1378 j 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
175 
Beet Sugar. 
'Why people of sense call it beet root sugar, I 
can’t see. What is a beet but a root ?—that is all 
there is to it. We do not think of the tops when 
we speak the word, and to imitate the English is 
following a very poor example in matters of lan¬ 
guage ; for I think they are as incorrect as they are 
opinionated.) It takes capital, and I verily believe 
it will prove a good investment for capital, especial¬ 
ly in the vicinity of New York, where so much sugar 
machinery is lying idle, or earning so little. What 
modifications of the modern sugar houses it would 
require to enable them to work over the crude pro¬ 
duct of the beet sugar works, 1 do not know, but it 
seems as if the capital now invested, and nearly 
useless, might thus find profitable employment. 
On Long Island, along the Connecticut coast, in 
New Jersey, especially in Monmouth, Essex, and 
Bergen Counties, we have admirable land for beet 
raising, and we certainly have the manure. It will 
be easy to get the labor to do the work well, and 
yet not neglect the raising of all that market truck, 
which will be profitable one season with another. 
Whatever profit there might be from the beets, 
would be more or less regular—not subject to the 
same fluctuations and disappointments that attends 
the raising of cabbage and celery, and the like. 
Farmers who consider this subject of beet sugar, 
must bear in mind that the sugar takes nothing 
from the soil—is no tax upon the land, the resi¬ 
duum, or pulp, after the expression of the juice, 
being returned to the farm for feeding stock. In 
this way a much larger stock of cattle is maintained, 
much manure produced, and the farm steadily bene¬ 
fited by the crop. Deep tillage, clean tillage, and 
high tillage, are enforced conditions, and wherever 
they are practised it is done profitably. The owners 
of a few reclaimed swamps in Louisiana, and of a 
few acres of “sugar bush ” in Vermont, should not 
be the only ones benefited by the duties on sugar, 
when a large proportion of the farmers through the 
best parts of the Middle and Western States might 
enjoy the “ protection,” and share the advantages 
of the higher price of sugar. 
Talks on Farm drops.—Mo. 15. 
By the Author of “ Walla and Talks on the Farm," 
"Hams on the Pig," etc. 
“I have known a fair crop of oats,” said the 
Deacon, “ sown as late as May 15, but, as a rule, 
in this section, if not sown before May 1, we stand 
a small chance of getting anything but straw.” 
“There are few crops,” said I, “more dependent 
on the season than oats. If that is favorable, oats 
will stand much poor farming, and if unfavorable, 
it will tax all our skill to produce a large crop.” 
“ We have comparatively few experiments,” said 
the Doctor, “with artificial manures for oats, but 
those that we have, indicate that the manures best 
for wheat and barley are also best for oats.” 
“ There can be little doubt on that point,” said I, 
“ but we might differ as to what manures are best 
for wheat and barley. All will admit that, where the 
soil has sufficient phosphoric acid.and potash, avail¬ 
able nitrogen is the one ingredient most needed.” 
“And yet,” said the Doctor, “ in the experiments 
quoted by Prof. Atwater, in the May No. of the 
American Agriculturist for 1877, page 171, nitrogen¬ 
ous manures did not increase the yield of grain, 
while they produced a greatly increased growtn of 
straw. Thus the plot without manure produced 50 
bushels of oats and 2,372 lbs. of straw. On the ad¬ 
joining plot, with 357 lbs. of sulphate of ammonia, 
the yield was about 50 bushels of grain, and 4,049 lbs. 
of straw. With what is called a ‘complete fertil¬ 
izer,'—containing nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, 
and lime—the yield was 51 bushels of grain, and 
4,387 lbs. of sfrajPr Another plot, dressed with 178 
lbs of nitrate of pota^K 223 lbs. sulphate of am¬ 
monia and 312'C.p. 0 f 'fjster, produced 58 bushels 
of grain, arid 4,17- i^j.*qf’straw. This was the best 
yield in the field. The only practical conclusion to 
be drawn from the experiment is this :—So far as 
the production of grain was concerned, the land 
was rich enough for the season. An addition of 
more plant-food increased the growth of straw, but 
had little or no effect on the grain. The oats on the 
‘ no manure ’ plot weighed 43.2 lbs. to the bushel, 
while with a ‘ complete fertilizer ’ they weighed only 
39.6 lbs. per bushel. This is additional evidence 
that a better ‘season,’ and not richer land was 
needed to produce a larger crop of grain.” 
“ Well,” said the Deacon, “what of it ? ” 
“ Simply this,” saidl. “Farmers have not mere¬ 
ly to look to making the land rich, but they must 
get the crop in early. And to do this, the laud must 
be drained, and made clean and mellow. Artificial 
manures are thrown away when applied to wet land. 
And it should be well understood that a dressing of 
manure, rich in nitrogen, might give us a large in¬ 
crease of spring wheat, barley, or oats, if sown 
early in spring, but if sown late, it may give us 
more straw, but a poor yield of grain. Mr. Lawes 
ascertained this fact a quarter of a century ago. ” 
“But suppose,” said the Doctor, “you had a 
piece of rich land, or land heavily manured, that you 
wished to sow to oats, but could not get them in 
early, what would you do in such a case ? ” 
“ Plant the field to com,” said I, “ or drill it in 
with corn for fodder, or plant potatoes.” 
“ Exactly,” said the Doctor, “ but this is dodging 
the question. I assume that you must sow oats.” 
“Very well, then,” said I, “sow them, and run 
your chances. If your land is rich enough, you 
might find the oats a capital crop to cut and cure 
for hay. Where timothy hay finds a ready market 
at good prices, farmers can feed their horses much 
cheaper on oat-straw than on hay.” 
“ That is so,” said the Doctor, “ butif the horses 
are at hard work you will need to feed more grain 
or bran with the straw than with the hay. There is 
nothing I like better for my horses, especially for a 
change, than to take oats in the sheaf, and run them 
through a feed-cutter. A quart of corn-meal, three 
times a day, mixed with the chaffed oat-straw and 
oats, will keep a horse in good condition, and, as 
you know, 1 have to drive my horses over heavy 
roads, and in all kinds of weather. Six pounds of 
this chaffed oat-straw contains about 2 lbs. of oats.” 
“ When oats are to be used for this purpose,” 
said I, “ the crop should not be suffered to get fully 
ripe. When cut green the straw is more succulent, 
and if properly cured, the horses will not only eat 
it with a greater relish, but the nutriment it con¬ 
tains is more easily digested. We have a splendid 
climate for curing the crop. It cut with a reaper, 
and thrown off into sheaves, and after lying exposed 
for a day or so to dry, it is bound and stuck up 
into shocks, the crop can be cured to perfection 
with little risk. The sheaves can then be stowed 
away in a small compass, and are much easier 
handled and cut into chaff than when the crop is 
put in the barn loose like hay. Still the method of 
curing must be determined by circumstances. If I 
had plenty of barn-room, or if I had to put the 
fodder in a stack, and if the crop was very green, 
and badly lodged, I should cut and cure it as I 
would hay, or as 1 cure oats and peas.” 
While the Doctor and I were talking, the Deacon 
had picked up the bound volume of the American 
Agriculturist for 1877, and was studying Prof. At¬ 
water’s article on page 171. “ I tell you,” said lie, 
“ if you were going to raise oats for hay, these arti¬ 
ficial manures would give you a great crop. The 
superphosphate did no good, but about 50 ibs. of 
nitrogen alone, gave an increase of nearly 1,700 lbs. 
of oats and straw, and nitrogen and potash an in¬ 
crease of over a ton of oats and straw. The crop 
without manure was nearly 2 tons per acre, and the 
crop with the nitrogen 2 tons 16 cwt., and with the 
nitrogen and potash 3 tons per acre.” 
“Yes,” said the Doctor, “and I would quite as 
soon have it as 3 tons of timothy hay.” 
“And the crop,” said I, “only occupies the 
ground three or four months, and after harvest you 
can plow the rand and sow it to wheat. On the 
whole, oat-hay is a crop worth trying on rich land.” 
“1 suppose,” said the Deacon, “that the oats 
would often be sown on black, rich, alluvial soils, 
not suitable for winter-wheat, and in this case it 
might be desirable to seed down with the oats.” 
“If the land was very fine and mellow,” said I, 
“ we should risk but little in sowing grass-seed, 
even as late as the middle of May. Much depends 
on the condition of the soil. I once had a capital 
catch of clover sown on winter-wheat late in May.” 
I have for fifteen years let my married men, who 
live in houses on the farm, plant a few rows of 
potatoes in the field, with my own crop. V/e plow 
the land, and do all the horse-work, but they fur¬ 
nish their own seed, and do the planting, hoeing, 
digging, etc. Ouce or twice my crop has been bet¬ 
ter than theirs; but, as a rule, they beat me. 
Why ? is a question I have often asked myself, but 
can get no satisfactory answex - . The land and 
preparation are the same, and the cultivation is the 
same—unless, possibly, the cultivator is held more 
steadily, and is not allowed to skim over the hard 
spots. Their crops are no cleaner than mine. In 
fact, sometimes not so clean, but it may be that the 
hoeing and hilling are done with more care. The 
more a farmer looks at his cows and sheep, and 
horses, the better they thrive. Possibly' my men, 
in hoeing their potatoes, look at each plant with 
more interest than they do at mine, and give the 
hill a few affectionate taps with the hoe. 
Then, again, we usually, though not always, 
mark out shallow furrows with a plow, plant the 
potatoes in the furrow, and cover with the plow— 
and if any are not covered with the plow, we go 
over the field afterwards and pull soil on to them 
with a hoe. My men cover their potatoes with a 
hoe, and probably do not cover so deep. 
“ And what is equally important,” said the Dea¬ 
con, “ if not more, they take pains to get some 
nice, mellow surface soil to cover with, while the 
plow in some places turns up and throws on the 
potatoes soil that is cold and cloddy.” 
“I am inclined to think,” said I, “that I have 
been in the habit of planting my potatoes too deep. 
But a great deal depends on the soil and season. 
T wo years ago, the author of ‘ Among the Farmers, ’ 
in the November No. of the American Agriculturist, 
page 414, writing during a great and protracted 
drouth, which had almost destroyed the potato 
crop in his section, came to the conclusion that we 
had been neglecting early planting. The best crop 
in bis neighborhood was one planted early and 
well tilled. The plants were well established be¬ 
fore the beetles or the drouth seriously affected 
them. But he thought early planting alone was 
not enough. Deep planting was nearly as im¬ 
portant. ‘ If the soil be reasonably deep and mel¬ 
low,’ he said, ‘ the seed may be placed six inches 
deep, though I would not advise or direct that it 
be planted more than five, for this would accom¬ 
plish the setting of the seed probably at something 
over four inches. This depth is usually about 
right, yet in sandy laud six inches is none too 
much.’ I have acted upon the same idea. But I 
have made up my mind to plant shallower.” 
Another thing I have made up my mind not to 
plant or sow so deep—that is mangel-wurzel 
seed. Last year we had very dry weather at the 
time I dibbled in the seed, and wishing to put the 
seed down into the moist earth, I covered them two 
or three inches deep. Some that were planted 
shallower came up far better. An inch is deep 
enough, especially if the land is rolled after plant¬ 
ing, as it always should be, and the fine soil pressed 
firmly around the seed. Even in severe drouths there 
is more moisture in the soil than appearances indi¬ 
cate. The point is, to make the soil fine and mellow 
before sowing, and then to roll down firm and 
smooth. In such a case the moisture from below 
will rise near enough the surface to cause the seeds 
to germinate—and if the seeds sprout, there is little 
danger of their being mj ured by drouth. 
Winter Oats. —Although winter oats would be 
a very valuable crop in the Northern States, and it 
seems reasonable to expect that they will grow 
under favorable circumstances, our experiment 
with them the past winter has not been such as to 
induce any further trial. As they were widely ad¬ 
vertised in northern agricultural journals last sea¬ 
son, we decided to give them a trial, which was 
done at considerable expense for seed and freight. 
