AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
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AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHY . TZ® il/ttST USEFUL , yl^VZ) '/’//£' JfOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN.- Washington. 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY ALLEN & CO., 189 WATER ST. 
YOL. XII. — NO. l.] NEW-YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 1854. [NEW SERIES.-NO. 27. 
m~FOR PROSPECTUS, TERMS, $c., 
SEE LAST PAGE. 
SUGAR BEET. 
We cannot too often or too confidently re¬ 
commend the cultivation of this excellent field 
crop. It is a great yieldcr, hardy, easily raised, 
and is superior we think to any vegetable grown 
for milch cows and fattening cattle, especially 
when fed raw. We have grown large quanti¬ 
ties for our own use the past seventeen years, 
and can therefore speak of it practically and ex¬ 
perimentally. One of our neighbors—a lady 
farmer—informs us that she made thirty pounds 
of butter per week from six cows in December, 
fed upon hay and Sugar Beet. She adds, that 
the butter was fully equal to the best made in 
September and October on rich pasture. 
The Sugar Beet does best in moderately rich 
loamy soil, but will grow where any other root 
does. The seed should be soaked two to four 
days in tepid water previous to planting, so as 
to insure its germination. If planted without 
first soaking, its shell is so hard it is a long 
time germinating. Hence the ill success of 
many who do not take this into consideration. 
For field cultivation the rows should be three 
feet apart, so as to admit working easily with 
the cultivator among the rows. The plants, 
when finally thinned out, should not stand 
nearer to each other than six inches in the row. 
It can be pulled and secured in the fall the same 
as turnips. 
The best variety is the White Silesian, though 
the French Yellow has been so much improved 
lately, we are informed it has become nearly as 
good as the latter. We have never found it to 
keep so well. 
The beet requires about four pounds of seed 
per acre, and can be planted very rapidly in 
drills with a seed-sower, costing about eight 
dollars. 
HOW SHALL SHORT-HORN CATTLE BE 
IMPROVED ? 
It is conceded by all whose judgment and 
experience are of any value, that Short-horn 
cattle as a whole, are superior to any other 
breed; and that in the loin, quarters, brisket, 
handling, early maturity, and quick feeding, 
they particularly excel; and for milking, when 
properly bred, taking the average quantity and 
quality into consideration, they are unsur¬ 
passed. 
What then do Short-horn cattle lack to give 
them perfection ? 
We answer, that in comparison with the re¬ 
cently improved Devons, they are generally in¬ 
ferior in girth round the heart; they lack their 
full, meaty crops; and have nothing comparable 
to their fine shoulders, forming that beautiful 
symmetrical outline, gradually lessening and 
uniting them to the neck. In the set of the 
head the Short-horn is equal to the Devon, it 
is also rather finer in its anatomy; but in bril¬ 
liancy and beauty of eye, the latter excels.— 
There are exceptions to this remark upon the 
eye, in some few tribes of Short-horns; among 
which are the true Duchess, as bred by the late 
Mr. Bates, and the Princess, as bred by Mr. 
Stephenson—no Devons ever excelled their eyes. 
We now come to the question which heads 
this article, How shall Short-horn cattle be im¬ 
proved ? 
Simply by choosing those bulls that have all the 
good qualities in perfection in which the Short¬ 
horns now excel, and which arc also superior 
in the eye, shoulders, and girth round the 
heart. These should be bred from in prefer¬ 
ence to all others. In this choice of bulls take 
the youngest, as the improvement is likely to be 
more marked and rapid from them. The rea¬ 
son for this is, that .as bulls grow older their 
shoulders grow coarser, and as like produces 
like, calves by very aged bulls are not generally 
so fine as those got by younger ones. By 
steadily persevering in this course we may at 
length arrive at perfection in cattle. The im¬ 
provement, however, will be slow; and we 
trust that those who commence it, will not be 
impatient in their attempts. It has taken 
nearly a half century to breed off the coarse 
dewlap, and put on the fine head and symmetri¬ 
cal shoulders of the Devon—his great girth 
round the heart we believe he originally pos¬ 
sessed. 
We shall be much obliged to the breeders of 
Short-horns, who have either males or females, 
which they consider superior in the fore rib, 
girth round the heart, full in the crops, and 
with fine shoulders, if they will inform us of the 
fact, either nublicly or privately, as most agree¬ 
able t : We have something to propose 
which we think will be found to their future ad¬ 
vantage. 
SHALL I USE SPECIAL FERTILIZERS? 
A correspondent from Windham County, Ct., 
writes: “As you are particularly acquainted 
with our soils, will you give your opinion as to 
whether it will pay for me to use special fer¬ 
tilizers, such as guano, super-phosphate of lime, 
&c.” 
Had we space we would reprint several pages 
on the subject of manures. We place first 
among fertilizers good barn-yard manure which 
has been properly preserved from loss. 
With regard to the special fertilizers, we still 
say as we always have said, do not go into these 
extensively at first. If we had an exact, relia¬ 
ble analysis of a soil we could judge somewhat 
of its defects, and prescribe what would proba¬ 
bly remedy these defects; but after much prac¬ 
tice in actual analysis, we do not by any means 
recommend every farmer to have his soil ana¬ 
lyzed. We lenow that a large proportion of soil 
analysis are icorse than worthless —for they lead 
astray—though we should highly value one 
upon which we could depend. We would not 
give a fig for a thorough analysis, which did not 
cost the operator from $15 to $50 in time and 
chemicals. 
But a good result can be arrived at without 
aid from the chemist in applying manures, how¬ 
ever much he may assist in collecting and man¬ 
ufacturing them. Every farmer should experi¬ 
ment for himself. As for guano it can hardly 
fail of producing good results, except in the very 
driest seasons, and then no manures have much 
effect, not even muck, the coolest and moistest 
of all; but these results are not always profita¬ 
ble ones. Experiments or trials upon every dis¬ 
tant class of soils can only determine this mat¬ 
ter of profit. Super-phosphate of lime, if pro- 
pcrly and honestly manufactured, is a valuable 
fertilizer for a variety of cx - ops on many soils. 
It has produced marked results on turnips and 
corn as well as on other crops. 
Our advice is, try small quantities of both of 
these fertilizers, on a variety of soils and crops. 
Let the trials be made carefully and thoroughly, 
and be repeated for several seasons, wet, dry, 
and medium, to guard against the accidental re¬ 
sults that may arise from unpropitious weather. 
Let the cost of these experiments for the first 
season not exceed $25 to $100. The chances 
are that you will not suffer loss, if you do not 
profit by the operation ; but do not throw any 
large sums upon adventures where you are not 
pretty sure of gain. Guano should not be pur¬ 
chased of irresponsible and unknown persons, 
but be procured as directly as possible from the 
Peruvian agent, or from established and reliable 
dealers. 
Super-phosphate of lime make yourself, if you 
have the facilities. If not, get a few bags of the 
best you can. We recommend no man’s make. 
There are doubtless several good articles in the 
market.. We prefer that which is essentially 
bones and sulphuric acid. Ammonia added to 
this doubtless increases its value for most crops, 
but ammonia in the form of any salt, is too dear 
to be found in any article put up for profit. We 
doubt not that a mixture of super-phosphate and 
guano is often the best, but every man can more 
safely make the mixture himself, by shoveling 
them over together upon a floor, (the plan fol- 
