CULTURE OP TURNIPS.-NO. 3. 
267 
readers as do not possess a more elaborate work de¬ 
voted wholly to fruits. 
Will “ Philom,” of Grand Isle County, Ver¬ 
mont, favor us with any hints respecting the ad¬ 
vantages he possesses in regard to a valuable 
manure ? The information he asks for will probably 
be found in the series of articles on “ Apple- 
Orchards,” the first of which appears on the pre¬ 
ceding pages. 
SMITH’S IMPROVED VENTILATING SMUT- 
MACHINE. 
Fig. 62. 
This machine has been in use since 1838, when 
letters patent were granted by the United States. 
When first built, it was represented to be the most 
perfect smutter ever invented, and has since proved 
itself so. It is difficult to say what length of time 
it will endure. There are now running those which 
have been in use seven years, and others five or six 
years, that have not required the least repairing, and 
work in all respects as well as when first put up. 
These machines are warranted by the inventor 
to excel all others in use, and to give perfect satis¬ 
faction ; and a trial will be granted to any person 
who may wish the same before purchasing. The 
prices vary from $80 to $275 each, according to 
size, capacity, or fixtures attached. 
Nutritious Bread.-— Boil half a pound of rice 
in three pints of water, till the whole becomes thick 
and pulpy. With this and yeast, and six pounds 
of flour, make your dough. In this way, it is said, 
as much bread will be,made, as if eight pounds of 
flour, without the rice, had been used. 
CULTIVATION OF TURNIPS.—No. 3. 
Storing the Crop. —Turnips, wherever the soil 
and climate are favorable, may remain in the drills 
and be taken up as they are wanted. But this can 
only be done with safety, on light, dry, well-drain¬ 
ed land, secure from the depredation of animals, and 
in a country free from wintry frost or snow. Hence, 
on no account should this be attempted on the more 
retentive or undrained soils, or in any portion of the 
Middle or Northern States. 
Only the harder and more compact varieties of 
turnips, such as the yellow Aberdeen, the golden 
Maltese, and the Swedish (ruta-baga), should be at¬ 
tempted to be stored at all. The white globe, the 
tankard, and other tender kinds, are very difficult to 
keep either in the field or elsewhere, and should 
only be grown for early culinary use, and as a 
preparation to the cattle, &c., for the harder and 
less palatable yellow and Swedish kinds. As a 
general rule, in the Middle and Western States, 
turnips may remain in the drills until the latter end 
of November; but in no case should the storing be 
delayed beyond the falling of snow or the closing 
of the ground by frost. In the more Southern 
States of the Union, the sowing may be continued 
from August until January or February, so that a 
succession of crops may be had, and used, as occa¬ 
sion may require, without the trouble of storing. 
Preparatory to storing, the turnips should he 
carefully drawn out of the ground, by the hand or 
otherwise, and the top leaves and tap-root cut off 
at one clean cut about an inch from the bulb. In 
doing this, the greatest care should be observed that 
the skin of the turnip be not in the least cut or 
bruised, as a bulb so injured is almost certain t) rot 
in the heap when stored, which not only is apt to 
cause the loss of the bulb itself, but often the de¬ 
cay of those near it. All turnips so injured should 
be thrown aside for immediate use. The top 
leaves may be given to cows, young cattle, or 
sheep, and the bulbs stored according to the climate, 
or the uses to which they are to be applied. 
The turnips intended for early consumption may 
be put into a cool, dry cellar, or turnip-house, and 
used as circumstances may require; but those de¬ 
signed for Jong keeping should previously be ex¬ 
posed a day or two ill a dry place, and then arrang¬ 
ed in heaps about seven feet broad at the base, and 
as long as may be necessary, formed up to a nar¬ 
row top. A layer of straw, say three or four inches 
thick, should first be spread on the ground, and on 
this a stratum of turnips about two feet deep ; and 
then other layers of straw and bulbs are to be form¬ 
ed alternately, until the top be carried to a point, 
the projecting ends of the straw being turned up to 
prevent the turnips from rolling out. The whole 
should then be covered with straw, about six inches 
deep, not thrown on at random, but straightened out 
as if for thatching, and laid on so as to shed off the 
rain. Around the base of the heap a small trench 
should be dug, for guarding the turnips from the 
wet. 
By the foregoing method of storing, it will be 
understood that the object aimed at is to expose 
the turnips to as low a degree of temperature as 
possible, without freezing, by the circulation of air 
through the heap, which, it is well known, will 
cause them to keep well in any temperature be- 
