138 AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. [April, 
“Webb’s New Kinver,” has taken more prizes at the 
recent shows than any other. Mr. Wm, Crozier, of 
Northport, L. I., has cultivated it, and says, “it is 
the best Mangel I have ever seen.” It is claimed 
for it, that it grows very smooth and uniform, has 
but a single tap-root, is very solid, and of a pale 
orange color. It is claimed that, in England, as 
much as 80 tons to the acre have been raised of this 
variety. The engraving shows that it is quite un¬ 
like the usual Mangels in shape. It is offered by 
Messrs. R. H. Allen & Co., of New York, as “the 
best Mangel in cultivation.” 
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A Scoop for Measuring Feed. 
Guess work is rarely economical. It is surpris¬ 
ing how far from the truth many of our guesses 
will be found, if put to the test of accurate meas¬ 
urement or weight. In feeding it is best to be ac¬ 
curate. There is then 
no waste, the feeding is 
regular, and the cost is 
known with exactness. 
We are now usinghome- 
made scoops of the kind 
shown in the engraving, and find them convenient 
for feeding meal. The largest one holds two quarts, 
dry measure, and is 9 inches long, and 44 inches in 
diameter; thus holding, making due allowance for 
the slope at the mouth, about 135 cubic inches. It 
is cut from a sheet of tin 9 x 13, which can be easily 
procured, and the edges do not meet exactly, thus 
making it 44 inches in diameter. The end is made 
of a piece of board sawn into a circle, or turned in a 
lathe, and an ordinary door-stop is used for a 
handle. A one-quart measure would be half the 
length of this, and if four quarts are needed, it is 
easy to take two of the 2-quart scoopsful. We 
find that one size is sufficient for all purposes, and 
to save the trouble of hunting them when they arc 
wanted, one is kept in each feed-box and grain-bin. 
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Fodder Crops—Which to Select. 
Eodder crops, to be fed in a tresh condition to 
stock, are now recoguized by thorough farmers as 
a necessity. Every year this system is practised 
more widely than before. As land becomes more 
valuable, and competition amongst farmers more 
close, it is found more desirable to increase the in¬ 
come from our live stock by all possible means. To 
enlarge our food supply is the most available re¬ 
source. Pasturing is now only profitable upon 
cheap land, or such as can not be made arable. It 
is also found that to economize the physical exer¬ 
tions, and the consequent muscuiar waste of the 
animals, is a matter worth considering. The feed¬ 
ing of green fodder crops in yards, small fields, 
or even in the stalls, is, to a great extent, taking 
the place of pasturage of cows, horses, sheep, and 
pigs. We are obliged to make many blades grow 
where one grew before, to support the necessarily 
increased number of animals, and it has been found 
that by procuring a thrifty growth of green-fodder, 
we can feed as many animals from one acre, as we 
could feed from five acres or more of pasture. For 
cows and horses, it is necessary that these crops be 
cut and carried to them, else many times as much 
food would go under foot as would be eaten. But 
sheep and pigs may be made to consume the crops 
from the ground, by penning them within a narrow 
strip enclosed by hurdles or portable fences, that 
can be moved as the ground is cleared by them. 
The manner of feeding may be varied to suit cir¬ 
cumstances, and every farmer can easily judge for 
himself what would be most convenient and pro¬ 
per for him. There is so much latitude in the 
choice and management of the different crops, that 
to select the best is sometimes difficult. There are 
early and late ones, and it is very important to al¬ 
ternate these so that the ground may be always oc¬ 
cupied, and two or three may be grown in isucces- 
sion in one season. At present, fodder corn is 
grown more than anything else for this purpose, 
but there are several other crops, of quicker growth 
early in the season, and that give an equally heavy 
product. Oats and peas mixed, 24 bushels of the 
former, and 14 of the latter, may be sown a month 
or six weeks before it is safe to plant corn, and will 
yield 8 or 10 tons per acre, of the best and richest 
milk-producing feed. Barley and vetches, mixed, 
and sown in the same proportion, are also a valua¬ 
ble green crop, and are especially well adapted to 
horses. Either of these crops may be followed by 
sweet corn of an early variety, and this may be cut 
and removed in time fora crop of millet or turnips. 
These three crops may easily be taken from the 
same ground in six months, and in the aggregate 
will yield 30 to 50 tons per acre without very copi¬ 
ous manuring. Probably there are no others that 
are so prolific as these. It is widely supposed that 
there is no advantage in feeding sweet corn over 
the common field variety. The error of this is evi¬ 
dent when we consider how much more sugar there 
is in the sweet corn than in the other, and sugar is 
nutriment. In many places near towns and cities, 
where green sweet corn ears can be sold, this crop 
may yield two profits, one from the ears, and the 
other from the stalks; some wide-awake farmers 
have discovered this, and take advantage of it. 
It is besides an excellent cleaning crop. Some 
experiments are being made in the Northern States 
in growing the southern “field,” or “cow” pea 
as a fodder crop. How this will result we can not 
say at present; we have procured seed for a trial 
of this crop the present season. A bushel of seed 
per acre, should be sown in drills, and three mouth’s 
time is required to mature the crop for cutting. In 
the South, this crop is of great value for feeding 
green, and with this, winter oats, corn, and millet, 
may be made to give a succession. Cabbages and 
kohl-rabi are much neglected as fodder-crops, al¬ 
though they may be very conveniently grown, by 
planting them in rows between a corn crop. The 
corn protects the young plants, and when it is cut 
they occupy the whole ground. The cabbage plants 
are raised in seed beds and transplanted at the pro¬ 
per season ; kohl-rabi is sown in drills as turnips, 
and thinned out to one foot apart in the drill; the 
thinnings may be set out at the same distance. 
This latter crop does not impart a disagreeable 
flavor to the milk when fed to cows. Prickly 
Comfrey, at the North at least, is still a matter 
of experiment; the coming season should allow its 
value to be ascertained. 
Root Crops for Stock. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
While “ Mangels ” and other roots for stock feed¬ 
ing have been largely cultivated in Europe, for the 
past 30 years, it is surprising how little it is yet 
done here, particularly when we know how well 
our soil and climate are, in most sections, adapted to 
the purpose, and how great are our necessities, par¬ 
ticularly in those States, where the long dry sum¬ 
mers diminish the crop of hay and other fodder 
plants. The most important root crop for stock is 
the mangel-wurzel, which, I believe, can be grown 
and matured in any good soil in any State in the 
Union. As with all root crops, a loose friable soil, 
with a sandy or gravelly subsoil, is better adapted 
to it than a stiff soil with a clayey subsoil. All root 
crops require deep culture ; the soil should always 
be plowed to the depth of 10 inches, and, if it can 
be done, it will pay well to let the subsoil plow 
follow in the wake of the other,and stir the subsoil 10 
inches more, making a loosened depth of 20 inches. 
In many of our deep, rich, new soils, an excellent 
crop of mangels, or other roots, can be grown with¬ 
out manure; but when necessary to use it, noth¬ 
ing is better than well-rotted stable manure, com¬ 
posted with as much muck or turf from roadsides, 
spread evenly over the surface before plowing, at 
the rate of from 6 to 12 tons per acre; in absence 
of stable manure, bone dust, superphosphate, or 
guano should be applied, at the rate of from 300 to 
500 lbs. per acre ; but all such concentrated fer¬ 
tilizers should be sown on the surface, after plow¬ 
ing, and harrowed in, until thoroughly mixed with 
the soil. Before sowing, the ground should be 
smoothed as evenly as possible with the back of the 
harrow, to present a smooth and level surface for 
the reception of the seed. The distance apart be¬ 
tween the rows for mangels, will vary with the 
character of the soil. In light, sandy soils, the rows 
should be 24 inches apart, with 9 inches between 
the plants, but in strong, rich, deep soils, the rows 
should be 30 inches apart and 12 inches between 
plants. This is what is termed the “ flat cu'ture.” 
Mr. Wm. Crozier, of Northport, L. I., works on an 
entirely different plan from this, and his success in 
producing enormous crops shows it to be well 
worthy of imitation. After thoroughly plowing, har¬ 
rowing, and smoothing the land, he strikes out fur 
rows with the double mould-board plow (if this is 
not obtainable, any plow that will make such a 
furrow will do), 30 inches apart, the furrow is 6 or 7 
inches deep ; these furrows are then half filled up 
with a compost made from stable manure and turf 
parings from the road sides, about equal parts, 
thoroughly mixed and decomposed, or if yet rough 
and unrotted, it is pressed down in the rows with 
the feet; after the manure has thus been placed in 
the furrows, the plow is run up between on each 
side, so as not only to cover in the manure, but to 
raise a ridge as high as the furrow was deep ; these 
ridges are now run over with a roller or a light 
chain harrow, so as to take off or flatten down 2 or 
3 inches of their apex, and so broaden the ridge as 
to allow the seed sower to work on it to deposit 
the seed. Where stable manure is not obtainable, 
Mr. Crozier recommends blood and bone fertilizer, 
or bone dust,sown in the furrows at the rate of about 
300 lbs. to the acre, but where such fertilizers are 
used the ridge over the furrows should not be raised 
so high as over the manure. About 8 lbs. of seed 
is used to the acre, if put in with the “ Planet,” or 
other seed drill; when sown by hand, fully double 
that quantity would be required per acre. Mr. 
Megatt, the extensive seed raiser, of Hartford, 
Conn., recommends that, in using the seed sower, 
the hopper should never be more than two-thirds 
filled, and should never have any lid or cover, so 
that the operator can see its action, and should be 
shaken clear of all dust, as it accummulates, so 
that the seed may be evenly distributed. When 
the plants are up, they are to be thinned to 12 or 14 
inches apart, and the land is well cultivated, so that 
before the crop covers the ground the ridges have 
been so levelled down that the rows of roots are 
nearly as low as the spaces between. 
This ridge system of culture, both for mangels 
and turnips, although it requires more labor, is a 
saving in manure, and there is no doubt that these 
crops are greatly benefited by having the soil gradu¬ 
ally taken from the ridge by the cultivator, and ex¬ 
posing their roots, or “bulbs,” to the air. The 
best time for sowing, in the latitude of New York, 
is from May the 1st to the 15tli. The time must, 
of course, be varied according to locality ; prob¬ 
ably the best guide in all sections, is to sow from 
8 to 10 days before the time that corn is usually 
planted. The varieties most used are : “ Webb’s 
Mammoth,” and “ Norbiton Giant, (red varieties), 
and the “ North ” and “ KinverGlobe,” both yellow 
kinds. The average weight of the crop of an acre 
in mangels is 40 tons ; though, in some soils, they 
have yielded double that weight. Of course their 
cash value, as compared with hay, (rating hay at 
$15 per ton), will vary largely under different cir¬ 
cumstances, but Mr. William Crozier considers 
that the average value of mangels for stock feeding 
purposes, to be $4 per ton, or $160 per acre. While 
hay would be, under the same condition, (estima- 
ing 2 tons per acre), only worth $30 per acre, the 
expense of seed, manure, and cultivation of the 
mangels, at the utmost, need not exceed $80 per 
acre, so it is clearly seen that the crop for feeding 
purposes is a profitable one. What has been said on 
the modes of culture for mangels, may be applied 
Xo Turnip Culture, 
except as to the time of sowing. The Swedish or 
Ruta Baga varieties of turnip, should be sown, in 
this latitude, from May 25th to June 25th, and the 
Yellow Aberdeen and Strap-leaved kinds, from July 
1st to the middle of August. When sown at these 
dates, the distance apart may be the same as for 
mangels, but both of the classes may be sown a 
SCOOP. 
