216 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



transplanted if care be t^ken to remove with it a 

 sufficient quantity of soil ; but this necessity — for 

 such it is, opposes a serious obstacle to the adop- 

 tion of the practice, as a general rule, and the 



fodder with the tender and juicy roots, and the 

 roots with the sweet and nutritious hay. This is 

 the point to which we desire to call the attention 

 of our farmers, and especially of those who are 



farmer acquainted with the habitudes of the plan^ ' constantly fattening cattle and sheep for the mar- 

 aud studious of his own interests, prefers sowing ! ket. Their chief reliance has probably been com 



them where they are to stand. 



The ruta baga, and the various other individu- 

 als of the turnip family, Eire too well known to re- 

 quire any description here. They are aU hardy, 

 grow vigorously and rapidly in suitable soil, and 

 are highly prized as food for almost every descrip- 

 tion of animal ordinarily kept upon the farm. 

 They require a generous, but not over rich soil, 

 and the best stimulants for them are bone manure, 

 ground oyster shells, ashes, gypsum, and perhaps 

 guano. 



"We have referred above to the high value which 

 English farmers place upon root crops. Brown, 

 in his "Treatise on Rural Affairs," says "that the 

 introduction of the improved tximip culture into 

 the husbandry of Great Britain occasioned one of 

 those revolutions in the rural art which are so con- 

 Etantiy occurring among husbandmen. Before 

 the introduction of this root it was not possible 

 to cultivate light soils successfully, or to derive 

 suitable rotations for cropping them with advan- 

 tage. 



meaL This is now very high and will remain so 

 for some time. We believe its place may be sup- 

 plied in a considerable measure by a plentiful sup- 

 ply of a variety of roots fed alternately with as 

 much sweet herds-grass, clover and red-top as 

 the animals wiU eat. We do not know how it 

 would result in a number of cases, but the best 

 beef we ever ate was fatted in this way, — a plen- 

 tiful supply of roots and as much English hay as 

 the animal would eat, fed at re^lar time*. The 

 beef was tender, juicy and finely mingled, or mar- 

 bled, as the butchers term it. We hope that more 

 attention will be given to the culture of roots, and 

 that more thorough experiments will be made of 

 their use in fattening animals. 



EXTKACTS AXD HEPT.TF.S. 



Habits of the ^^ild Goose. 



Thinking that your readers would be interested in 



a brief description of the wild goose and its peculiar 



habits^ will give a few of them. This splendid bird 



is no Mormon, or at least does not believe in a plnral- 



i ity of wives, for the gander will never have bat one 



. j./r 1 i_ I mate at a time, and never forsakes his first love Bnlesfl 



It was, likewise, a difficult task to support , separated by some cause which he cannot prevent ; 



live stock through the winter and spring months ; j nor will he allow his mate to take grain from the same 



,. . 1,, ' dish with him until he has finished his meal and then 



and as lor feeding and preparing cattle and sheep he will allow her to eat hers. Although they are na- 



for market during these inclement seasons, the ^^"'■^* of -^°Vn<^ ^^^J" *re °ot "know nothings," for if 



" , . J .,1 there is not one of their own nation that thev can get 



practice was hardly thought of, and still more they will mate with one of foreign birth and other 



rarelv attempted, unless where a full stock of hay colors, rather than remain single Their noise is quite 



J ' musical, and especial] V so lust before a storm. Thoneh 



was provided, which only happened in a few in- ; wild in their nature, they are easily domesticated and 



stances. The benefits derived from it are of very ' <l°'te tond of being caressed. The female goose lays 



. J T • i_ -1 i_ ^ 1 i about ten eees, is a eood siner and verv careful of her 



great magnitude. Light soils, before useless, are | young. Hef mate does constant sentinel duty, and 



now cultivated with facility and profit ; the earth ' fears nothing while protecting its young. Though not 



- . J .^ ..1. c -i- T. -^ • v • 11 , i as large as the Afi-ican and other foreign birds, they 



18 turned to the uses for which it is physicaUy cal- ^^ ^ |reat ornament to the poultry yard, besides pro- 



culated ; and, by being suitably cleared vrith this ducing a good yield of feathers once in six weeks. 



' El^in Spritiff, 1864. W. S. Allex. 



preparatory crop, a bed is provided for grass and 

 other seeds, wherein they flourish and prosper 

 with greater vigor than after any other prepara- 

 tion." 



The reader will, perhaps, observe, in the above 

 extract, that the English custom of wintering cat- 

 tie was widely different from ours. Brown says 

 that a "full stock of hay was provided only in a 

 very few instances." Our practice among good 

 farmers is, to crowd large barns with good, sweet 

 hay, to ov^owing, and give every animal as 

 much as he will eat with a good appetite, and oc- 

 casionally stimulate that appetite with a mess of 

 some kind of roots. Each country, it seems to 

 us, practices upon extremes— one depending main- 

 ly upon roots aind the other upon hay. TMiat is 

 most economical and best, is, undoubtedly, a com 



Bose Bugs. 



As it is most time for the rose bn^ to make their 

 appearance I would like to inquire if there is any way 

 to prevent their destroying our grape blossoms, ap- 

 ples, &c. Last year they injured my grape vines, so 

 that the crop was an entire failure ; they eat the blos- 

 soms entirely up, and my apple trees were covered 

 with them ; about every apple and pear was eaien 

 more or less, so that I hardly had any fruit but what 

 was injured by them. If you can prescribe a remedy 

 for this pest, you will do a great favor to many in our 

 neighborhood, and I trust others. E. Leoka_rd. 



Xetc Bedford, June, 1S64. 



A K"ew Insect. 

 Oni apple trees are covered with little green liee. I 

 never saw any until last year, and on inquiry I find 

 but few noticed them at all. I have seen one man 

 (an early riser,) who remembers they covered the trees 

 "when he was a small boy." They come out very 

 early in the spring, or as soon as the leaves begin to 

 appear ; they sap the leaves as the midge (weevil) 

 does wheat, "making them look yellow and withered. 

 A^ soon as the buds begin t-o open they enter them, 



bination of both systems-a happy mingUng of . ^t^°hickiy on the growing fruit stems and Wast 

 both modes of feeding, so as to temper the dry | them. If any escape they do not be<:ome large and 



