AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
87 
REASONS FOR GROWING RUTA BAGAS. 
Turnips, both of the Swedish and com¬ 
mon varieties, are cultivated to a much great¬ 
er extent in England than in this country. 
A few years ago we met with a statement 
to the effect that the annual value of the 
turnip crop of England, with a population 
about the same as that of the United States, 
was somewhere in the vicinity of 20 millions 
of pounds sterling, or nearly equal to $100,- 
000,000. About the same time the turnip 
crop of the United States was so inconsider¬ 
able that it was not included or reported in 
the census returns of 1850 at all. Accord¬ 
ing to the above estimate and the census 
returns of the agricultural products of the 
United States, the turnip crop of England 
not only exceeds that of the latter country 
immeasurably, but is fully equal to the largest 
crops which we raise. According to the 
census of 1850 the wheat crop of the U. S. 
was a little over 100,000,000 bushels, which 
at $1 per bushel would make the value of 
it just equal to the estimated value of the 
turnip crop of England. In 1850 the hay 
crop of the U. S. was 12,838,642 tuns ; and 
this at eight dollars per tun would again be 
about of the same value as the turnip crop 
of England. From these data it is very ob¬ 
vious that this crop is much more highly 
valued in England than in this country, and 
much more extensively cultivated. 
We were led to make the examination of 
the census returns, &c.,the results of which 
have been just stated, in consequence of a 
visit lately made to an English farmer, who 
is somewhat celebrated for raising ruta baga 
and other root crops. He has raised crops 
of ruta bagas averaging over 600 bushels per 
acre, for several years, and notwithstanding 
that he makes as widely known as possible 
what he esteems as the advantages and re¬ 
commendations of this crop, still very few 
of his neighbors have ever been induced to 
try to raise it. This seems truly surprising 
considering that the recommendations which 
he gives of this crop do not fall much if any 
below a dozen in number. Of these we re¬ 
member the following as the most important. 
1. Ruta bagas are a very profitable or re¬ 
munerative crop, as an acre will generally 
produce from 500 to 800 bushels with an ex¬ 
penditure upon it, for seed, labor, &c., of 
from $20 to $30. Our informant stated that 
no crop he had ever raised had cost him as 
much as five cents a bushel, and that for 
feeding all kinds of stock he estimated them, 
by a comparison with the value of hay, &c., 
at average prices, to be worth as much as 
twenty-five cents per bushel. After deduct¬ 
ing expenses of cultivation there would be, 
according to this estimate a net profit of over 
one hundred dollars per acre. Our inform¬ 
ant assured us that repeated trials of this 
root as to its feeding qualities had made him 
confident, or as he phrased it, “ perfectly 
certain and no mistake,” that there is no 
crop that he raises, or that is usually raised 
in northern, middle, and western States, 
which is as profitable, per acre, as this crop. 
2. Ruta bagas make a good and palatable 
food for oxen, sheep and hogs. Horses, also, 
often eat them. 
3. Sheep are particularly fond of them and 
thrive on them. 
4. They are especially good for ewes 
having lambs. 
5. They can be kept easily until there is a 
good supply of grass in the spring. They 
do not become pithy or deteriorated in their 
feeding qualities as white turnips do. 
6. They can be planted as a second crop, 
as the last week in June or first in July is 
about the right time of sowing, in the lati¬ 
tude of 42° and of two or three degrees on 
each side of that. 
7. They do not “ run the land ” as they 
derive much of their nourishment from the 
atmosphere. 
8. They can stand in the ground till all 
other fall'work is disposed of and out of the 
way. 
These and some minor advantages of this 
crop, having been set forth with some earn¬ 
estness and enthusiasm, have deepened our 
conviction of the importance of it. To aid 
in fixing in other minds a similar conviction 
we have been induced to make a record of 
the principal recommendations which may 
be urged in favor of increased attention to 
this crop so generally and so unwisely 
neglected.— Obs., in Co. Gent. 
IICSK BEDS. 
As each autumn has returned, for several 
years past, we have advised all corn-grow¬ 
ers to save their husks, for under-beds, be¬ 
lieving they are the very best substance for 
this purpose that is or can be used. They 
should be the inner husks, clean and whole, 
and spread on some airy floor for a few days 
in order that they may become perfectly 
dry. Then they may be put into the ticks 
and they will last for many years. We 
have some of the under-beds now in our house 
which have been in use more than twenty- 
years ; and with an annual ventilation ano 
beating, by being emptied on a chambei 
floor, and with a little replenishing with new 
husks, they are now as good and lively as 
when new. The husks had better not be 
stripped up as some have done. This makes 
the substance finer and more liable to mai 
up. Let the husks be whoie, and, drying in 
irregular shapes, they will retain those shapes 
and lie lively in the bed for a long time. 
There is a beard, or furziness, on each husk 
that prevents any insects crawling through 
the beds; consequently they are entirely 
free from vermin, of which straw is apt to 
be full. They are, therefore, clean, sweet 
and healthy. A good husk bed is equal to 
the best mattress for summer use, and we 
have slept in feather beds in winter not hall 
so soft as these. 
The best time to save the husks is when 
in the act of husking the corn. By a little 
practice, the husker will soon learn how to 
strip off first the outside, coarse husks, and 
by another motion, seize the inner ones, (re 
moving the silks at the same time,) and drop¬ 
ping them into a basket at his side. It wili 
take a little longer to husk out a bushel ol 
corn so, but the husks will most richly re¬ 
pay for the extra time. When this process 
has been omitted, it will not be a great job to 
visit the husk pile after the corn is re¬ 
moved, and by hand, pick out enough of the 
clean, inside husks to make a bed. We con¬ 
sider such a bed worth a five dollar bill. 
After being made, there is no need of ever 
going after straw with which to fill the under 
beds. The job once done, is done for life. 
Drew’s Rural Intelligencer. 
TAKING CARE OF OUR BODES. 
COLD FEET 
are the avenues to death of multitudes 
every year ; it is a sign of imperfect circula¬ 
tion, of want of vigor of constitution. No 
one can be well, whose feet are habitually 
cold. When the blood is equally distributed 
to every part of the body, there is general 
good health. If there be less blood at any 
one point than is natural, there is coldness ; 
and not only so, there must be more than is 
natural at some other part of the systesn, 
and there is fever, that is, unnatural heat or 
oppression. In the case of cold feet, the 
amount of blood wanting there, collects at 
some other part of the body which happens 
to be the w-eakest, to be the least able to 
throw up a barricade against the in-rushing 
enemy. Hence, wdien the lungs are weak¬ 
est, the extra blood gathers there in the shape 
of a common cold, or spitting blood. Cler¬ 
gymen, other public speakers, and singers, 
by improper exposures often render the 
throat the weakest part; to such, cold feet 
gives hoarseness or a raw burning feeling, 
most felt at the little hollow at the bottom 
of the neck. To others, again, whose bow¬ 
els are weak through over-eating, or drink¬ 
ing spirituous liquors, cold feet give various 
degrees of derangement, from common 
looseness up to diarrheas or dysentery ; and 
so we might go through the whole body, 
but for the present, this is sufficient for il¬ 
lustration. 
If you are well let yourself alone. This 
is our motto. But to those whose feet are 
inclined to be cold we suggest : .As soon as 
you get up in the morning put both feet at 
once in a basin of cold water, so as to come 
half way to the ankles ; keep them in half 
a minute in winter, a minute or two in sum¬ 
mer, rubbing them both vigorously, wipe dry, 
and hold to the fire, if convenient, in cold 
weather, until every part of the foot feels as 
iry as your hand, then put on your socks or 
stockings. 
On going to bed at night, draw off your 
stockings and hold the feet to the fire for ten 
or fifteen minutes until perfectly dry, and 
get right into bed. This is a most pleasant 
operation, and fully repays for the trouble 
of it. No one can sleep well or refreshing¬ 
ly with cold feet. All Indians and hunters 
sleep with their feet to the fire. Never step 
from your bed with the naked feet on an un¬ 
carpeted floor. I have known it to be the 
exciting cause of months of illness. 
Wear woollen, cotton or silk stockings, 
whichever keeps your feet most comfortable ; 
do not let the experience of another be your 
guide, for different persons require different 
articles ; what is good for a person whose 
feet are naturally damp, can not be good for 
