AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Can’t Raise Turnips. 
Nothing is more common with a certain class 
ot larmers tnan the above declaration, in regard 
to the turnip crop. It embodies all the wisdom, 
and is the grand result to which they have come, 
alter repeated failures. These failures are gener¬ 
ally owing to poor or unsuitable soil, a lack of 
manure and tillage. If a neighbor chances to suc¬ 
ceed with a crop, they think there is some magic 
about it, and are certain he cannot do it again. 
We have made two experiments with this root, 
both as chance crops, which would go to show 
that, with suitable attention, it is one of the 
surest and most remunerative crops the American 
farmer can raise. Last year, we sowed them at 
the last hoeing of corn, in July, cut up the corn the 
first week in September, and harvested about one 
hundred bushels of turnips upon about an acre of 
land. Estimated cost, about four cents a bushel. 
This year we sowed them after early potatoes, 
about the same time as last year. Ploughed iu 
the weeds and potato vines, and put in the seed 
with a bush harrow. We harvested two huudred 
and sixteen bushels, besides a good many small 
ones, that were fed off the ground. The estimated 
cost was a trifle under four cents a bushel. Last 
year we manured with bony fish ; this year, with 
guano, salt, and plaster; the manure, in both 
cases, being applied to the first crop. The supe¬ 
rior product, this year, was probably owing to the 
fact, that the turnips had the whole ground 
nearly a month earlier than last year, and also to 
the fact, that the ground was fresh plowed when 
the seed was sown. The variety was the cow- 
norn, which we think admirable for this purpose. 
--—> --- 
Gypsum for Grass Land. 
In the region of Newtown, Conn., and vicinity, 
(as well as in many other parts of the country,) 
ground gypsum, or plaster, is extensively used as 
a top dressing for grass land. The effects are so 
marked that a region of exhausted meadows and 
pastures have been brought into one of the finest 
grazing districts in the State. Newtown has now 
the reputation of being one of the best farming 
towns in Fairfield County. Hill pastures that 
once yielded a scanty herbage, are now luxuriant 
with grass, and support thousands of cattle. This 
fertilizer is generally sown upon the ground in 
the Spring, at the rate of about two bushels per 
acre. 
It was not until modern times, that the value 
of gypsum, as a fertilizer, was discovered. Indeed 
it is not until a quite recent period, that the chem¬ 
ists were able to distinguish it from limestone, or 
other calcarious rock. Meyer, a German clergy¬ 
man of distinction, about the middle of the last 
century, experimented with it, and is reported to 
be the first who brought it into notice. The sub¬ 
stance was found in his neighborhood ; and was 
afterwards shown to be an impure sulphate of 
lime. It is called Plaster of Paris, from the fact 
that it abounds in the neighborhood of the French 
capital, where it is burnt and used for stucco. In 
100 pounds of pure plaster there are : 
Sulphuric acid.43 parts. 
Lime.33 parts. 
Water.24 parts. 
3ut the gypsum used for a fertilizer is usually 
united with silica, (sand,) and carbonate of lime. 
The rock is generally taken from its native locali¬ 
ty, and carried in small fragments suitable for 
handling, to the plaster mill, where it is ground 
and barreled. 
There is perhaps no fertilizer that on some soils 
ptouuces so decided results for so small cost. It 
has been applied with special benefit to clover, 
rye grass, lucern, san-foin, turnips, wheat, &c. 
We have found it most profitable on clover. The 
theory of its action is, that it absorbs ammonia 
from the air, and holds it stored for the plants. 
Whatever the theory be, it is found in practice 
that gypsum has a strong affinity for the ammo- 
niacal gas, which is continually escaping from the 
privies and stables. One of the most economical 
methods of using it, is to pass it through the sta¬ 
ble and the privy on its way to the field. It is a 
good deodorizer, subduing the pungent gasses that 
exist., in warm weather, around decaying animal 
matter. A cask of plaster should have a place in 
every stable, and it should be sprinkled literally 
over the floor, until the smell of ammonia ceases. 
Its effect upon the health of animals is quite as 
marked as its influence upon the manure heap. 
Both as a deodorizer and as a top dressing the 
use of plaster is quite too limited in this country. 
The article is so cheap that there is little 
temptation to adulterate it, and a farmer is pretty 
certain to get what he sends for when he orders 
it. As only two to four bushels ordinarily suffice 
for an acre, it is not expensive, and easily applied. 
On all lands that need this fertilizer, the effect of 
a single application is so marked, that a farmer 
cannot doubt its utility or economy. On lands 
already supplied with it, no effect is perceptible, 
and a single trial would show it to be useless. In 
such cases, it should only be used in the stables 
and compost heaps. 
- -►-<!*- 
Experience in Maple Sugar Making. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
As the season is approaching to commence op¬ 
erations in the “ Sugar Camp,” I will offer a few 
suggestions and plans gleaned from my observa¬ 
tions and experience. It would seem that the 
process of making Maple Sugar is so simple that 
anyone possessed of the least “ gumption,” could 
not fail to make a good, if not a superior article , 
but such is not the fact, as the great amount of 
black and almost worthless stuff annually made, 
abundantly proves. 
1st. In tapping I use a i or f inch auger bit; 
and to “ freshen ” with, I use a follower, made 
something like an old-fashioned “ pod auger,” to 
make the hole about an eighth of an inch larger, 
and the same deeper, thus renewing or freshening 
the surface of the original hole. 
The spout is made of sheet iron or tin, two 
inches wide and six to seven long, formed into a 
quarter circle, one end sharpened with a file or 
grindstone, and driven into the bark only, about i 
inch below the auger hole. Drive with a wooden 
mallet to prevent battering the spout. This is by 
far the best and cheapest spout that I have ever 
seen. 
2d. For buckets, I recommend those made of 
tin plate, to hold about three gallons, made a very 
little tapering, so that in the case of freezing the 
ice will slip out on the slightest thaw. 
Punch a hole in the bucket sufficient to receive 
the nail that is to be driven in the tree to hang it 
on, and it makes —par excellence —the best bucket 
for the purpose extant. 
3d. Boiling is done in sheet iron or copper pans, 
(not kettles,) made as follows: Take a sheet of 
Russia iron, put a quarter or three-eighths inch 
iron rod in each end by tapping, or bending the 
iron around it. Let these rods be 16 to 18 inches 
longer than the width of the sheets. Have the 
ends of the rods flattened and a small hole 
punched, and bend them in such a manner that 
they may be nailed to the boards, forming the 
sides of the pan, to serve as handles to lift with. 
When this is done, bend the sheets up at each end 
6 or 8 inches, and fit in and closely nail side 
boards about 1) inches thick to form a box C 
or 8 inches high, and they ai« ready for use. 
Then brick walls, or an arch as it is com¬ 
monly called, are built to accommodate as many 
of the pans as are needed, with two iron cross 
bars under the bottom of each pan to pre¬ 
vent their sagging, and straining the nailing too 
much. Set the pans level in mortar, and you 
have a boiling apparatus that will evaporate an 
amount of sap that will astonish those who “ have 
always boiled in kettles,” and do the work much 
better than ,t can possibly be done in kettles, as 
there is no danger of burning or boiling over— 
this being prevented by the wooden sides. With 
three such pans, as above described, and good dry 
wood, one gallon per minute can be evaporated. 
With the above apparatus, and proper care in 
keeping everything connected with the “camp" 
clean, sugar can he made much superior to ir.c 
best cane sugar that I have ever seen. The cost 
of buckets, with spouts, will be from 40 cents io 
50 cents each : the pans, holding 35 gallons. Will 
cost from $2 50 to $4 each. 
R. H. Howaro. 
Darke County, O., Dec. 15, 1857. 
REMARKS. 
The above apparatus is a very perfect one, and 
may be adopted in detail in many camps. The 
only objection will be. the expense of the buckets 
which will preclude their use in a majority of 
cases. We thank Mr. Howard for his early sug¬ 
gestions, and as maple sugar-making will begin in 
the month of February, we solicit the experiences 
of sugar makers as soon as may be—in time for 
our next issue. Please help us to a page or so of 
good practical information on this topic. There 
are many interesting points, such as the best 
form and best wood for troughs, buckets ; side of 
tree to be tapped; bight from the ground, size, 
form and depth of hole ; carrying sap ; boiling, 
clarifying, crystalizing, &c., &c.—E d. 
- m * oq ^ am — 
• » 
A Look into the Patent Office Report 
for 1856. 
We confess to have entertained no very exalted 
respect for the Reports of the Patent Office for 
years past, so far as American agriculture is con¬ 
cerned, and have expressed our opinions there¬ 
upon with tolerable freedom, as occasion offered. 
The whole agricultural Department of the Pat¬ 
ent Office, as a branch of the public administra¬ 
tion, connected with the economical industry of 
the nation, compared to what it should be, is a 
sham, and little better than an insult to the great 
leading interests of our country. 
We admit that there has been an improvement 
in the “ Reports ” of that office for a few years 
past, yet the best of them are but a shadow, in 
point of ability and research, to what they shoo'd 
be, under a proper administration of so important 
a department. Politicians, bookworms, and office 
clerks are not the men to make up, elaborate, and 
send forth important papers, with which to in¬ 
struct, not only the farmers in what pertains 
strictly to their own calling, but to enlighten 
statesmen in a broad and liberal course of legis¬ 
lation for the best domestic interests of the 
country ; and it is confessedly the case, that none 
others, or with rare exceptions, are the parties 
employed in what should be such an important 
labor. 
The Report of the year 1856 is now before us. 
Its material and execution, in paper, type, print¬ 
ing, and binding, is an evident improvement on 
the majority of its predecessors. It embraces 
five hundred and thirty-six pages, index included, 
