184 



KEW ENGLAND FARMEK. 



April 



sown on each ridge ; plants thinned to 10 inches 

 a])art. But to grow roots at the cost I have named, 

 it is necessary that all the details should be at- 

 tended to, in their proper season. For instance, 

 if a person seeds a piece of land with carrots, (a 

 plant which when young is rather tender,) and 

 leaves the soil full of hard lumps, and the surface 

 covered with rubbish, it will be more work to 

 weed them, the plant Avill not come up so evenly, 

 and the result will be a partial failure of the crop, 

 while it will cost more to take care of than it would 

 if it had been done right in the first place ; these 

 remarks will apply to the cultivation of other va- 

 rieties of roots also. 



If I am right, and v^'e can grow ruta bagas for 

 8 or 9 cents, and sugar beets, and Mangel Wurt- 

 zel for 7A cents a bushel, or even at a few cents 

 more per bushel, would it not be a cheaper feed 

 than grain or oil meal ? Sugar beets and Man- 

 gel. Wurtzel I regard as a very excellent feed for 

 milch cows. By giving a cow one peck of beets 

 twice a day in addition to hay, you will get a rea- 

 sonable quantity of good healthy milk, which j^ou 

 need not be ashamed to sell, or to make into but- 

 ter. 



But if a person wishes to sell milk, and is will- 

 ing to sell anything that he can run through a 

 cow's udder for milk, he can probably get a larger 

 quantity by substituting oil meal or some" feed of 

 that nature for the beets, for one or two years ; 

 but for a term of five years, I have no doubt a 

 cow would produce more milk by being fed with 

 the beets, than they would with the oil meal. 

 Beets have this advantage over ruta bagas ; they 

 can be kept in a house cellar as easily as potatoes, 

 and without any unpleasant odor from them. 



It is very certain to my mind, that the whole 

 value of roots for feeding to cattle, is not entirely 

 in the amount of nutriment that they contain, but 

 they also aid in the digestion of the hay, and oth- 

 er feed, and in reasonable quantities promote the 

 health of cattle of all kinds. I think that a large 

 portion of the loss sustained in cows, every year, 

 results from feeding oil meal and grain in large 

 quantities. The garget, I think, is often caused 

 by the same thing, which creates an unnatural ex- 

 tension of the milk vessels, followed by an in- 

 flammation of the udder, and often results in a 

 serious loss in the value of the animal so aS'ecteti ; 

 by feeding more roots and less grain, that would 

 be remedied to some extent. 



I do not wish to have it understood by these 

 remarks, that I Avould advocate the exclusion of 

 grain from the feed of stock, and particularly of 

 milch cows, but that for winter feeding, I would 

 use a lai'ger quantity of roots, with less grain than 

 many now feed, both on the score of economy in 

 keeping, and the greater durability of the cows. 

 It is said by eminent v/riters of agriculture, that 



the increased cultivation of turnips in England 

 and Scotland has done more for the interest of 

 agriculture, within the last fifty years, than all 

 other improvements combined, and that it has 

 put millions of dollars in the pockets of the far- 

 mers of those two countries. If the culture of tur- 

 nips has done so much for them, then the culture 

 of the various kinds of roots ought to do some- 

 thing for us." 



For the New England Fanner. 

 "WOBMS IN" APPLES. 



Mr. Editor : — I was interested in your Groton 

 correspondent, Mr. White, in relation to the 

 "worm in apples," not the apple worm, described 

 in your last issue. I have a sweet apple tree on 

 my grounds in New Hampshire, about sixty miles 

 from this city, the fruit of which is of a superior 

 quality for cooking purposes. I have noticed that 

 this apple, when first ripe, early in September, is 

 very clear, and free from the apple worm. I do 

 not recollect of ever having seen a worm of that 

 description, in the fruit ; but within the past few 

 years, I have noticed, that after the apple has been 

 taken from the tree in a ripe state, and kept ti'n 

 or fifteen days, the worm described by Mr. White 

 appears in tlie meat, scarcely perceptible at first, 

 but in full size is about ono-eighth of an inch in 

 length. They are very abundant, and perforate the 

 whole apple, leaving it like a honey-comb inside, 

 while the outside is perfectly fair and smooth. I 

 have never seen the worm in any fruit, except the 

 sweet apple. I know of no preventive, except 

 to use the fruit when first ripe, as you would cook 

 fresh meat in warm weather, before being subject- 

 ed to the outward influences which fresh meat is 

 too often subjected in the summer season. 



Bosto7i, Feb. 28, 1860. j. D. 



For the New England Farmer. 



PIPES FOB CONDUCTING "WATEK. 



In your paper of this date I find an answer to 

 my suggestion in yours of Jan. 28th, about "pipe 

 for conducting water," by the Boston Belting Co. 

 — or rather by Tappan, McBurney, & Co., which 

 is good as far as it goes — but as you remark, "It 

 is information that will be valuable to many per- 

 sons," I wish to know more about this pipe — 



1. How long will it last ? 



2. Will it make the water taste of India-rub- 

 ber ? 



3. Is it wholesome ? and this last is the most 

 important item. 



I know of an elderly farmer in this tovv^n, who 

 being out of health, thought lead pipe the cause, 

 and dug a new well this last year to have water 

 handy, and by some way to avoid lead pipe. 



Another who was out of health, and was per- 

 suaded to think lead pipe was the cause, took it 

 out of his well less than a year ago and put in 

 gutta pcrcha. The lead pipe he took out was as 

 clean and as pure lead color as the day it was put 

 in — no corrosion or appearance of decay. This 

 was from a well of soft water, as pure as water 

 could be from any well. A Reader. 



Billerica, Feh.'lG,!'^^^' 



