AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
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are a much more valuable root than turnips, pound for 
pound—they will keep longer, sell for more, are better 
for horses and milch cows and working -cattle. VVe 
have never heard of cattle being fattened exclusively or 
even principally on carrots; but they are often, and very 
profitably, fed in connection with grain. Turnips how¬ 
ever, sometimes in this country, and commonly in Eng¬ 
land, constitute the exclusive feed. The cattle have no 
other feed but all the turnips they will eat, and nothing or 
little to drink. They gain flesh fast and are often market¬ 
ed without “ finishing off” with grain, though this is bet¬ 
ter, especially if the beef has to be driven far or stand a 
long journey. This practice is said to be better than 
feeding hay with the turnips. 
Beardless Barley.— “M. E. N.” There is 
a two-rowed beardless or bald barley, which has a fair 
reputation. The Nepaul barley which we received from 
California and distributed quite extensively is almost 
beardless and hulless, it has given great satisfaction in 
many cases we have heard from. There is besides a 
hulless or naked barley with beard, two-rowed, very good. 
A Lesson in Morse-breaking-.— Major 
Winthrop says in John Brent: “I learned to govern 
horses by the law of love. The relation of friendship 
once established between man and horse, there is no 
trouble. All lower beings, unless spoilt by treachery, 
seek tire society of the higher. As man by nature loves 
God, horses will do all they know for man, if man will 
only let them. All they need is a slight hint to help their 
silly, willing brains, and they dash with ardor at their 
business of galloping a mile a minute, or twenty miles an 
hour, or leaping a gully, or pulling tonnage. They put so 
much reckless break-neck frenzy into their attempt to 
please that he must be brave to go thoroughly with them.” 
Sorghum Seed. —“ J. B.,” Putnam Co., Ill., 
inquires, if Sorghum seed does not need renewing every 
few years, above latitude 40° ? Our knowledge of the 
progress of Sorghum culture, and of the nature of the 
plant leads to the belief that there is no such need if the 
seed is properly selected, from well ripened canes which 
grew at a distance from other fields, which may have 
b 'en raised from carefully selected seed. Certain it 
is there is a great deal of poor seed in the country, but 
there is also some Sorghum, the seed of which has never 
been changed, that has maintained ils character from the 
fi/st undeteriorated. It is important to select seed this 
autumn and not wait till next spring, when one must take 
what he can get. 
Book on Breeding.— “J. S. C.” “ Good- 
ale’s Principles of Breeding” is an excellent practical 
treatise on this subject, and worthy the careful study of 
every farmer. This answers your last question, and il 
you get the book it will answer all the rest. 
Sorghnm Sugar. —Two beautiful samples 
of sorghum sugar (from a lot of 300 pounds made by 
Charles B. binds of Kansas,) have been placed upon our 
table by Blymyer, Bates & Day, the manufacturers of 
Cook’s Evaporators, Cincinnati, O., in refutation of a 
remark in the Agriculturist that sorghum sugar “has not 
a market value so high as the syrups it will make,” and 
that, as it generally occurs, it is “a gummy mass and not 
marketable.” There has never been the slightest doubt 
in our minds that sorghum juice contained crystatlizable 
sugar; we know that it does, and that it is usually so 
mixed with grape sugar and other impurities, that, as it 
has been produced by 99 people in 100, it is a gummy 
mass lacking in sweetness and neither marketable, nor 
wanted by the sugar refiners. There is no doubt that as 
processes are studied and practice perfects the sugar 
boilers, and as the apparatus is improved, more sugar may 
be produced : and we certainly hope that we may be able 
bye and bye to recommend to our readers, to aim at mak¬ 
ing sugar rather than syrup, as it is now; almost certain 
success attends syrup making, so while we urge experi¬ 
menting, we cannot recommend indiscriminate trying to 
make sugar, because disappointment would follow. 
Sour Sorrel—Sour Soil.— So many of 
the intelligent correspondents of the Agriculturist allude 
to the presence of sorrel as indicating “ acid ” in the soil, 
that we must again assure our readers that the two have 
no connection whatever. Soils which abound in vegetable 
acid are not the ones on which sorrel grows most readily, 
if by “sour” is meant only harsh, cold, unfriendly to the 
growth of crops, there is no objection to the use of the 
word, and so we employ it. Sucli soils are often wet, 
contain salts of protoxide of iron and vegetable acids. 
Sorrel and the coarse grasses and sedges grow pretty 
well on them, and the character both of the soil and its 
products is changed by deeper plowing and the addition 
of lime and alkalies (ashes) in liberal quantity. The 
fallaov of the reasoning we criticise is seen in the fact 
that we get the best- Rhubarb (own cousin to Sorrel) on 
the “sweetest” and mellowest garden soil. 
Tbe Use of Fisk as Manure.— “G. B. 
H.”, Middlesex Co., Conn., writes to the Agriculturist 
that the use of large quantities of White Fisn or Moss- 
bunkers, though at first producing excellent crops, after 
a while “the soil becomes hard and bakey, the crops 
steadily diminish, and an acid shows itself (see item on 
sorrel) in greater or less quantities of sorrel.” He has 
been successful in remedying these evils “by composting 
the fish or fish guano with swamp muck, adding 1 peck 
of lime, or ils equivalent of wood ashes, to the load, and 
a small quantity of gypsum to fix the ammonia.” The 
compost may be very freely used with good results. 
Best Floor for Bfiorse Stables.—“G.” 
writes to the American Agriculturist: “For horses at 
all inclined to have tender or contracted hoofs, the best 
possible floor is one of earth. Remove the planks and 
joists, throw in a foot or so of stones or broken bricks, for 
drainage, then finish off with six inches of good clayey 
soil pounded down firm. Such a floor will never rot or 
break through, endangering the horse’s life or limbs: it 
will keep his feet soft, and in nearly as healthy a condi¬ 
tion as if he were at pasture. Having tried this and seen 
it tried on horses with tender feet, I can recommend 
it with confidence.” (The only fault with this floor is 
that the urine, the best part of the manure is chiefly lost.] 
Slicker for Sbeep at PasS urc.-We 
find a suggestion in one of our exchanges and uncredited, 
in which there is wisdom. It seems that it has been the 
practice of Solomon Green of Massachusetts to give his 
sheep the shelter of small dark buildings put in their 
pastures, and into which they may go at pleasure. The 
result is that during the heat of the day they retire into 
them and remain till about 4 o’clock in the evening. The 
houses are small and on runners so that by shifting 
them often the land is thoroughly ami evenly manured. 
This is a good idea for breeders of valuable sheep, who 
think no labor lost which contributes to their welfare. 
Alderney Cows.— “Esther,” Steuben Co., 
N. Y. Good to first rate cows cost from $200, currency, 
to $250 in gold : half bloods or grades which are nearly 
as good for milk, $100 to $200 according to their milking 
qualities. There are few pure bloods offered for sale 
now. A few Guernseys and Alderneys, a decidedly 
inferior lot, were sold at auction in this city a few weeks 
since at very high prices, to rich city merchants. 
Mow Tobacco is handled in West 
Virjwtiia.-—Theo. Heineman of Marshall Co. writes 
out his method of treating tobacco, for the readers of the 
Agriculturist. After describing the early culture, hoeing 
and topping, he says, he keeps it suckered and wormed 
till it is fit for housing. “ Then I begin to strip the bot¬ 
tom leaves off, haul to the house and string them. When 
the house is full I close the doors and start a fire in the 
flues,—just enough to keep the house warm, till it turns 
yellow ; then I raise the fire so that it dries it out in 48 
hours. If i get the fire too high I throw open the door 
till it cools off. When it is dried out I let it hang several 
days until it draws dampness, so that it may be handled 
without breaking. Then it is taken down and piled in 
a house for the purpose, until it takes a sweat, when 
ready to ‘ hand ’, hang it again, and when damp enough, 
hand it and ‘bulk it down’; and so it lies till all is 
‘handed.’ It is then hung on sticks and dried out [we 
suppose by fire-heat] till it is perfectly dry. When it 
gets damp enough (by exposure to the air) to pack, I 
place it in hogsheads and press it so as to get 8 to 10 
hundred-weight in a hogshead.” 
Tobacco Worm Moth.— “S. B. W.” of 
Warren Co., O.. recommends the flowers of the “James¬ 
town weed” or “Jimsen weed” as Die best into which to 
put the poison honey for destroying the Tobacco Sphynx. 
In the article on tobacco in the American Agriculturist 
last month (page 201) this is the plant mentioned under 
the more widely known name of Stramonium. It is de¬ 
scribed and figured on page 148 (April). This practice of 
poisoning the sphinges is every way recommendaole, pro¬ 
vided the poisoned honey be put in plucked flowers or 
those that will wilt when the sun comes upon them. 
Aeration of tlie Soil. —“J. N. C.”, Nia¬ 
gara Co., N. Y. The aeration of the soil in connection 
with drainage takes place on this wise. The air pene¬ 
trating the soil as low down as the water is drawn off, 
and being always subject to the law of “ diffusion of 
gases” is always changing. The warm air above the sur¬ 
face contains much moisture ; that deep in the soil has, 
by becoming cool, parted with its moisture to the soil, and 
has lost its ammonia also, and much of its earbonic acid. 
So according to the law of diffusion the air above will 
constantly be changing places with that below, and the 
result is a perfeot aeration or airing of the soil, with 
many attendant benefits, as far down as it is drained, and 
the more pulverized and open the soil is the better. 
Planting Acorns.—J. II. Graves, ©gle 
County, Ill., planted last autumn a quantity of acorns, 
but did not succeed in gening oaks. They were probably 
planted too deep, as they are naturally sown just under 
the covering of fallen leaves. In this country the rais¬ 
ing of oaks from seed has been so little practised that we 
are without much reliable information upon the subject. 
All our writers copy from the English. In England they 
gather the acorns and dry them in the sun, and then pack 
them with three times their bulk of sand, keeping them 
safe from vermin in a cellar. They are sown in the 
spring in drills, setting the acorns at about two inches 
apart, if grown in the nursery, and covering % to II 
inches, according to size. Some prefer to plant, where 
the tree is to stand, 4 or 5 acorns in a hill, and gradually 
thin out all but one. To grow oaks successfully, the 
young plants should be protected for the first few years 
by other plants. Birches or Larch may be sown for the 
purpose, or some of our pines which grow very readily 
from seed. In England they allow the pines to grow 
first and when they are 4 or 5 feet high, the oaks are 
sown under their shelter. As the oaks grow, the nurse 
trees, as they are called, are gradually thinned out and 
the wood from these pays the expense of planting. 
Fence Posts. —“Subscriber” asks, will oak 
or cedar make the most durable fence posts ? We take it 
he means white oak and red cedar. We think the cedar 
will last much the longer, but it is quite impossible to tell 
how long either will last, so much depends upon the 
character of the soil. 
Condensed Milk, etc. — James Reid, 
Vicksburg. Miss. Condensed milk cannot be prepared in 
families, as it requires expensive machinery worked by 
steam power, and costing many thousands of dollars. 
The putting up of meats is a regular trade, and we can¬ 
not give any process which can be practised in the small 
way. The chicken, etc., is first put into cans and solder¬ 
ed up, leaving a small hole in the cover; the whole is 
then thoroughly cooked in boiling water, all air being 
expelled; then the hole is closed with a drop of solder. 
Gapcs.-Ilow to find a Chicken’s 
W indplpe.—“X”, who wrote to the American Agri¬ 
culturist from Baltimore Co., Md. (p. 204), thinks people 
will not find the chicken’s windpipe unless they are told 
that, “the opening to it is a slit through the root of the 
tongue, which is entirely closed except when the chicken 
is inhaling or exhaling breath. The feather must be 
thrust down this opening and not down the throat.” 
Ashes for the Curl in Peach Trees. 
C. F. Raynard, Fairfield Co., Conn., has successfully 
cured the curl and killed the aphis which causes, or at 
least accompanies it, by sprinkling coal ashes over the 
foliage. The use of ashes around the trunks of the trees 
has been frequently noticed in this journal. 
Pruning: Peach Trees.— “A Boy,” De¬ 
kalb Co., Ill. It is customary to cut back the previous 
year’s growth one-half or one-third in February or early 
spring. If regularly followed on young trees it will keep 
them in good shape and increase their fruitfulness. 
The Peach on Plum Stocks.— W. G. 
Kent, Lee Co., Iowa. By budding on the plum stock 
the peach is somewhat dwarfed ai d is thought to be 
made more hardy. The plum roots flourish better in 
cold wet soils than do those of the pea ’.h, and in England 
this mode of propagating is very gene, ally followed. 
How to Clean Carrot Seed.—The 
question asked through “the Basket” some time since 
is thus answered in a note to the Agriculturist by L. T. 
Robbins of Plymouth “ I put them into a tub of 
water and rub them hard, [between the hands we 
suppose,] this takes off all the burrs, which, with all the 
light poor seed will rise to the top and may be turned off; 
while the good seed will sink to the bottom. This I 
spread out in the sun till dry, and put up for use.” 
“Bugs” in Peas.— Mrs. J. M. Corunna, Ind. 
The cause of the bugs in peas is a beetle which lays its 
eggs in the green pea, this egg hatches into a grub which 
finally turns into a beetle. The insects may be killed by 
scalding the peas before sowing them. It is probable 
that these insects damaged the peas before planting, se 
as to injure the germs, though this is not usual. 
