1878.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
139 
month later—that is, the Ruta Bagas may be sown 
from June 25th to July 25th, and the Strap-leaved 
kinds from the middle of August to the middle of 
September, but, when sown thus late, they should 
be both between rows and between plants, one- 
third closer. The varieties that we find best, are 
“American Ruta Baga ” and “Purple-top Ruta 
Baga; ” of the Strap-leaved kinds, “ Red-top 
Strap-leaved” and “Yellow Aberdeen.” Mr. 
Crozier’s estimation of value of Ruta Bagas, as 
compared with hay, (at $15 per ton), is $5 per ton ; 
average crop, 25 tons per acre, or $125. Purple- 
top Strap-leaved, or Yellow Aberdeen turnips, he 
estimates at $3.50 per ton ; average crop, 35 tons per 
acre, or $122.50. Estimating the expense of culture 
at half the gross value, we have still a large margin 
in favor of the crop; besides the Strap-leaved 
turnips can be sown after barley, oats, or rye. 
Carrots may properly come under the head of 
“Root Crops for Stock,” though mainly grown for 
horses, but, even for horses, Mr. Crozier says that 
he considers them far inferior to Ruta Baga turnips. 
This is in opposition to the received notion, but 
we know that public opinion in matters of this sort 
is often wrong, and when we consider the marked 
success of Mr. Crozier, as a raiser of both horses 
and cattle, his opinion in this matter is entitled to 
consideration. The land for carrots should be pre¬ 
pared exactly as for mangels; it must be deeply 
plowed, harrowed, and thoroughly pulverized, and 
whatever kind of fertilizing material is used, it 
should be thoroughly mixed with the soil to a depth 
at least of 10 inches. The same quantity and kinds 
of fertilizers should be used as recommended for 
the flat culture of mangels, though in new lands, or 
lands on which com has been grown after sod, 
enough of the fertilizing material will usually be 
left in the soil to mature a good crop of carrots 
without any manure, provided the soil is deep and 
in good condition. I once grew 20 tons of carrots 
per acre on land in this condition, without using a 
particle of manure. Carrots should be sown from 
the 1st to 30th of May, and when sown by a seed 
drill, about 4 lbs of seed to the acre is required. 
The rows should be 2 feet distant, and the plants 
thinned out to 5 or 6 inches apart. An average 
crop is 15 tons, of the “ Long Orange ” variety, to 
the acre, and the present price averages $15 per 
ton in New York market. The “White,” or “ Yel¬ 
low Belgian ” Carrots would give one-third more 
weight, hut the quality is inferior and the price 
correspondingly lover. One of the seeming ob¬ 
stacles to raising root crops on a large scale is the 
lack of a proper place for keeping them in winter. 
Keeping Roots In Winter. 
A general impression prevails that they must be 
kept in cellars or in a root house specially built for 
the purpose. There is not only no necessity for a 
special root house, as the simple and cheap method 
of preserving them in pits in the open ground is far 
better. I will briefly describe our plan, which I 
have practised with all kinds of market garden 
roots for 25 years. Mangels, in this section of the 
country, are dug up towards the end of October, or 
just after our first slight frosts ; they are then tem¬ 
porarily secured from severer frosts by placing 
them in convenient oblong heaps, say, 3 feet high 
by 6 feet wide, and are covered with 3 or 4 inches 
of soil, which will be sufficient protection for 3 or 
4 weeks after lifting, by that time, say the end of 
November, they may be stowed away in their per¬ 
manent winter quarters. For turnips and carrots, 
there is less necessity for the temporary pitting, as 
they are much hardier roots, and may be left in the 
ground until the time necessary for permanent pit¬ 
ting, if time will not permit to secure them tempo¬ 
rarily. The advantage of this temporary pitting is, 
that it enables them to be quickly secured at a 
season when work is usually pressing, and allows 
the period of their permanent pitting to be extended 
into a comparatively cold season ; this is found to 
be of the utmost importance in preserving all kinds 
of roots • the same rules regulating the preserva¬ 
tion in winter, apply as in spring sowing ; while in 
this section of the country it must be done not later 
than the end of November ; in some of the Southern 
.States, the time may be extended a month later. 
while in places where the thermometer does not fall 
lower than 25 degrees above zero, there is no need 
to dig up any of these roots at all, as that degree 
of cold would not injure them. The permanent pit 
is made as follows A piece of ground is chosen 
where no water will stand in winter. If not natur¬ 
ally drained, provision must be made to carry off 
the water. The pit is then dug 4 feet deep and 6 
feet wide, and of any length required. The roots 
are then evenly packed in sections of about 4 feet 
wide, across the pit, and only to the bight of the 
ground level. Between the sections, a space of 
half a foot is left, which is filled up with soil level 
to the top ; this gives a section of roots 4 feet deep 
and wide, and 4 feet long, each section divided from 
the next by 6 inches of soil, forming a series of 
small pits, holding from 6 to 12 barrels of roots, one 
of which can be taken out without disturbing the 
next, which is separated from it by 6 inches of soil. 
Scotch Method of Wintering Roots. 
Mi*. Crozier practises with great success the 
Scotch method of preserving root crops in winter, 
which he thus describes : A dry spot being selected, 
where no water will stand in winter, a space is 
marked out 6 feet in width, and of any length re¬ 
quired ; this bed is excavated 10 to 12 inches deep, 
and the soil is thrown out on the bank. The roots, 
either mangels, turnips, carrots, or potatoes, are 
built up evenly to a sharp point about 5 or 6 feet in 
hight, so that the roots form almost an equal 
sided triangle, 6 feet on the sides. This bed of 
roots is then thatched over with 4 inches of straw, 
after which the earth is banked over the whole, 
about 1 foot in thickness. This covering of earth 
and straw is sufficient to keep out any degree of 
frost that we have in this latitude, though we rarely 
have it much below zero, in colder or warmer sec¬ 
tions, judgment must be used to increase or lessen 
the covering. Vents, or chimneys, made by a 
3-inch drain-pipe, or anything of similar size, are 
placed every 6 or 8 feet along the top of the pit, 
resting on the roots, so that the moisture generated 
may escape. In extreme cold weather, these vents, 
or chimneys, should be closed up, as the cold might 
be severe enough to get down to the roots. Pits, 
so constructed, rarely fail to preserve roots perfect¬ 
ly, until late in spring, and are in every respect 
preferable to root cellars. For no matter how cold 
the weather may be, they are easily got at; the end 
once opened, the soil forms a frozen arch over the 
pit. Mr. Crozier says he has practised this plan for 
years on his farm at Northport, L. I., some of his 
pits containing hundreds of tons of mangels, etc. 
-- 
How to Use Artificial Fertilizers. 
In using strong chemical fertilizers, it is neces¬ 
sary to remember that 100 lbs. of such a mixed fer¬ 
tilizer as Ville’s “ Complete Manure,” as com¬ 
pounded by the Mapes Formula Company, contain 
very nearly as much of the useful chemical ele¬ 
ments as one ton of ordinary manure, and further, 
that these elements are in a directly active and solu¬ 
ble state. If, in applying these fertilizers, we 
should place them in contact with the seed, the 
young germ would be fatally injured, and the plant 
destroyed before it could appear above ground. To 
prevent this danger, all these concentrated fertiliz¬ 
ers should be thoroughly mixed with the soil before 
the seed is sown, or young plants are transplanted. 
Our own practice is as follows. For wheat, rye, or 
other similar crops, the fertilizer is spread in the 
fall, immediately before the seed is sown ; the seed 
is then sown and both are harrowed in together. In 
spring we sow the fertilizer upon the surface, and 
either leave it to be carried in by the rains, or we 
harrow it in, when we harrow the wheat or rye, 
with a light, sloping-tooth harrow, such as the 
Bradley reversible or the Thomas harrow. For 
com we scatter a portion of the fertilizer along the 
rows as soon as they are marked out; it is then 
well mixed with the soil in the process of planting 
and covering, and while it is near the seed, it is not 
in direct contact with it, except in very small quan¬ 
tities, which are thoroughly incorporated with the 
soil. Afterwards, when the corn is hoed, a second 
portion of the fertilizer, say 100 lbs. per acre, is 
scattered along the drills or hills, on each side of 
the plant a foot or so distant, and then the crop is 
cultivated or hoed. For field crops of vegetables 
that are transplanted, such as cabbages or tomatoes, 
we apply the fertilizer on the harrowed ground as 
soon as it is marked out, and when setting ©ut the 
plant, the soil and a part of the fertilizer are mixed 
together. Afterwards the remainder is given at the 
first cultivating or hoeing, as for corn. By such 
methods as these, the young and tender roots are 
not brought into close contact with the concen¬ 
trated chemicals of which the fertilizers consist; 
but they are fed gradually as they reach these in 
their growth, or as. these dissolve and are carried 
down to the roots by the rains. Lastly, it is well 
to give the caution, not to leave the fertilizers about 
where poultry, sheep, or other animals, can pick np 
fragments or lick the bags; nor to wash the bags 
in water-troughs, streams, or ponds, where animals 
drink, as some of the chemicals are poisonous. 
Popularity of the Ayrshires.—As a sign of 
the returning popularity of the valuable Ayrshire 
cattle might be cited the fact, that at the fair of the 
New York State Agricultural Society, the Ayrshires 
outnumbered the heretofore preponderating Jer¬ 
seys. The Ayrshire, as a butter-making breed, is 
hardly a rival of the Jerseys ; these two should be 
companions, and not rivals, for each one has in¬ 
valuable points. A fact of curious significance 
also, at this fair, was the absence of several of the 
old successful show-herds, and the entry of new 
exhibitors, who carried off the honors. It is further 
worthy of remark that, with all our success in 
breeding excellent animals, our prize-takers are too 
frequently imported. Would it not be well to keep 
prizes only for native bred animals ? 
--- - 
Is Machinery Profitable ?—The grand display 
of agricultural machinery at the New York State 
fair at Rochester, in September last, not only at¬ 
tracted much favorable notice fr»m farmers, but 
also some adverse criticism from other persons 
with little experience in the use of machinery. The 
question often arises, “is it profitable to use ma¬ 
chines in place of hand labor under all circum¬ 
stances ?” To this might be replied, very decided¬ 
ly, that it is not. There are some cases where hand 
labor is more profitable ; for instance, a farmer who 
has nothing to employ his time during the winter, 
may better use the flail to thresh his grain, than to 
hire or own a threshing machine to do the work. 
Although in this case the threshing might cost five 
times as much in labor and time, yet here time is 
not money, or at least it may appear that the old 
adage is at fault for once. But beneath this cir¬ 
cumstance even, there lies a mistake. This is, that 
no farmer should find his time so valueless, that he 
can afford to spend it in earning 50 cents or less a 
day, (which is what it costs to thresh 10 bushels of 
grain with a machine,) and it is a mistake to manage 
his business so that he has nothing else to occupy 
his time. This is the principle that should lie at the 
bottom of this question of the value of machinery. 
Every man should so arrange his business that 
“ time is money ” to him, and if he can save time 
by using a machine of any kind, then he saves 
money, and its use is profitable. 
Feeding for Milk. —“Litchfield.” The most 
economical food for milk cows is a mixture of hay, 
meal, and bran ; and the most economical way of 
feeding these is to cut the hay, moisten it, and 
sprinkle the meal and bran over it. This gives some 
trouble, but it pays. From our own practice, we 
believe 25 per cent of the feed is saved. One 
bushel-basket of cut hay, and 21 quarts of corn 
meal and bran, mixed in equal portions, is a feed 
for a cow in good milk. To some cows more of the 
meal and bran may be given profitably ; this must 
be found by testing the different cows. The above 
feed is for half a day—that is, is given twice in the 
day, making 5 quarts of the meal and bran daily. 
In addition to the above feed, a few pounds of 
dry hay, or some roots, may be given at noon. 
