112 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



chimney with the wall of his cellar, and continued 



it 20 feet high, found that after a few months it 

 began to settle on one side, causing the chimney 

 to lean out from the house at the top, (it Ixnng 

 an outside chimney,) until it was eight or nine 

 inches out of line. He righted it by taking out 

 the grate and sawing through the jams (mortar 

 joints,) on three sides (including the most eleva- 

 ted) at three diflercnt places between the arch and 

 the hearth, which process straightened the chim- 

 ney without rebuilding. Those having large lean- 

 ing chimneys should make a note of this. 



For the Neip Eni^hmd Farmer. 



CUIiTUSE AND VALUE OF KOHL-KABI. 



The 20th volume of the Journal of the Royal 

 AgriadUiral Society of England contains a pa- 

 per on the Kohl-Rabi, by Peter Lawson & Son, 

 Edinburgh, a general summary of which brings 

 under one view the special features of the Kohl- 

 Rabi. and the various points to be noticed in the 

 cultivation, general management, properties and 

 uses of the plant. 



1. There are eleven varieties in cultivation, 

 four of which are supposed to be modifications of 

 the others. 



2. All soils are suited to its cultivation, but it 

 prefers heavy lands, even those approaching to stiff 

 clays, and it can be grown where turnips cannot. 



3. Soil should be in fine tilth, well worked, 

 and farm-vard manure plowed in, in the autumn. 

 In the spring it should be grubbed and thoroughly 

 pulverized. 



4. It requires heavy manuring ; phosphatic 

 manures, with common salt added, are most suit- 

 able for it. Peruvian guano and other nitro- 

 genous manures should be avoided. 



5. Seed should be sown in beds at the end of 

 February or early in March, in drills, 12 inches 

 apart. A bed 6 yards square will afford sufficient 

 pl'ints for one acre of land, and 8 ounces of seed 

 will be necessary for the seed-bed. 



G. For successional crops, three sovv-ings may 

 be made ; the first early in March ; the second, 

 during the second week of April ; and the third, 

 the first of June. 



7. Transplanting to the drills should be com- 

 menced the first week of May ; but, as a general 

 rule, the plants should not be removed until they 

 are from G to 8 inches high. 



8. Plants for the main crop should be dibbled 

 in at 18 inches distance. If successional cro])s 

 are transplanted, the first (in May) should be 18 

 inches; the second (in June) IG inches ; and the 

 third (end of July, or the first week in August) 

 14 inches apart. 



9. If sowed at once in the field in the drills, 

 the operation should bo performed about the mid- 

 dle of April, but not later than the end. Of seed, 

 4 lbs. are necessary for an acre. 



10. Drills should be 27 inches in width, and 

 plants should be singled to 18 inches. 



11. While growing, the horse-hoc must be 

 kept in continual requisition, until the spreading 

 of the leaves prevents the operation being per- 

 formed. 



12. The average weight per acre is in England 

 from 2G to 'M tons ; in Scotland, from 20 to 25 

 tons ; and in Ireland from 30 to 35 tons. 



13. Every description of stock will eat the 

 Kohl-rabi with avidity. In consuming the crop, 

 sheep may be folded on the ground ; but, if given 

 in the yards to cattle, the bulbs should be sliced 

 or pulped. For pigs they should be steamed or 

 boiled. 



14. For cattle and horses it afibrds true nour- 

 ishment when boiled with grain. 



15. For milch cows it is invaluable, giving to 

 milk or butter none ef that disagreable flavor 

 which results when they are fed on turnips. 



16. For ewes and lam])s it is as fine food as they 

 can have in March and April ; and when ewes 

 are lambing, it is found greatly to increase the 

 supply of milk. 



17. Kohl-Ral)i is, so far as present known; 

 subject to no disease except "clubbing and an- 

 bury." 



18. If hares and rabbits exist in the neighbor- 

 hood of the crop, they are sure to prove very 

 destructive, unless means of precaution are taken. 



19. The leaves are of equal value with the bulbs 

 in nutritive properties. 



20. The plant for feeding purposes is twice as 

 valuable as ordinary turnips. 



21. It bears transplanting better than any 

 other crop, and is invalualile, therefore, for filling 

 up blanks in turnips, or potatoes. 



22. The Kohl-rabi can withstand any amount 

 of drought, if the transplanting has been success- 

 ful. 



23. The most intense frost does not affect it ; 

 it stands the winter well, and affords good feed 

 ftven to the end of spring. 



24. Its advantages over the swedes are, that 

 cattle, and especially horses, are fonder of it ; the 

 leaves are better food ; it bears transplanting 

 better than any other root; insects do not injure 

 it ; drought does not prevent its growth ; it stores 

 quite as well or better ; it stands the winter bet- 

 ter ; and it affords food later in the season, even 

 in June. Joseph Coe. 



llochester, Jan., 1861. 



A Bad Beginning. — A farmer who wintered 

 eighty sheep last winter with the loss of only two, 

 which he says were old enough to die any how ; 

 who raised without trouble 44 lambs from 47 

 ewes, and whose fleeces averaged over three and 

 a half pounds, gives in the Ohio CuUivaior the 

 following lively description of his experience in 

 keeping sheep the previous season, without the 

 comfortable shelter which his flock now enjoys. 



In the fall of 1858, I started into the winter 

 with about 80 fine sheep without any shelter. 

 But O ! how I came out ! Against spring opened 

 up, I had G6. But that was not all. I had gone 

 to the expense and trouble of getting two very 

 nice bucks ; and from about 50 ewes I raised 

 about half as many lamb?, by raising four or five 

 by hand. Was this all ? No ! When I sheared 

 tliem, I put what wool I had got off my dead 

 sheep in among my other wool, and then my 66 

 fleeces did not average three pounds. 



Hops. — From one thousand hills of hops plant- 

 ed last February, in California, one thousand 

 pounds of hops were gathered this fall. 



