154 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
value of the land prepared for turnips, where no 
cr^op has been gathered. The farmer there has 
one advantage over us in a mild Winter climate, 
which allows this crop to remain upon the ground, 
where it is fed by cattle and sheep. Thus the 
labor of gathering and storing the crop, so neces¬ 
sary here, is saved. 
Much as Nature has done for the necessities of 
this crop in England, art has done still more. If 
the farmer there should attempt to grow turnips 
on the same kind of soil often used here, un¬ 
drained, plowed shallow, and half manured, he 
w ould sometimes fail, as we do. The great want 
of this plant seems to be a rich, cool soil, where 
the moisture will be seasonably furnished through 
the Summer. Turnip culture in this country 
shows that these are the conditions of its healthy 
growth. On a poor, exhausted soil, it does 
nothing. But yard sheep at night for a month on 
a few square rods of the same field, and it will 
produce a luxurious crop of white turnips. Again, 
it does well on new, fresh cleared land. The vir¬ 
gin soil of the forest is full of vegetalle matter, is 
light and spongy, so as to retain moisture better 
than old lands. Again, other things being equal, 
this root does better within a few miles of the 
sea-shore than further inland. The presence of 
the sea makes a cooler and moister atmosphere. 
These facts indicate the true policy of the 
American farmer in regard to this crop. He 
should not touch it, unless he is prepared to fur¬ 
nish the plant the necessary conditions of luxu¬ 
riant growth. If he can devote no more manure 
and labor to this crop than he gives to land pro¬ 
ducing but thirty bushels of corn to the acre, he 
is wise in eschewing turnips. He may as well 
stick to his text, that John Bull can raise turnips, 
and Brother Jonathan cannot. But if he believes 
that art can assist Nature, and remedy, to some 
extent, defects of soil and climate, let him plant 
turnips. If he will take the pains they do in Eng¬ 
land, we have no fears for the result. A soil may 
be made rich, cool and moist, like the virgin soil 
after the forest is cleared, where turnips always 
flourish. Light sandy soils are extensively used 
for this purpose, but they are well furnished with 
manures and vegetable matter. Wet soils and 
heavy clays prove to be well adapted to this crop, 
when underdrained to the depth of three feet. 
The extensive cultivation of turnips for the 
purpose of supplying feed for cattle pertains to a 
more advanced stage of agriculture than we have 
yet reached. But we are quite confident that we 
shall attain it before many years. It will make 
progress with subsoil plowing, under draining, 
and thorough manuring. From the general prin¬ 
ciples here laid dow r n, the farmer will perceive 
what are the requisites of the piece of ruta bagas 
he means to plant. 
This variety is frequently sown in June, but a 
lair crop may be expected, if the seed is put in 
early this month. We advise all who have cattle 
to feed in Winter, to experiment with a quarter 
or half acre prepared in a thorough manner, and 
mark the result. The sooner they are put in now, 
the better. For the numerous varieties of white 
turnips, a month later is time enough. In future 
numbers, we shall discuss a little more in detail 
the preparation of the soil for this crop, manures, va¬ 
rieties, methods of sowing, after-culture, diseases 
and enemies, and modes of storing for Winter use. 
Birds and Weevils. —It is said that a farmer 
near Binghamton, N. Y., last year, in order to 
convince a neighbor of the destructiveness of 
birds, shot a yellow bird in his wheat field, but on 
opening its crop, they found in it two hundred 
weevils , and but four grains of wheat, and in 
these foilr grains the weevils had burrowed. 
HOME-MADE FERTILIZERS, 
A correspondent sends us the following 
as his plan of saving manures : 
1. All the soap-suds, slops and other liquids of 
the house, your inquirer proposes to carry by a 
drain of four-inch tile, or by a metal pipe from 
the sink, or from a tub sunk outside the house 
Into a tank near the stable, or into a brick re¬ 
ceiver filled with dry swamp muck, and renewed 
as often as fully saturated, the saturated muck 
to be composted under cover, or taken to garden, 
orchard, or fields, according to the season of the 
year. Is there any cheaper or better way 1 
2. In regard to the night-soil on the premises, 
your inquirer has been as yet unable to form any 
plan of managing 'it which is at all satisfactory. 
Any statement of a plan of management which 
has been tried and found to work well, or any 
suggestion that promises well, whether tried or 
untried, would much oblige one, anu probably 
hundreds of your readers. 
3. For the purpose of saving stable manure 
from the continual waste and deterioration caused 
by rains, winds, and sun, your inquirer proposes 
to build a shed, so as to admit of driving a wagon 
through it, to take away the compost made in it 
during the season of stabling. He proposes to 
use nine barrowfuls of muck for every single 
barrowful of stable manure. What better could 
he do 1 
4. The liquids of the stable he proposes either 
to conduct by gutters into a tank, or to receive 
immediately into a bed of muck under or behind 
the stabled part of his stock. 
5. It is proposed to get out several hundred 
loads of muck, to be hauled home when dry, and 
put under cover, for the purpose of absorbing 
liquids and escaping gases in composts, &c. 
On these and other points, any suggestions 
would benefit Many Readers. 
Remarks. —1. The receiver should be ce¬ 
mented, so as to save all the liquid manure. 
2. A good method of saving night soil is 
to have a light box under the privy, to be re¬ 
moved as often as once a month, and to use 
plaster or coal-dust daily, to absorb the am¬ 
monia. This deodorizes the material, and 
makes it less offensive than stable manure. 
Another method is to have a cemented 
vault beneath, holding several cords, and to 
throw in muck and other absorbents, and 
clean out thoroughly once a year. It will 
depend something upon a man’s location 
and facilities for obtaining absorbents, which 
of these methods he should pursue. 
3. If muck is plentiful, nine barrowfuls of 
muck to one of manure would do well, 
though less would do, unless his land is 
very deficient in vegetable matter. 
4. It will be better to have a pump in the 
tank, so situated that the water can be occa¬ 
sionally pumped over the compost. This 
will prevent undue heat, and will diffuse the 
good qualities of the liquid manure equally 
through the whole mass. 
5. This is all right, and if our readers will 
all follow out these suggestions, there will 
be less occasion to buy guano or other con¬ 
centrated fertilizers. 
Humble Virtue. —Flowers have bloomed on 
our prairies, and passed away, from age to age, 
unseen by man, and multitudes of virtues have 
been acted out in obscure places, without note or 
admiration. The sweetness of both has gone up 
to heaven. 
WONDERS OF THE BEE-HIVE. 
Number I. 
On this beautiful May morning, when the 
warm sun is hurrying up vegetation, which 
unfortunately “slept over” this Spring, and 
the orchards are in glorious bloom, our at¬ 
tention is called to the honey bet, which is so 
early on the wing, and so diligent in improv¬ 
ing every opportunity to increase its stores 
of food. Here is one, flying from flower to 
flower, stopping now to try one blossom and 
soon leaving it as if it had already been vis¬ 
ited, pausing longer at another and drinking 
in its rich nectar ; and then again on the 
wing, as joyous and happy as the birds of 
Summer. We must capture some of these 
busy insects, and invite our readers to ex 
amine them a little more closely. 
We might easily throw a handkerchief 
over one that is busy on the flower, but a 
better way is to take a common glass tum¬ 
bler and clap it over the flower upon a book 
or shingle, shutting the bee up in a glass 
prison, where we can keep it until we have 
leisure to look at it. There, we have suc¬ 
ceeded, and breaking off the stem of the 
blossom we carry the captive home with us. 
It is a curiosity, even as we see it through 
the glass ; that restless motion of the wings, 
that singular hum, and all the evidences of 
life, are well worthy of our notice. There’s 
some anger, too, but we will not expose our¬ 
selves to the poisonous sting. 
A common magnifying glass will help us 
in our study of its habits, and instead of kill¬ 
ing the bee, we will put it to sleep by push¬ 
ing under the glass a little piece of cotton, 
on which we have poured a few drops of 
chloroform. In a few moments we find it 
stupefied, though not entirely motionless, 
and we can observe the movements and 
joints of its limbs better than in a dead car¬ 
case. Spirits of camphor would answer the 
same purpose as chloroform. 
The bee is an insect; everybody knows 
that; but what is an insect ? We turn to 
Mr. Dana’s definition in Webster’s Dictiona- 
ary,—“ an articulate animal ,"— something 
that has life, sensation and the power of vol¬ 
untary motion, and that is furnished with 
joints ; “ composed of three distinct parts ,— 
the head, corslet or thorax, and abdomen 
these we readily distinguish. “ The legs, 
six in number, with usually two or four 
ivings (the bee has always four) attached to 
the thorax; •and along the sides of the abdo¬ 
men minute punctures, called spiracles, by 
means of which the respiration takes place." 
We can count the legs and the wings, but 
the breathing holes are not easily seen with¬ 
out a powerful magnifier. 
What a curious head the bee has ! Its 
shape is singular, and on each side it has 
what seems to be an immense eye. But in 
fact each of these balls is composed of an 
immense number of eyes, crowded close to¬ 
gether, and six-sided in form. We cannot 
distinguish these with a common magnifying 
glass, but we can see the minute eye lashes 
that come up between these separate eyes 
to defend them from injury. What need is 
there of so many eyes 1 Does it not hinder 
the vision? We should be greatly embar 
