174 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
GOLD MEDAL OF THE U. S. 
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
We present herewith a copy of the face 
o the new “ Grand Gold Medal ” of the 
above Society. This medal is just of the 
size of our cut. We see on the face Ceres, 
who was, according to the ancient heathen 
mythology, the goddess of Corn, and the 
patroness of those who cultivated the e.irtl, 
Seated on a throne, in her right hand, which 
is extended upward and forward in an atti- j 
tude of invitation, she holds a wreath o' 
honor; in her left the sickle— emblem ui 
agricultural industry. In her lap are gath¬ 
ered various fruits. Her brow is crowned 
with the star of Empire, and her expressive 
oountenance manifests her dignified rank 
as the impartial disposer of awards to the 
oompetitors. Around the rim of the medal 
is the classic wreath of laurel. 
Reverse Side.—The opposite side of this 
medal is ornamented simply with a wreath 
of plants, the productions of the grand di¬ 
visions of the United States, emblematic of 
the National character of the Society. On 
one side are the Sugar Cane and Cotton Plant, on the other Indian Corn and Wheat, and, at the bottom, uniting the 
two, is a grape vine laden wpth fruit and leaves. Thus the great staples of the South, North, West and East, are 
wreathed together, encircling a space appropriated for inscribing the name of the successful competitor. 
NATIONAL REAPER AND MOWER TRIAL, 
At Svracuse, N. Y., July 13, 1857. 
Having been unexpectedly detained by unto¬ 
ward circumstances from attending the above 
Exhibition, we left the matter in care of an intel¬ 
ligent friend, from whom we received a long and 
full report of the entire proceedings. After due 
consideration, however, we do not think it worth 
while to publish the account. A Committee of 
skillful judges were appointed to conduct the trial, 
and many of the results arrived at, they, perhaps 
wisely, kept from the public for th^ time being It 
is now too late for any use to he made of the re¬ 
sults this season. On the whole, we deem it best 
to suspend any remarks upon the implements, 
and wait for the full report of the Judges, which 
will be made public in September. 
Though we have doubts as to much practical 
good resulting from great gatherings of this cha¬ 
racter, the one at Syracuse appears to have been 
one of the best conducted of any hitherto held. 
We quote the closing paragraph of the report 
made for us : 
During the entire week of the trial, the weather 
was dry, and excessively hot, and it was a daily 
wonder that the President of the Society, at his 
present age, could bear up as he did throughout 
in his arduous duties. Both he and the Secreta¬ 
ries, and other officers of the Society, were ex¬ 
ceedingly courteous and indefatigable throughout, 
and did everything in their power to promote a 
fair and just trial of the various machines entered 
on the occasion. The Jury, or Judges as we 
more generally call them, so far as we could per¬ 
ceive, were selected from among the best men of 
the country. They were a mixture of mechanics 
and practical farmers, ihose who understand and 
have for years worked harvesting machines with 
their own hands, and in their own fields. We 
shall look for such a report from the Hon. John 
Stanton Gould, of Hudson, N. Y., the Chairman 
of the Jury, as has not yet appeared on the like 
occasion in the United States. 
KEEPING APPLES. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
I was lately assured by a friend, in whom I 
have the fullest confidence, and I therefore, 
very readily, endorse his statements, that he 
put up a lot of sound apples last Fall, in barrels, 
part of which were lime barrels , and the rest 
flour barrels. Apples, position, packing, store¬ 
room, and every thing else, as far as he can tell 
the same. On opening them in the Spring, many 
of those packed in flour barrels were decayed, 
while those in lime barrels were nearly as perfect 
as when put away. Being an intelligent and ob¬ 
serving man, I record his statement for the 
benefit of your readers. Wm. Day. 
Morristown, N. J. 
A TURNIP DISCUSSION, 
NO. II. 
In our first article upon this topic, we gave some 
reasons for the prevalent neglect of the turnip 
crop in this country, and indicated our opinion 
that it was yet to fill a much larger place in 
American husbandry. It cannot be, that a crop 
which does so uniformly well in England, and al¬ 
most as well here, among the few who have got 
the key to its successful cultivation, will long re¬ 
main unappropriated. Indeed the exigences of 
our farmers, at the East, already point to this 
crop as the next great improvement in agricul¬ 
ture. The high price of beef, and indeed of all 
meats, must lead to the fattening of a much larger 
number of animals near the chief market towns, 
where they can be sent in on a day’s notice, 
and sold at the highest price. This is already 
done by many intelligent farmers, and would be 
done to a far greater extent, but for the high price 
of corn and other fodder, suitable for stall feed¬ 
ing. These gentlemen find their account in this 
course, not only by the high prices they secure 
for their beeves and sheep, but by the large 
quantities of excellent manure they make from 
their fattening animals. 
Now turnips will supply the great want, which 
is universally felt, of a cheap provender for these 
animals more economically than any other crop 
we can raise. This crop will put it in the power 
of all stock growers, who live within a day’s jour¬ 
ney of these markets, to fatten beeves very cheap¬ 
ly, and to furnish their farms with a full supply 
of stable manure at the smallest cost. Thus 
the farms may be kept in a much higher 
state of fertility and their cultivation be 
made more profitable. This plan of feeding 
cattle for market, we are well assured, lies in the 
direction of our true interests, and will soon oc¬ 
cupy a more conspicuous place in our husbandry. 
Meanwhile, how shall we grow turnips, becomes 
a question of absorbing interest. 
PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 
Vtriioever reads the agricultural journals of 
England will notice that the. one thing insisted 
upon above all others is the fineness of the tilth 
of the soil. The underdraining, the manuiing, 
the plowing and harrowing, and the place as¬ 
signed the turnip in the rotation of crops, all have 
a bearing upon the fine tilth necessary for a large 
turnip crop. In this they are very thorough, and 
this thoroughness is one element of their success. 
Turnips, usually, but not always, follow wheal 
in the wheat districts; this is their true po¬ 
sition in the rotation. In other districts they 
might follow Indian corn or rye. These crops by 
the previous cultivation and manure they require, 
: and by the multitude and fineness of their roots, 
j leave the soil in a light friable state. The pre- 
; paration for the turnip crop properly begins in the 
Fall previous to planting. The old stubble of 
wheat is turned under as soon as the grain is re¬ 
moved, which gives a good dressing of vegetable 
matter to the soil. It should be plowed again, 
either late in the fall or early in the Spring, and 
be left in a rough state for the action of the frosts. 
This action does much to reduce the coarse 
clods and to make the soil friable. 
It receives its final plowing and manuring about 
the first of June, which in this country is a suit¬ 
able time for sowing the Ruta. Baga variety of 
turnips. The land is both harrowed and rolled 
thoroughly that all the lumps may be broken, and 
the weeds be destroyed. 
The underdraining and sub-soil plowing have 
an important bearing upon making a fine soil. 
The stagnant water is thus taken out of the sub 
soil, and the rains pass down freely through it, 
not only bringing ammonia to act chemically 
upon its particles, but the water itself acting upon 
them mechanically. A new stratum of soil is 
also subjected to atmospheric influences, and the 
work of disintegration goes on iar below the 
common depth in undrained soils. Every one • 
«an see at a glance the advantage of this thor- 
®ugh preparation of the soil. The seed when it 
throws out its rootlets has nothing to do but grow. 
MANURES. 
The main reliance in England, as it always 
must be, is that of the yards and stables. Guano, 
bone dust, unburned bones dissolved, are only 
adjuncts for use in the drill, or for applications to 
the growing crop. The stable manure is carried 
out in the winter, or early Spring, in a fermenting 
state, and kept in heaps, until it is ready to be 
plowed in. These heaps are turned over two or 
three weeks before, use to help the decomposition. 
It is generally conceded, that well-rotted manure, 
especially upon light soils, does much the best 
for the turnip crop. The theory is that light 
soils demand a very large amount of vegetable 
matter for so succulent a crop as the turnip. 
On soils of muck and peat, concentrated fertil¬ 
izers may be used to more advantage. These, in 
this country, should be applied in the early Spring 
and plowed in. Peruvian guano is altogether loo 
powerful to be applied to the soil at the same time 
the seed is sown. Bone dust, and good super¬ 
phosphate of lime may be used with the drill in 
sowing the seed to great advantage. We have 
raised our best Ruta Bagas by applying home¬ 
made superphosphate in the drill with the seed. 
As to the quantity of stable manure necessary 
for the turnip crop, it depends somewhat upon 
the character and condition of the land. From 
tw r elve to fourteen cords is a common application 
to lands in good heart. If the lanjl is light and 
has been badly skinned, twenty cords will be bet¬ 
ter than any less quantity. Indeed, if the ground 
is plowed deep enough there is little danger oi 
ipplying too much manure. It is found by ev- 
