174 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Before closing, it may be proper for me 

 to state that my cart employed, during 

 winter, in hauling leaves, takes out a load 

 of animal manure, every morning, for top- 

 dressing the leaf piles, and in the evening 

 brings in a load of leaves for littering the 

 stables. 



I will also state that I never could do 

 much in the business of making manure, 

 until I devoted to that purpose a cart, 

 team and hands, during the winter and 

 part of the fall and spring. 



Most respectfully, &c. 



W. S. M. 



Cumberland. 



TO DESTROY THE CURCULIO. 



A gentleman of this city informs us 

 that a lady of his acquaintance has for 

 several years past practised hanging one 

 or more toottles, filled with sweetened wa- 

 ter or the like, among the branches of her 

 plum trees, and the result has been an 

 abundant supply of both curculios and 

 plums. The curculios are caught in the 

 bottle and the plums left to ripen without 

 suffering from the curculio's usual depre- 

 dations. Some little attention is neces- 

 sary to note when the bottles get filled, 

 and then of course they must be emptied 

 and re-fill afresh. 



The gentleman states that this course 

 has been fully successful ; resulting in 

 abundant crops from trees so managed, 

 while others around had their fruit en- 

 tirely destroyed. 



The remedy, as stated, is a simple one, 

 and so easily adopted that if in other 

 cases it should not succeed its expense 

 will be very trifling. — Selected. 



CULTURE OF TURNIPS. 



It should be remembered that it is not 

 too late for sowing turnips. The Swedish 

 turnip (ruta baga) should be sown, if 

 practicable, as early as the middle of June, 

 but the 20th or 25th of the month will 

 answer, if they cannot be got in sooner. 

 The yellow Aberdeen is a kind which 



requires nearly as long a season as the 

 ruta baga. The common flat turnip 

 grows much quicker than the kinds be- 

 fore mentioned. It will produce a good 

 crop, on tolerable rich land, sown as late 

 as the 25th of July or the first of August-. 

 Ground which has produced a crop of 

 hay, rye, or wheat, may give a crop of 

 flat turnips the same season. They are 

 less nutritive than the other kinds, but 

 are, notwithstanding, very useful in feed- 

 ing stock during the beginning of winter ; 

 and from the convenience of cultivating 

 them as an after crop, they are in many 

 instances profitable. For late keeping, or 

 feeding in the latter part of winter, the 

 Aberdeens and Swedes are best. 



A soil inclining to sand is most suitable 

 for turnips. Compost of muck and barn 

 yard dung, with, a dressing of leached 

 ashes, furnishes a good manure. The 

 seed should be sown in drills. Two feet 

 spaces between the drills will admit the 

 use of a small harrow or cultivator in 

 cultivating the crop. Flat turnips should 

 be thinned to eight inches between the 

 plants, and ruta bagas to twelve inches. 

 If the ground is not very porous and dry ? 

 it will generally be preferable to form 

 ridges on which to sow the crop. They 

 may be made by a srnall plough drawn 

 by one horse, or more readily with a dou- 

 ble mouldboard plough. On stubble or 

 sward ground, care should be taken in 

 making the ridges, that the grass and 

 weeds are not turned up. The ridges 

 should be levelled by passing a roller over 

 them before the seed is sown. A pound 

 of seed to the acre, evenly distributed, as 

 it may be by a good machine, is sufficient. 



A dressing of plaster sown on the 

 plants as soon as they are up, while they 

 are wet with dew, will afford considera- 

 ble protection against the turnip fly or 

 Jlea, and will on many soils greatly hasten 

 the growth of the crop. The weeds must 

 be killed as soon as they appear. The 

 scuffle hoe is the best hand tool for this 

 purpose. It may be run rapidly along 

 the ridges, close to the plants, and may 

 take out almost every weed in the row 

 without doing any damage. The spaces 

 between the rows may be chiefly worked 



