and for fatting various kinds of stock, 

 and especially swine. And the question very na- 

 turally arises, whether it is belter to boil them for 

 fattening hogs, or feed them raw. Some appre- 

 hend the labour and expense necessarily incurred 

 by the process of boiling, are allogcther thrown 

 away, and that the apparatus and fixtures for such 

 a process are only a nuisance, and calculated to 

 enhance the labcmrs of the husbandman, and im- 

 pose a direct lax on his time and attention, without 

 a corresponding advantage or profit. It is in- 

 deed difficult to conceive how the prorjesa of boil- 

 ing can add or communicate any additional fatten- 

 ing properties, which they did not possess in their 

 crude state : it might be urged, however, that by 



and of course fatfcn si.oner : — by such a process 

 he might indeed to the eye appear to fatten faster ; 

 but when dressed and on the scales, the deception 

 would appear ; besides, experience baa taught our 

 best feeders, that to force the fattening process of 

 any animal by very high feeding, is unprofitable, 

 the animal being always in danger of being cloyed 

 and loosing his appetite, and thrown into a fever 

 by too great repletion, which generally requires 

 some considerable time of total abstinence, before 

 he can be restored to his natural appetite — thus 

 making a considerable drawliack on his improve- 

 ment. 



But instead of all this, we would recommend 

 what we think a more simple and easy way for the 

 farmer to fatten his swine; that is, if he desires 

 potatoes to be a part of their food, which we think 

 would be to his interest: Let him give them at 

 proper stated times, their daily allowance of grain ; 

 say four quarts each per day, either whole or pul- 

 verized, wet or dry, as he pleases, and then let 

 him give them regularly as many raw potatoes as 

 they will eat clean, and let the sty be kept in i/ood 

 order and well littered, and our word for it, his 

 ho"s will show out well, either in the tub or in the 

 market. If tiie feeder's corn is scarce, he can 

 give thein less grain, or if potatoes are scarce, let 

 him give them more grain, regulating his feed as 

 circumstances may re(|uire. 



The object of this essay, is partly to give pub- 

 licity to a method by which the writer is induced 

 to believe more potatoes might be raised to the 

 acre, than by any other method that has come to 

 his knowledge, and with the least labour. 



The writer has not had any experience as yet 

 in the process he is about to recommend, but in- 

 tends making the experiment the ensuing season 

 on a small scale, and desires nothing more than 

 that his plan may pass for what it may be thought 

 to be worth. 



The following is the plan proposed : — Measure 

 off from your corn-stalk field as much land as you 

 desire to plant with potatoes; then haul on ihc 

 manure, giving it a very liberal coat of the best 

 you can obtain ; spread it carefully, then sow it 

 with plaster, at the rale of three or four bushels to 

 the acre ; prepare your seed, and as the mode now 

 is lo plough around the field ; as you do this for 

 oate, drop the potatoes one foot apart in every fur- 

 row ; and as the furrows are generally about a foot 

 wide, you will then have a cutting on every square 

 foot of ground, and admitting tlia plants would 

 yield an average of two ordinary sized potatoes 

 each it has been ascertained that 260 middle si- 

 zed potatoes make a bushel — then as there are 

 43,.50O square feet in an acre of land ; and calcula- 

 ting 280 potatoes to the bushel, we have a yield of 

 311 bushels to the acre, which being sold at one- 

 third of a dollar per bushel, would amount to over 

 a hundred dollars ; and they often sell much hgher. 

 All the labour you have after they are planted, is 

 to harrow the ground about the time of their com- 

 ing up: tho tops will so effectually cover the 

 ground as to prevent the weeds from materially 

 Tnjuring them ; being planted e.nrly, they will be 

 ready to harvest by the time you plough your out- 

 stubble for wheat, they can then be turned out 

 with the plough and grappled with the fork in the 

 usual way. " jarmer. 



The contented are truly rich. 



