NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



cellar bottom should be dry, but not cemented. 



Apples should be kept in bins — not in barrels. 

 The bin should not be over three feet wide, so 

 that a person can reach across it to sort the ap- 

 ples, which should not be over six inches deep in 

 the bin. The bottom should be made of slats l^ 

 inches square, and one incli apart, which will give 

 a free circulation of air through the apples. If 

 picked with care, and placed in the bins without 

 bruising, and occasionally sorted over during the 

 winter, picking out all that are decaying, a few 

 bushels of apples will last a large family a great 

 while. 



If all who have to buy apples would follow this 

 plan, they would not need to buy a third more 

 than they expect to use, in order to make up for 

 the loss by rotting. Onions keep the best in 

 bins the same'as apples, and should be placed in 

 the driest part of the cellar. 



Beets and turnips for the next spring's use may 

 be kept in sand and retain all their freshness. 

 Take two boards and put them together in one 

 corner of the cellar bottom so as to make a bin 

 two, three or four feet square, as circumstances 

 require, anfl keep them up by driving some small 

 sticks into the cellar bottom ; then a layer of beets 

 and cover with sand ; then more beets, and so 

 continue to do until enough are put in. 



A cellar must be kept very dry to keep cabba- 

 ges without decaying, more or less. The best way 

 of keeping it in the cellar is by hanging it up to 

 the sleepers as it is drier there than nearer the 

 ground. For spring use, dig a trench one foot 

 deep on a dry knoll, and running up and down 

 the hill, so that the water may run off; lay in 

 some slabs or rails to keep the cabbage off the 

 ground, then puU the cabb-ige and lay them, heads 

 dovvn, on the slabs ; put slabs or boards over, and 

 cover with dirt, flax shives, straw, or anything to 

 keep them from freezing. If covered with straw, 

 they can be got at in the winter, but they must be 

 covered very deep to keep out the frost. And 

 here I Avould remind those that like good cabbages 

 that they should save their best cabbage for seed ; 

 set it out, head and all, taking care not to have 

 any other cabbages or turnips of any kind go to 

 seed within twenty rods of it, aS they most assur- 

 edly mix. It is my candid opinion, that what is 

 known of club-footed cabbage is caused by rais- 

 ing the seed in close proxii\iity to turnips or ruta 

 bagas. Squashes and citrons should be laid up 

 from the ground, and handled without bruising. 

 Cauliflower may be set in a trench in the cellar, or 

 put in one out doors like cabbage, only reversing 

 them, and putting them in as they grew, then 

 cover so as to keep from freezing. Parsnips may 

 be kept the same as beets, although if not wanted 

 until spring they may be left in the ground. 



Cellars should be kept as cool as possible and 

 not freeze, as all kinds of vegetables and fruit 

 keep better in a coul cellar than a warm one. 

 Windows should be left open in cellars as long as 

 possible, in order to keep the air pure, as impure 

 air will cause vegetables to decay. A good ther- 

 mometer for a cellar is a dish of water placed in 

 the coldest corner of the cellar, and as long as 

 that remains unfrozen there is no danger, but if 

 it freezes, the windows may be closed. Cellar 

 windows should always be covered with wire cloth 

 to prevent vermin from going in. 



New York, Oct., 1863. Agriculturist. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 AGRICTJLTXJEAL COLLEGES. 



Several years ago the subject of agricultural 

 education was somewhat fully — at least quite free- 

 ly — discussed in the columns of the New England 

 Farmer. The liberal grants recently made by the 

 General Government to the several States to pro- 

 mote agricultural and mechanical education, have 

 given a new interest to the subject, and it becomes 

 all for whose benefit the appropriations have been 

 made, to inquire what kind of institutions shall be 

 established, or what disposition shall be made of 

 the funds thus entrusted to the respective State 

 authorities. My own views are so well expressed 

 by a writer for the Cmuitry Gentleman, that, with 

 your leave, Mr. Editor, I will borrow his language : 



"If an agricultural college is to be a college for 

 the purpose of teaching agriculture, it must fail ; 

 because agriculture is neither a science nor an 

 art, but a handicraft or trade. As Well establish 

 colleges to teach shoe-making, or house-painting, 

 or cotton-spinning, as to teach agriculture. Scien- 

 tific agriculture, as it is called, cannot be said to 

 exist as a science. It is aimed at and hoped for, 

 but until analytical chemistry has been carried ta 

 a much greater perfeclion than at present, it must 

 continue to be among the things hoped for, and 

 not 'one of the things to be taught in colleges. 

 Analytical chemistry discovers no diS'erepce be- 

 tween the components of cotton and sugar. Even 

 in the common analysis of water, one of the most 

 eminent chemists of New England now confesses 

 that the method hitherto pursued has been all 

 wrong. If scientific agriculture is based upon the 

 idea that by a knowledge of the component parts 

 of vegetaWe products, added to a knowledge of 

 the component parts of soils and manures, a given 

 vegetable product may be obtained, very much as 

 a cook makes a pudding by compounding the ar- 

 ticles according to her receipt, the idea may be a 

 very pleasing one, but while the fact is tiiat chem- 

 ists are as yet able to analyze vegetable products 

 only in the rudest and most elementary manner, 

 the idea cannot be carried into practice. What 

 good farmer ever derived any benefit from an an- 

 alysis of the soil ? Is it not admitted that chem- 

 ists can detect no difl'erence between some of the 

 inost fertile and some of the most barren ? Some- 

 thing may be taught of botany and the physiolo- 

 gy of plants, but if agricultural colleges are to 

 graduate a parcel of young men with a smattering 

 of chemistry, a touch of botany, and an inkling of 

 vegetable physiology, who think themselves good 

 farmers, agricultural colleges will be a nuisance, 

 because they will increase the great defect of 

 American education, superficial knowledge. Sci- 

 entific agriculture stands to-day with phrenology, 

 and biology, and magnetism. It is an undevel- 

 oped theory, not a science. Of practical sciences 

 those only can be taught which admit of accumu- 

 lated knowledge of facts leading to theories, which 

 again are proved by the facts. But the known 

 facts of agriculture are of the simplest kind, and 

 discovered themselves for the most part while 

 Adam delved. The theories of scientific agricul- 

 ture are not yet ])roved by the facts. 



"Agricultural colleges then '(jiugt simply be high 

 schools for farmers. What makes a good farmer? 

 The same qualities which make a good mechanic, 

 or man of business — intelligence, judgment and 

 industry. Can a school teach these to its pupils ? 



