175 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
periment that the manure made from fattening 
animals is much stronger than that made from 
other stock. 
In some soils, lime is an admirable dressing for 
turnips. 1'his should be applied to lands that 
have an abundant supply ot vegetable matter. 
In using stable manures for a succession of 
,years, this matter accumulates, and a dose of 
ime will bring it all into activity, and make it 
available as plant food. Lime is also used to good 
advantage upon peaty soils, and upon drained 
swales and swamps. It should be applied in its 
quick state, and as fresh from the kiln as possi¬ 
ble. and a few weeks before sowing the seed. 
The quantity of lime applied to the acre varies 
according to the caprice, or convenience of the 
cultivator. Some give small dressings at short 
intervals, others apply two or three hundred 
bushels at once. On peaty soils, the application 
should be liberal; on gravelly and sandy lands, the 
lime should only be applied as the soil is furnished 
with vegetable matter. 
Bone dust forms one of the most valuable fer¬ 
tilizers for turnips, and the change that has been 
wrought in some of the barren districts of Eng¬ 
land by its use is represented as very wonder¬ 
ful. Waste moors have been converted into fer¬ 
tile farms, and the wilderness has literally been 
made to blossom. The bones are used in the 
drill in connection with ashes, at the time of 
sowing the seed. The ashes facilitate the de 
composition of the bone dust and afford imme¬ 
diate supply to the germinating seed, until it can 
avail itself of the bone earth. From 12 to 30 bush¬ 
els of bone dust are applied to the acre. The 
rule is about 16 bushels, and from careful experi¬ 
ments, it would seem that this quantity is all that 
one crop of turnips can avail itself of. if more 
is applied it goes over to the benefit of the suc¬ 
ceeding crop, whatever it may be. 
Pigeon dung, rape dust, and animalized carbon 
are other manures frequently used on this crop. 
But these are only to be had in small quantities 
in this country, and are not available for most 
farmers. 
The common method of sowing turnips broad¬ 
cast, is at once slovenly and wasteful. There is 
no apology tor it except in sowing as a succes¬ 
sion crop among corn at the last hoeing. We are 
persuaded that any farmer, who tries the drill 
system of cultivation for white turnips, will never 
relapse again into broadcast sowing. In the drill 
the crop can be cultivated, can be thinned out ju¬ 
diciously, and every tuber receive its fair share 
of aliment. The produce per acre will be much 
larger, and the crop can be gathered with more 
facility. It is still in season to sow the white 
varieties, and any of the Globes or Tankards will 
yield a good crop. Try them in drills, upon well 
prepared soil, with bone dust and ashes, if one 
have them, sowing them with the seed. Sow 
the Strap Leaf or Cow Horn varieties at the last 
hoeing among corn. 
CABBAGES AND TURNIPS ON WASTE 
GROUND. 
Who can afford to let land worth $100 an acre, 
or a third of that price, remain idle, while every 
farm product is bringing remunerative prices! 
If you have such unoccupied grounds-; it is not 
too late to bring them into a crop-growing and 
crop-paying condition. The first week of August 
is a suitable time to set out late cabbages, and if 
located near large cities, or shipping ports, they 
are a profitable market crop. You can also 
feed a quantity of them to milch cows and fowls , 
in Winter, to good advantage. The quick grow¬ 
ing varieties of Turnips may still be sown with 
reasonable prospect of a good crop, by preparing 
the ground as advised on another column. Ruta 
Bagas are still in season in this and southern 
latitudes, but require earlier sowing at the North. 
An acre of ground, from which a crop of hay has 
just been taken, if plowed up and sown broadcast 
with English Turnips, will make an excellent 
pasture for fattening sheep upon in the Fall, or a 
few hundred bushels will not come amiss among 
the stock next winter. 
A large number may also be raised very cheaply 
by sowing broadcast among corn, or after a crop 
of early peas or potatoes, scattering the seed just 
before a shower, or hoeing it in. A friend of 
ours, acting in accordance with the advice given 
at this period last year, sowed his corn field with 
strap-leaved turnips, and in the Fall harvested 
several hundred bushels. The whole expense 
consisted in scattering the seed and harvesting 
the crop. 
THE WEST-THE CROPS. 
During the past two months, we have jour¬ 
neyed some six thousand miles, principally in 
Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with shorter trips of a 
few hundred miles in each of the States of Michi¬ 
gan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri and Kentucky, 
and also in Minnesota Territory. We made nu¬ 
merous stops along our route, among fanners, to 
examine soils, crops, and modes of culture, and 
usually managed, when travelling by railroad, to 
get a seat in a baggage car, between the wide 
open doors, so that we could have an unob¬ 
structed view ot the whole country we passed 
through. We have made a multitude of notes, 
but have no intention of inflicting upon our read¬ 
ers anything like a traveler’s journal. Though 
previously well acquainted with the Western 
country (having passed six months at one time in 
examining Ohio and the country west and south¬ 
west of that State), our recent journey, like many 
future ones we expect to make, if we live, was 
undertaken mainly to study the different kinds of 
soils and crops, and the modes of tillage, &e., re¬ 
quired. We have a store of facts and observa¬ 
tions to draw upon from time to time, which may 
be useful to Eastern as well as Western readers. 
We have time now only to refer to 
THE C58.0JP EISOaPECTS. 
The earliest Spring reports of the wheat crop, 
and the continuous rains through almost all of 
May and the fore part of June, were well calcu¬ 
lated to awaken fears of a- very short harvest. 
We are happy to be able to report a much better 
prospect than has been anticipated. 
Winter Wheat was pretty generally winter- 
killed, throughout the open prairie country in 
Northern Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, but farmers 
very generally adopted the practice, so urgently 
recommended by us, of sowing on Spring wheat, 
and harrowing it in, without plowing up what re¬ 
mained of tjie Winter crop. We found an excel¬ 
lent stand of Spring wheat almost everywhere, 
and the yield may be set down as above an ave¬ 
rage one. In Ohio, Middle and Southern Indi¬ 
ana, and Illinois, and in most parts of Missouri, 
a large breadth of Winter wheat was sown. 
Early in the Spring, the prospect was unfavor¬ 
able, but the crop came forward far better than 
could be expected, and, except on naturally wet 
land, a generally good yield has been already se¬ 
cured. The ravages of insects have in most 
places been much less severe than last year. 
Indian Corn was kept back very late almost 
everywhere. We saw hundreds of fields in Ohio, 
Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois, in which the corn 
had not received its first hoeing up to June 15th, 
and the yield will doubtless be greatly dimin¬ 
ished, simply for want of working. Since that 
date, the weather has been admirably adapted to 
hasten forward this crop, and as “July and Au¬ 
gust make the corn crop,” we shall, on the whole, 
have a full average yield, unless we are visited 
with unusually early Autumnal frosts. 
Oats and Barley are cultivated more exten¬ 
sively this year than ever before, and the present 
prospect is promising. 
The Hay Crop has probably never been better 
than it is everywhere, this season. We could 
wish there were animals enough, especially neat 
stock, to profitably consume next Winter all the 
hay in the country. 
Potatoes are widely planted, but we are not yet 
able to speak definitely of their condition and 
prospects. There are rumors of bad rotting in 
some of the early plantings. 
Fruit, especially apples, promise a fair crop. 
On the whole, we can congratulate the farmers 
of the country upon the present and prospective 
abundant reward which will generally attend 
their labors the current year. We say generally, 
for there will be many exceptions, as it is certain 
that all who are so unfortunate as to occupy wet, 
undrained lands, both have and will meet with 
much loss, from the long-continued rains of the 
past Spring. 
CANADA THISTLES 
Are a great pest of the farm. They fill up both 
pastures and meadows, and, if allowed to multi¬ 
ply, will take possession and drive out the 
grasses. Cultivation will of course kill them, but 
the seed is scattered in immeasurable quantities 
from the plants that stand neglected in the corn¬ 
ers of the fields and fences, and by the road-side. 
We have never been more struck with the waste¬ 
fulness and wickedness of Virginia worm fence, 
than in travelling through the districts infested 
with this weed. Every corner of the zigzag was 
full, and securely nestled beyond the reach of 
scythe the neglected pests scattered their pro¬ 
lific seeds. 
It is commonly recommended to cut them 
while in bloom, an inch or two above the ground, 
so that the hollow stalk may be filled with water 
with the first rain, and the root be killed. This 
may be effectual, if the rain comes seasonably; 
but we doubt if anything short of thorough cul¬ 
tivation will redeem the land that is already 
stocked with this plant. Every farmer should see 
to it that his pastures, fences and road-side, are 
thoroughly cleansed of this pest. Mowing will 
prevent them from going to seed, and, if followed 
up vigorously, will kill them. No plant can long 
survive the constant cutting of its stem and 
leaves. Let the first work after haying be th« 
destruction of the thistles. 
CHICKENS VS. CHINCH BUGS AND PLUM 
WEEVILS. 
We see it reported in the Southern Plant 
er, that a hen and chickens placed in a coop 
in the corner of a wheat field, where the 
chinch bug had commenced its ravages, 
proved to be an effectual check upon the in¬ 
sects thereabouts, though they did consider¬ 
able injury out of the range of the chickens. 
The chinch bug is only one of the destruc¬ 
tive insects which chickens are ever ready 
to pick up. In our yard stands a black-heart 
cherry tree, the liiiit of which was quite 
wormy last year,—as is often the case with 
this variety. This Spring we placed a 
chicken coop with its occupants near the 
tree, and secured a full crop of fruit, show¬ 
ing no appearance of worms. The insects, 
as they emerged from the ground in a 
winged form, were so effectually picked up 
that they failed to deposiie their eggs in the 
fruit. Of course there will be a short crop 
of worms next season. 
