No. 2. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



35 



season, nnd some the summer. Both seasons arc fa- 

 vorable, but the sooner it is done the better. If any 

 farmer from indulging in theory should prefer the lat- 

 ter period, let him first consider how it will agree 

 with his other business; and if it should appear clear- 

 ly that he will have nothing to interrupt him when 

 eummer comes, well and good — let him defer it till 

 that time. If on the contrary, should his corn-field, 

 or potatoes, mending roads, or any other service, be 

 likely to interfere, — let him make up his mind at once, 

 to do it now before the sap begins to flow, if possible; 

 and remember that a coat of paint over the stumps of 

 the larger limbs when amputated, is worth more than 

 all the theory that has been invented. 



Now a few words in regard to the manner. Cut 

 the under side of large limb8/r»f,lo prevent them from 

 aplitiing down; and in cutting of all limbs, whether 

 large or small, be careful to have as little naked wood 

 as possible, — leaving it very smooth, neither jagged, 

 nor split, nor haggled. For this purpose, the saw is 

 the proper instrument on most of the large limbs; 

 though a broad chisel on the end of a pole, and even 

 the axe in dextrous hands may be used in some situa- 

 tions; but then let none but dextrous hands touch it. 

 Most of the trimming in our orchards, is miserably 

 done. t 



For Ike New Genesee Farmer. 



Experiments in Feeding Beets. 



Messrs. Editors— Every writer who intends his 

 articles for publication, particularly in giving experi- 

 ments which may induce others to make a similar trial, 

 should be very careful in giving the detail; also, that 

 he has not been deceived himself, lest he deceive 

 others. It frequently happens, that different indi- 

 viduals arrive at different conclusions in making the 

 eame experiments, (I mean experiments like the one 

 at the head of this article.) For instance, my friend, 

 D. T. stated to me, some one or two years since, that 

 he considered mangel wurtzel a valuable crop for win- 

 tering swine. He said, " he had fed them to his as 

 their principal food. They were very fond of them, 

 and kept in good condition through the winter." 

 The past fall and present winter, 1 have endeavored 

 to test the value of various kinds of beets as food for 

 itore hogs, and am fully convinced that they are the 

 tkeapest, and, at the same time, as good keep as can 

 be raised for wintering swine. I fed them to my fat 

 ting hogs, for their first feed in the fall. I washed 

 and boiled them, mashed them fine in the liquor they 

 were boiled in; then, after standing a few days, fed 

 them to my hogs. They ate them with great avidity, 

 and gained flesh as fast as they afterwards did, fed on 

 new corn in the ear. I did not, however, feed them 

 long enough (some 8 or 10 days) fairly to test their 

 value, as food for fattening porkers. 



Samuel Guthrie, in an article headed, " Experi- 

 ment in feeding Sugar Beets," (Cult. & Far., Vol. 1. 

 page 113,) says, " I washed and boiled the beets, and 

 fed them profusely for two weeks. The hogs devour- 

 ed them most ravenously; butj on making a careful 

 examination at the end of this time, to ascertain 

 the progress I had made in fattening them, I learned, 

 to my surprise, that they evidently had gained nothing. 

 One large sow put on an appearance so wo-begone, 

 that I induced a charitable friend to take her off my 

 hands free gratis." The experiment was carried still 

 further, by adding a peck of potatoes to a bushel of 

 beets, and tried two weeks longer, but the improve- 

 ment was barely perceptible. Then potatoes and 

 beets, in equal quantities, were fed one month more, 

 when they had gained about as much as the potatoes 

 alone would have improved them. " I had now," he 

 says, " 17 hogs left, including two beautiful Berk- 

 shires, of full blood, &c. As I had provided little 

 else than beets for their sustenance, and as I had de- 



termined to give the root a fair trial, I continued to 

 feed them, adding corn and bran, as seemed indispon- 

 snblo, through the winter. This spring I have 14 left, 

 having lost three during the winter; all of which, ex- 

 cept the two Bcrkshires, are miserably poor. These 

 Berkehircs, without, to my knowledge, having fared 

 better than the rest, have not apparently suffered at all, 

 but are in fine condition. I attribute this, in some 

 measure, to their domineering spirit, and to their 

 grentcr industry; for they are intolerable monopolists, 

 nnd in perpetual action." Something then depends 

 on the breed ; for had they nil been Berkshircs, we 

 may infer they would all have been " in fine condi- 

 tion" in the spring. Three died during the winter I 

 Did they starre to death ? Or may we infer that they 

 were diseased, or had not a comfortable shelter to keep 

 ofi'the pelting storms and drifting snow of winter 1 



" Much depends on the breed, as every farmer 

 knows; much on the health of the animal; something 

 on the season of the year. I failed in attempting to 

 fotten several swine in one case, though they were 

 carefully attended, and various kinds of feed tried; 

 and the failure wos totally inexplicable until they were 

 slaughtered, when the intestines were found corro- 

 ded with worms, resembling those found in the human 

 stomach; and this, I have no doubt, prevented their 

 thrift. The same fact has occurred in another in- 

 stance, ond with the same result. I failed in attempt- 

 ing to fatten some other swine, which had been driv- 

 en a considerable distance and exposed (probably not 

 half fed on the road) to severe cold and storms."* 



My store hogs were fed for some weeks on beets 

 alone. Not having a full supply, I have fed them, of 

 late, alternately with beets, potatoes, and corn, all in 

 the raw state. The beets and corn they eat with the 

 same greediness, but the potatoes are a drug. They 

 squeal over them for some time, and then reluctantly 

 eat about half their ration. Another fall I intend to 

 lay in largely for mangel wurtzel and sugar beet, and 

 shall, the coming season, cultivate them accordingly. 



I had supposed it to be an established fact, that cat- 

 tle would fatten if fed sufficiently on beets. But 

 Samuel Guthrie's experience (in the article above 

 referred to) is in the negative. He says, " To one 

 cow, designed for slaughter, I fed some forty bushels 

 in thirty days, and this without making any percepti- 

 ble improvement in the condition of the animal." I 

 shall have to refer to my friend D. T. again. He tells 

 me he has fattened a beef, this winter, principoUy on 

 beets. " For the fattening of a bullock, forty or fifty 

 pounds of beets per day, mixed with five or six pounds 

 of dry fodder, will accomplish the object in four 

 months. Care must be taken to give it in three sepa- 

 rations, since by feeding often and in small quantities 

 at a time, the same amount of nutriment goes far- 

 ther." t 



Since writing the above, the 1st No. of the 2d. vol. 

 of your valuable paper has come to hand. I was 

 much gratified to find an article [page 11, copied from 

 a "Western paper"] on " Beets for Cattle." The 

 comparative value of beets and potatoes, as food for 

 cattle, I am of the opinion, is rightly estimated. The 

 writer says, " In feeding the same animal with beets, 

 it was easily told that one third less than of turnips or 

 potatoes, would make them give the same quantity of 

 milk of better quality, and they showed better keep." 

 The same writer also says, " Young animals [cattle] 

 are peculiarly found of the raw beets, and thrive as- 

 tonishingly on them." Exactly the same with swine. 

 Farmers, store well your cellars with beets, and make 

 a fair trial. Feed your store hogs and cattle on them 

 one winter, and you will be convinced of their value, 

 and cultivate them accordingly. 



J. B. BOWEN. 

 Aurora, Cayuga Co., January W, 1840. 



* Gen. Far., Vol. 4, page 261. From the trnnsactiona of 

 the Essex Agricultural Society on swine. Henry CoLaAH. 

 i Cen. For., Vol. 5, page 3, Bib. Univ. for IKJl. 



To the Editors qf the Ncid Genesee Farmer: — 



Gkntlemen — On reading an article in the January 

 number of your poper, headed Effects of the Stock on 

 grafted Fruit Trees, in which you comment on remarks 

 contained in a late number of the Yankee Farmer, by 

 the editor of that Journal, on the above subject, in 

 which ho lays down the following propositions, viz: — 

 " 1 Stocks have an effect as to bearing years. 



2. Stocks affect the scion in hastening or retarding 

 the ripening of the fruit. 



3. Stocks produce defects on grafted fruit. 



4. Stocks affect the color of fruit. 



5. Stocks affect the quality of fruit. 



6. Stocks have an influence in increasing or decrea- 

 sing the size of fruit." 



And, as you observe, the subject is not new to hor- 

 ticulturists— Dr. Mease, of Philadelphia, affirming 

 such influence some years ago, and reviewed by you 

 at the time, in the 3d vol. of the old Genesee Farmer; 

 and not thinking the evidence conclusive, and having 

 seen nothing since to change your opinion, you ex- 

 press your willingness to examine the subject anew 

 with candor and fairness; and you commence in the 

 right way, by stating the results of your own practice 

 and observation. 



In addressing you on this subject, I beg to inform 

 you it is one I have been closely connected with up- 

 wards of sixteen years in England and this country, 

 the greater part in the former, and the result of my 

 conclusions are the reverse of yours. 



In quoting Professor Lindley in support of your 

 opinion, I think the statement quoted does not go far 

 enough in support of the subject under consideration. 



Though the food communicated from the alburnum 

 of the Quince to the Pear, is in nearly the same state 

 as when it entered the roots of the former, it does not 

 follow that the quantity received would be equal to 

 that communicated through the alburnum of a Pear 

 stock, and hence the austerity of the former, and the 

 luxuriance of the latter. Before I quit this part of the 

 subject, it will be well to state, though it is a fact 

 known to most horticulturists, that in all English nur- 

 series, a certain number (suflicient to meet the de- 

 mands of the establishment) of Pears are worked on 

 the Quince annually, and Apples on the Paradise stocks 

 (a sort of dwarf apple or crab, used as stocks, espe- 

 cially for the premature fruiting of the apple, and the 

 influence it has on the scion to form a dworf tree or 

 bush) for Espaliers and dwarf. Standards, to plant 

 in the borders of the principal walks in the kitchen 

 garden, where they form a counterpart to the trees 

 trained on the garden walls and add much to the gen- 

 eral effect of the garden, and are to be seen in most of 

 the gardens of England; and I never knew an in- 

 stance of their failing to exercise the desired influence, 

 namely, dwarf habits, premature fruiting, and prema- 

 ture ripening their fruit. Consequently, (though the 

 fruit is mostly fine, if attention is paid to pruning the 

 trees and thinning the fruit when too thick,) the spe- 

 cimens are never so fine as those obtained from trees 

 worked on the thrifty Pear stock, and common Apple 

 or crab stock— which trees are generally reserved for 

 the orchard, with occasionally something choice for an 

 open space in the garden. Instances are not rare in 

 England, (where the climate is not so favorable to the 

 maturing of the finer varieties of the Flemish Pear as 

 the United States, &c. &c. ) when trees are not fertile, 

 (I mean Pears,) although in a flourishing state of 

 growth, scions have been taken off and worked on the 

 Quince Stock, and they have assumed fertile habits 

 and bore plentifully. I believe the above includes 

 proposition 2, 5, 6. 



By the first proposition is meant (as I understand it) 

 bearing in alternate years, a subject which I think the 

 stock has no influence whatever. On this head I be- 

 licve we agree, and as you observe, it is a habit chiefly 



