262 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



son Wliite potatoes, dropt in drills three feet 

 apart, and covered with the plow. They were 

 hoed but once during the season. In July and 

 September, 915 bushels of very handsome pota- 

 toes, were sold from this field, (equal to 36G bush- 

 els to the acre) beside 150 bushels of small pota- 

 toes ; and later in the season, $100 was received 

 for celery, grown on a part of the same field. 

 Most of this land, before underdraining, was too 

 wet to plant ; it was a favorite resort for mus- 

 quash, and they have been unwilling to abandon 

 their old haunts. After going through the tile in 

 the main drain, and attempting ineff"ectually to 

 reconstruct their dams, they have deserted the 

 field, apparently with a great contempt for drain 

 tile. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE SLAB— CABROT OUIiTURE. 



Mr. Brown : — I noticed in a late number of the 

 Farmer, a recommendation of the "Slab" as an ar- 

 ticle with which to cover the seed, and put the fin- 

 ishing polish on ground recently laid down for 

 meadow; also, that the suggestion pleased you, as 

 well it might. You have in this contrivance a true 

 delineation of the true Yankee character. He 

 never despises a thing because it is simple, cheap 

 or common. Every thing, in his view, is fitted for 

 some good use. You have heard of the good 

 housewife who was furnished with very crooked 

 wood, to try her patience, on a bet that it would 

 make her scold. Instead of scolding, she begged 

 for more of the same sort, because, said she, "it 

 fits so nicely around the dinner-pot." She found 

 that which most would have thrown away, best 

 fitted for her use. 



But, sir, I took the pen to tell you that the slab 

 has other uses. In a kind of official ramble, last 

 fall, among the crops of members of the Berkshire 

 Agricultural Society, we examined a large field 

 of carrots entered by C. O. Perkins, Esq., of 

 Becket. In speaking of his mode of culture, he 

 said that the ground being on a northern declivi- 

 ty, and a little cold and wet, he put the seed on a 

 moderately raised ridge. But how, we asked, is 

 this ridge preserved, and this true and thorough 

 tillage between the rows secured without an 

 amount of hand labor inconsistent with economy 

 in a region where land is cheap, and labor com- 

 paratively dear ; for we had already discovered 

 that cost and value were two gentlemen with 

 whom Mr. P. was thoroughly acquainted, and 

 who were kept by him in very close relationship 

 to each other. He answered, "I selected a slab 

 of just the right width and convexity, some three 

 feet long, (I write from recollection,) draw from 

 the flat side a few cents' worth of large cut nails, 

 sufficiently long to reach through far enough to 

 scratch thoroughly ; cut the lower edge of one 

 end so that it would not catch ; fastened a rope 

 to that end ; put the rope in the hand of a boy 

 and set him in motion. I found it did the work 

 most admirably." 



Now, Sir, here was a cultivator, which, per- 

 haps, in work and materials, cost a shilling, and 

 which was just the thing for the work required. 

 The Yankee always saves the pieces. In his hand 

 they "come in play," at some time ; the slab and 

 the crooked sticks as oft as straight ones. 



Pittsfield, April, 1861. Stephen Reed. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 SWEET GERMAN TURNIP. 



Among the many "good, bad and indifferent" 

 varieties of turnips that are cultivated in this sec- 

 tion, we have one that I think is far superior to 

 any I have yet seen. It was sent into this place 

 a few years since from Canada, I think, by the 

 name of "Sweet Turnip." I have since learned 

 that it came originally from Germany ; therefore, 

 I have given it the name of "Sweet Oerman Tur- 

 nip." I have taken some pains to distribute the 

 seed, and as far as I know, they give universal 

 satisfaction. Those who have them, discard all 

 other kinds, especially for the table, as they have 

 not that strong "turnipy" taste peculiar to other 

 varieties, being sweet and tender. I will venture 

 the assertion, that they will keep sound and ten- 

 der the longest of any turnip known ; they will 

 keep perfectly until July, without any protection 

 whatever, more than to lie on the bottom of a cool 

 cellar. By being packed in dirt or sand, they can 

 easily be kept until new turnips come in ; in fact, 

 I have never yet seen a "corky" "Sweet German 

 Turnip." By exposure to the air they will wither, 

 and eventually dry up, but they never become 

 "corky," like other varieties. 



They yield about the same as the ruta baga, and 

 should be cultivated in about the same manner. 

 My method of cultivating them as a field crop, 

 was as follows i I selected a piece of land that 

 was highly manured the year before with barn- 

 yard manure, and planted with corn ,• soil, a grav- 

 elly loam ; plowed about the 15th of June, and 

 sowed in drills far enough apart for the cultivator 

 to pass between them ; at the second hoeing 

 thinned to 12 or 14 inches. I used no "fertilizer" 

 except a light top-dressing of plaster when they 

 first came up. About the 1st of November I har- 

 vested them. They were the most beautiful lot 

 of turnips I ever saw ; yielded at the rate of 900 

 bushels per acre. I once sent a quantity of the 

 seed to Mr. F. A. Stow, of Troy, N. Y., who has 

 since written as follows : "From the Sweet Ger- 

 man Turnip seed that you sent me last spring 

 (sown on five acres,) I raised 4,000 bushels of 

 turnips. I consider them a fine article, and wish 

 you to send me four pounds of seed for next year." 



I enclose you a letter that I received from Hon. 

 Levi Bartlett, of Warner, N. H. Such testimony 

 from such a source speaks more than I can write. 



I have sent at different times 250 pounds of 

 the seed of this turnip to the Patent Office for free 

 distribution. I have still a large quantity on hand, 

 and will send a package free to any address, on 

 receipt of a few stamps to pay return postage, and 

 trouble and cost of putting up and mailing. I 

 make this off'er from desire to have it more ex- 

 tensively cultivated. Edward L. Coy. 



West Hebron, Washington, N. Y. 



Mr. Bartlett's letter, alluded to above, is as fol- 

 lows : 



Mr. Coy : — Sir : — In the spring of 1857 you 

 forwarded to me a package of Sweet German tur- 

 nip seed. They were sown at the same time, 

 (June 12,) side by side with several varieties of 

 Swedish turnips, viz. : Ashcroft's and Rivers, 

 Swedish Stubble, and Skirving's do. The two 

 first named are very fine varieties, being yellow 

 fleshed, and very good for table use ; but we very 



