180 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
perhaps most influential newspaper in this 
country—boldly asserts that “ there is not an 
old daisy field in all Connecticut that may 
not be made to produce wheat with more 
profit than usually arises upon the arable 
product of the West.” This manifesto is 
accompanied by the application to farmers of 
such expletives as “ arrant nonsense,” 
“poor, pitiful brain,” and “stupid ignorance” 
—all which, we greatly fear, properly belong 
to the impudent perpetrator of such unre¬ 
liable assertions as the one quoted .—Rural 
New-Yorker. 
CULT'OTIE OF CARROTS. 
1 was much interested and I doubt not in¬ 
structed, with your article last week, headed, 
“ Seed Time and its Labors”—more particu¬ 
larly that portion of it referring to carrots, as 
1 have been attempting the culture of them 
for two or three years recently. And with¬ 
out claiming any thing like proficiency in my 
own knowledge of their cultivation, and be¬ 
ing perfectly aware that in this, as well as 
all other branches of agriculture, we are in 
comparative ignorance—allow me to take ex¬ 
ceptions to one or two of your suggestions 
in the article above mentioned. 
And first, as to the time of sowing. You 
say they “ should be sown as early in May 
as the season will allow.” My own limited 
experience teaches me, that in ordinary sea¬ 
sons, the first week in June for our vicinity 
is preferable, for the reason that if put in 
before the earth is fully warmed, the seeds 
are so long in germinating, that the weeds 
are very apt to get the start of the plants 
and completely choke them, more especially 
if the season happens to be at all wet. 
I plow in a heavy coat of manure as early 
in the spring as possible, to the depth of 14 
inches, using your directions as to raking 
the manure in the furrows, and completely 
covering the manure. I let the land lie in 
tills state until 25th of May, when the ma¬ 
nure will have become quite rotten—then 
cross plow same depth, and harrow thor¬ 
oughly with a harrow specially prepared for 
this business, teeth being of wood and 15 
inches long, and thus pulverizing the soil its 
whole depth—then take a common 28 tooth 
square harrow, and thoroughly pulverize the 
surface—then take my roller and pass once 
over the land—this is to crush the small 
lumps of earth, which, in soils at all inclined 
to clay, are greatly in the way, especially in 
sowing the seed—then again after rolling, 
give a light harrowing to loosen the surface 
of the soil. Don’t be afraid of working the 
soil too much and getting all the small lumps 
to pieces, as it is, 1 conceive, of much more 
importance in root crops than with grain. 
When prepared in this manner, I take a 
cord and draw across the lot to be sown on 
one side, which gives a straight line for tlie 
first row Then take a marker made so as 
to make the marks 14 inches apart, which I 
think is about right for soil made sufficiently 
rich, and no other should be ever put to 
roots. Let the outside tooth of the marker 
run by the line, and thus you have a straight 
row to commence with. Next time across, 
let one outside tooth of the marker run in 
the last row, and so on. If your rows get 
crooked, draw your line across the field 
again, which will soon straighten matters. 
When a few rows are thus marked, take your 
machine, (and every one who raises roots in 
any quantity will need one,) and follow the 
marks—allowing the marker to be only a 
few rows ahead, so the rows can be readily 
distinguished. 
I consider the great secret of success in 
raising carrots successfully, is in weeding 
them the first time, in season. A day or two 
delay, at this period, will certainly be the 
means of losing the entire crop, especially if 
the season be wet. I have seldom known a 
man but failed in this respect, on his first 
trial. 1 sowed carrots two years before I 
harvested any. In 1852, I harvested 550 
bushels—in 1853, 1,200 bushels—the last 
season at the rate of 800 bushels per acre— 
by actual measurement. 
As you remark, I consider the raising of 
roots, and feeding them on the farm, one of 
the most successful means of raising our 
land in our power. If 15 to 20 tuns of good 
feed can be raised from an acre, which for 
all feeding qualities, is as good as that 
amount of hay, (is it not 1) why ought not 
this to satisfy any intelligent farmer of the 
practicability of the thing! Wm. J. Pettee. 
Lakeville, Conn., [Country Gentlemen. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH CARROTS AND TURNIPS 
IN SHEEP FEEDING. 
The J. B. R. correspondent of the Ger¬ 
mantown Telegraph details interesting ex¬ 
periments made to test the relative value of 
carrots, turnips and beets for sheep. The 
beets were discontinued, because the ani¬ 
mals refused to eat them, except upon the 
compulsion of the sharpest hunger. His 
method with carrots and ruta-baga turnips 
he describes as follows : 
Three sheep were confined in a yard, in 
which there was a close shed for feeding, 
with plenty of water supplied from a cistern. 
Three more were placed in a similar in¬ 
closure, the fixtures of which were in every 
respect precisely the same, and that there 
might be no discrepancy whatever in the 
management of the two parcels, even their 
water was supplied from the same source. 
All the animals were of the same age, and 
nearly of the same weight. In the morning 
chopped ruta-baga was given to the sheep 
in one pen, and chopped carrots to those in 
the other. This feed was regularly repeated 
at noon, and again at sundown ; the quan¬ 
tity allowed each animal being one peck 
(by weight) of each. Salt and common 
house ashes were kept constantly in both 
apartments, mixed in the proportions of 
one of the former to three of the latter. 
Good, clean leaves from the woods were 
scattered daily over the shed bottoms, and a 
few handsfull of fine clover hay kept by 
them to supply the cud. 
The experiment commenced on the 12th 
of November, and was brought to a final 
close on the 12th of the ensuing March. 
Both sets did remarkably well, as indeed 
might be expected from the careful and sys¬ 
tematic manner in which they were tended 
and fed ; but those kept on carrots , gained 
each eight and three-fourths pounds more 
than those fed on ruta-bagas. In April the 
six sheep produced six lambs—fine, healthy 
ones, which have grown to maturity, and are 
by far the most valuable animals to be found 
in the flocks to which they belong. 
A New Oil. —The small tree (Casligliona 
lohata) known in Peru under the name of 
“ Pioncello,” and Surco, Huacho, and Sam- 
bageque, also growing wild in considerable 
abundance in those regions, it has been as¬ 
certained, yields a valuable oil, well adapted 
to the purposes of illumination. Its bean¬ 
like fruit, or seeds, when roasted, have an 
agreeable flavor, preferable to that of the 
olive. When eaten raw, the ethereal oil 
generated between the kernal and the outer 
skin is a strong cathartic, the effects 
of which can only be counteracted by 
drinking cold water. It has been ascertained 
that the seeds will grow in Baltimore ; and, 
doubtless, plantations of this tree might be 
formed in many parts of the South, from 
which vast quantities of oil might be pro¬ 
duced, and thus add another link to the great 
chain of our national wealth. The Patent 
Office has taken measures to procure some 
of the seeds of this tree for trial in the South 
and southwest .—Scientific American. 
MILLET AND ITS CULTURE 
From one season’s experience, 1 think that 
millet is peculiarly adapted to light, warm 
soils, but will grow on almost any soil which 
is not too wet; that the soil should be plow¬ 
ed deep and well pulverized ; that the time 
to sow the seed, if intended for hay, is any 
time during the month of June—if intended 
to ripen, the last week in May; that the 
quantity of seed if intended for hay, should 
vary from 16 to 20 quarts—very rich soils 
requiring most seed to prevent the stalks 
from growing too rank—but, if intended to 
ripen, 8 to 10 quarts per acre will be quite 
sufficient; that the proper time to harvest if 
for hay, is when the grain is just filled and 
the top of the head or spike is beginning to 
turn yellow, but if intended for seed it should 
fully ripen ; that the best mode of harvesting 
is to cut with the cradle or reaper and bind 
into sheaves when sufficiently dry ; and that 
the yield per acre on good soils well culti¬ 
vated, will be from 3 to 4 tuns of hay, or 
30 to 40 bushels of seed. It leaves the soil 
in a loose, friable state, consequently grass 
and clover seeds do well when sown with it. 
As to nutritious qualities, it is a regular 
panacea for the craving of all hungry stom¬ 
achs, whether of biped or quadruped. Horses 
will work hard and keep in fine condition by 
being fed on green millet, finely cut with a 
straw-cutter, and mixed with four quarts of 
ground millet seed per day, to each horse. 
Feed in the flsaine way to milk cows ; it will 
keep them fat and sleek, and cause an unu¬ 
sual flow of good rich milk. Colts, calves 
and sheep fairly luxuriate in the green fod¬ 
der. The seed fed to hens will make ever¬ 
lasting layers of them, whether Dorkings, 
Shanghais, Poland, Spanish, or native— 
other necessaries being provided .—Canada 
Farmer. 
Nutritive Qualities of Milk. —In the 
Medical Convention recently in session at 
Philadelphia, Dr. N. S. Davis, of Chicago, 
on Thursday presented a report on the nu¬ 
tritive qualities of milk, and also on the 
question whether there is not some mode by 
which the nutritive constituents of milk can 
be preserved in their purity and sweetness, 
and furnished to the inhabitants of cities in 
such quantities as to supersede the present 
defective and often unwholesome modes of 
supply. The report says that when railroads 
were opened into the interior of the country, 
it was said that milk would be furnished to 
the residents of cities in the purity that it 
was found on farm, but a sufficient time had 
elapsed to demonstrate that such is not the 
case. The conveyance of the milk from 
the farm to the cars, the transit on the rail¬ 
way, and the time lost in its delivery through¬ 
out the city, it was clearly shown, had the 
effect of making it unfit for the nourishment 
of a child. During the past half century ex¬ 
periments had been made with a view of 
preserving milk in its pure state, yet it was 
but recently that a discovery had been made 
by a gentleman in New-York, which was to 
evaporate the water and mix with it white 
sugar, which rendered it what is termed 
solidified milk. In his practice he had used 
this improved milk for the nourishment of 
infants with the most gratifying results, and 
after having kept it for three months ; and 
he knew of its having been kept twelve 
months without any injury to its qualities. 
