84 
I'HE 80U'rH«^.Ri\ CULTIVATOR. 
the fields being previously cleared uo, and the 
remains ot the lonner year burned ufi', was hall 
anacie; the laborer was .equired to ridge af- 
terwards, when carefully done, flhs ol an acre ; 
and in hoeing, halt an sere was the task, de- 
pending, howevei , much upon the season, and 
the condition of the fieid. 
I4lh, The bags generally were expected to 
AV'eigh 300 lbs. Major Butler’s were 4|- yards and 
contained 260 lbs. 
15th. The rust did not appear for .some years 
in our fields, and when it did, I attributed it to 
listing in green vegetable matter in the latter 
summer, for the next year’s crop; or coarse 
vegetable matter in the winter, iiistea of burn- 
ing off, which left a light top dre.ssing ol ashes. 
The caterpillars made their appearance, 1 think, 
for the first time, in 1793, and destroyed the crop. 
I remember Maj. Butler made but 18 bales of 
cotton from 400 acres. There was also a red 
hug, a winged insect, with a long proboscis, 
withVhich it pierced the green pods, extracting 
the juices of the seed and leaving the pod 
blighted and hard, and the cotton stained of a 
deep yellow or red color. In new lands this 
insect was very destructive, as it had been inthe 
Bahamas, and as it found protection against the 
cold in the bark and roots of the trees, it was apt 
to remain for years injuring the quality and re- 
ducing the quantity of the cotton. 
16th. The cat erpillar was first seen to do in- 
jury as I think in 1793, the injury was unusual, 
the destruction complete, so as scarcely to leave 
seed. The destructive caterpillar, is not the 
same that feeds upon the Indigo ; the green cat- 
erpillar I have frequently known to riddle the 
leaves, to a great extent, wiihout great ultimate 
injury, but it is the black and yellow striped cat- 
erpillar, that in a few days, say from four to 
five, will spread over hundreds of acres, not 
leaving'a green leaf,and finally, nothing but the 
full grown pods, which they sometimes break 
and injure. 
17th. The black seed cotton had been shipped 
lor several years, before they began to grow in 
the interior the green seed for sale. 
I remain, dear sir, respecfully. 
Your ob’t. serv’t. 
Thomas Spalding. 
From the Delaware Journal. 
ROOT CULTURE. 
A paper on the culture ot Roots, read before 
the “Practical Farmers’ Club,” by one of its 
members, at their March meeting : — 
No crop is more important to the farmer than 
the Root Crop, and yet how very seldom in this 
section of country we see it sufficiently appre- 
ciated. At the head of this valuable family 
stands the Ruta Baga or Swedish Turnep, be- 
ing first in my opinion, for the following reas- 
ons : the seed is put in the most readily, less lia- 
ble to injury from the insect when young, re- 
quiring less expense in the culture, not injured 
by the early frosts, keeps better through the 
winter, and last, though all important, yields the 
most certain crop. 
I have been cultivating them for the last 13 
years, from one to five acres annually, and like 
all other crops with different success, but never 
until this fast year an entire failure, (when, 
from some cause, almost all our root crops were 
lost ;) nor do I think I have ever raised much 
over 600 bushels per acre, taking the whole crop 
together ; no doubt, by selecting a few square 
yards ot the best, (as is too often done in re- 
ports of crops,) and making the calculation at 
that rate per acre, I might have doubled that 
amount. Perhaps it may have been from w'ant 
of proper culture, manure, or some other cause, 
that I have not obtained a larger yield, lor we 
frequently dbe statements of crops reaching 
from 1000 to 1500 bushels per acre. At page 
61,- volume 1st of the “Farmer’s Cabinet,” you 
will find the statement of a crop of one acre 
grown in this county, from which two tons of 
hay were cut before planting; then $58 worth 
of manure spread on it, which, with the prepa- 
ration and labor with the crop, &c., brought the 
expenses of it to ^83 55— still the yield hand- 
somely remunerated it, being850 bushels, which 
at 16 cents per bushel, (the price obtained for 
pa.rt of them, the balance being consumed on 
the farm.) makes 0136: two tons of hay sold for 
034, and 4 tons of tops slimated at 08, makes 
a total ol 0178— from which, deduct the expen- 
ses abov , ana we have a clear profit of 094 45 
from one acie ; besides which, the land is left 
in fine condition I'ur any other crop to follow. — 
Also at page 171, volume II, same work, is an 
article from Mr John Sanford, of New York, 
who says “ his business is to work nc t to write,” 
but he gives us nis experience with the Ruta 
Baga in a very satisfactory manner; he plant- 
ed three acres in drills on the 26th and 27th of 
June, hoed but twice, and the yield was 3000 
bushels, being 1000 bushels per acre, — he adds 
that “bethinks they draw more nourishment 
from the atmosphere and less Ifom the ground 
than any other vegetable, leave the ground in 
finer condition and cannot be loo highly valued.” 
He also adds, “ let all raise according to his 
wants and means ot feeding, depending on his 
own market, and omit raising a portion ol other 
produce which costs him five times as much 
both in labor and land.” 
The Rev. H. Colman obtained a premium, 
in 1830, for his crop ol 903 bushels per acre; he 
“ thinks the labor not as much by one-third as 
required for the Potato crop,” and that “three 
years’ experience has increased their value very 
much as food for either fattening or store cattle, 
in his estimation.” 
Mr. E. Tilden of New Lebanon, who has a 
flock of 1000 ol the finest Saxony sheep, says, “ I 
think Ruta Bagas are decidedly preleiable to 
any other roots, and I raised about 3000 bushels 
last season.” 
So we might go on to multiply, wdthout num- 
ber, accounts of the great value of this excellent 
vegetable; but let every one give it a fair trial 
for themselves, and I think I can salely predict 
that, having once made use of them, they will 
never omit having a good supply on hand. My 
method ot raising the crop has been to have the 
ground in as mellow a state as possible, by a 
free use of the plow and harrow, ! hen to throw 
it into ridges about 30 inches apart; spread the 
manure in the furrows, then split the ridges, 
throwing it back again into the furrow and cov- 
ering the manure. I prefer this plan ol manur- 
ing to putting it on broadcast ; for, with the lat- 
ter mode, (without it should be very short,) it in- 
terleres more or less with the drill— for, as a 
matter ol course, in ridging the ground after 
plowing in the manure, you cannot avoid throw- 
ing it up again, which brings the manure on 
the top of the ridge. A less quantity wdll also 
answer, as the roots strike immediately into 
and have the whole benefit ol it. I have a very 
light roller for one horse, to which I attached 
the drill, which finishes the operation, as the 
roller going, before the drill levels it sufficiently 
for the seed. About the last of J une, I consider 
the proper time for putting them in, and I prefer 
doing it at two difierent times, about two w'eeks 
apart, as you will not then be so much hurried 
in w'orking them, giving you time to get through 
with the first planting before the next is ready : 
it is also much better to put the seed in the same 
day you ridge the ground — with a drill it takes 
about three-fourths of a pound of seed per acre. 
As soon as the plants are up, go through them 
with the cultivator, and when they are large 
enough to be safe from the fly. go over them with 
the hand-hoe, thinning them from 10 to 12 inch- 
es distance, apd hoeing over the strip not work- 
ed by the harrow ; keep the cultivator frequently 
at work, and give them a second hand-hoeing, 
so as not to allow a weed to start; and if the 
season is net very unfavorable, I will almost be 
willing to guarantee you at least 600 bushels 
per acre. Postpone gathering them as long as 
the season will permit, the early frost does not 
injure them. My plan has been for each hand 
to pull two rows at a time, cutting ofl the small- 
er roots and top, and two of them throwing the 
roots together in the intermediate furrow, mak- 
ing 4 rows together, which allows room for a 
cart to pass between in gathering them ; they 
may either be kept in a cellar or buried in the 
field, as is often done w'ith the potatoes,— do not 
keep too warm, nor, on the contrary, allow them 
to be frozen, and they will be firm and good un- 
til May. 
In feeding, I cut them with a knife made by 
two blades crossing each other at right angles, 
fixed on a long handle, which makes very ex- 
peditious work, and is superior to any of the 
many machines I have ever seen invented for 
that purpose. Many object to feeding them to 
milch cows on account of imparting to the but- 
ter an unpleasant taste; if given to them but 
once a day there is no danger of that being the 
case, at least 1 have never found it so. 
Beside the saving to your corn crib, you will 
also find your slock looking much better from 
the use of them, as it keeps them in a much 
more healthy state than when confined the whole 
winter on dry food, they also eat their hay and 
other provender much better from having a 
change. 
The Sugar Beet, Mangel Wurtzel, Carrots, 
Potatoes, and many others ol this valuable fami- 
ly, all have their advocates and all are excel- 
lent ; cnly be sure to raise some of them, which 
ever you prefer. 1 have given you my expe- 
rience with my favorite, and shall be gratified 
if I can induce some of you who have never yet 
tried it, to give them a trial. 
N. B. If you do not wish to go to the expense 
of purchasing a drill, you can put them in very 
expeditiously, by levellingthe ridge with a rake, 
making a small furrow with a stick, and sprink- 
ling the seed in it from a bottle, having a quijl 
through the cork, which can be regulated by th e 
finger being kept on it, and then covered with 
the back ot the rake. 
Frem the American Farmer 
ALTERNATION OF CROPS, 
This is unquestionably one of the best and 
most economical means of preserving fertility, 
and of increasing the profits of the farm. All 
crops exhaust the soil more or less, of the gene- 
ral elements of fertility, though all do not ex- 
haust it alike of certain specific properties. It 
is believed that every plant requires a specific 
food, which other families do not stand in need 
of, and which they do not take up. This is evi- 
denced by the fact, that wheat cannot be profita- 
bly grown on ordinary land, in two successive 
years, upon the same field, without a great fall- 
ing off in the product. And it is now laiddown 
as an axiom in good husbandry, that two crops 
of any small grain should never be taken from 
the same field in successive years, because they 
draw too largely upon the same specific food. 
But after an interval of four or five years, in 
which grass and roots intervene, the specific 
food of the wheat crop has so accumulated in 
1 he soil that this grain may then again profita? 
bly be grown upon it. So with all other crops, 
not even excepting the grasses. The law of na^ 
ture’s change in the products of a soil is so pal- 
pable, that in Flanders and Holland, where flaij 
is one of the profitable staples, they do not think 
of cultivating this crop upon the same ground 
oftener than once in ten or twelve years. Our 
farmers, some of them, seem to appreciate these 
truths in reference to tillage crops, without duly 
reflecting that they apply as well to grain. 
Meadows, too, deteriorate ; in a few years the 
finer grasses run out, because the soil becomes 
exhausted of the particular food which affords 
them nourishment, coarse or innutricious plants 
take their place and the herbage becomes infe^ 
rior in quality. 
Upon an average, old established meadows 
would yield double their present crops, if judi- 
ciously alternated with grain and root crops. 
The terms “ suitably divided into meadow, plow 
and pasture lands,” which are generally em- 
ployed to recommend farms lor sale, are an in- 
dication of bad husbandry ; and very often be- 
tray the secret which compels the owner to sell. 
Excepting in very stony districts, every acre oi 
land which would produce good grasses, may, 
by being rendered dry and rich, be made to pro- 
duce good grain and roots. In this convertible 
