954 - 
AMERICAN AaRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
fill devices wliicli may be used. He desciibes 
also the mamier in which he made his gnomon 
of iron, and taking" a piece of marble for the 
dial plate, and a sliort iron column, whicli was 
the body of a stove, for the standard, constructed 
a sun dial whicli, with a little paint, was made 
cprite ornamental. For a simple noon mark, 
one of the best gnomons is a flag pole, not very 
high, set so that the shadow will fall at noon 
exactly in the middle of a walk, upon a row of 
small Avhile stones, perhaps. Any such pole or 
tall staff offers another means of telling when 
it is noon, namely, by the sliortncss oi the shad¬ 
ow, for it is shortest when the sun is highest, 
and he is highest when he passes the meridian— 
which is noon. 
Turnips—Kinds and Culture. 
juike peas, turnips can not endure the heat of 
our summers. Thej" survive, but do not do well, 
the crops being cork}' and light, they are there¬ 
fore sown late in the season, so that the roots 
shall fill out and mature in the cool weather of 
the autumn. Those sown early for the table, 
so that they may mature sufflciently for use be¬ 
fore July, do well also. The usual time for 
sowing turnips for the main crop is after the 
last of July, and before the middle of August. 
Those sown very late, that is, after the first 
week in August, should not be risked on any 
but warm, light, and rich ground, not over 
moist. In some of the elevated counties of 
Central ISTew York, where the land is heavy and 
hard, turnips must be sown as early as the 
middle of June or first of July, to make a crop, 
but such locations are the exception. 
The soil for turnips should be mellow and 
well enriched, but not with rank manure. It is 
best if the soil is deep, but deep plowing for the 
crop, without previous deep culture, is not the 
thing. However, any good 4-inch soil, not 
choked with weeds, will give fixir returns. The 
best flavored turnips for the table are produced 
on light, sandy loams in good heart, but in 
xvhich the mamu'e has disappeared from sight. 
For field culture, when the crop is to be 
marketed for table use, the Golden-ball, Snow¬ 
ball, and Purple-top Strap-leaved, are among 
the very best, yielding well and being excel¬ 
lent for the table, and good keepers, the seeds 
may be had of most seedsmen, as they are old 
standard varieties. One pound of seed to the 
acre is the rule, but much less will do if the 
drill be properly set, or if it be mixed with 
sand or earth, so that the xvhole field may be 
evenly sown broadcast. It is best to sow in 
drills, 20 inches apart, and to thin with the hoe 
to the breadth of the hoe blade apart. Thus 
the ground maybe kept clean, and while a much 
better crop is gained, the soil has most of the 
benefits of a summer fallow. 
Ruta-ha^an, or Swedish turnips may be sown 
as late as the first week in July, and upon land 
in good tilth, give good crops. If the soil is 
shallow, turn the furrows together in pairs, and 
sow on the top of the ridges, covering the seed 
a little deeper than if sown on the flat. Wet 
land may be treated in the same way. The ru- 
ta-baga needs a richer soil than Is necessary for 
the English turnips, and has a much heavier, 
firmer, and more nutritious flesh. Late sown 
crops are smaller, for the roots do not get so 
large, as thej must be harvested before they got 
their growth, nevertheless, they are better for 
the table, and find a readier market than if very 
large. The chief value of bath these crops, 
however, is for affording succulent fodder for 
stock during the winter. The turnips being 
consumed in the autumn and early winter, and 
the ruta-bagas toward spring. Tiie best kinds 
of ruta-bagas to sow are, perhaps, Skirving’s 
Purple-top, a yellow fleshed variety, and the 
Purple-top White, which has white flesh. Sow 
in drills like turnips, 20 to 24 inches apart, and 
thin to 10 inehes apart early in the season, but 
later let them stand a little closer. 
For our own use, we prefer ruta-bagas to tur¬ 
nips for every purpose, and would sow them 
upon all land that we can get in order in time, 
but they require so long a season that it is rare¬ 
ly possible to use them as a second crop, even 
in the garden. The turnips, therefore, have to 
be used generally after or among other crops, 
to follow and take possession of the soil. Ru¬ 
ta-bagas may bo drilled in between the rows of 
onions and take possession, when they are hai"- 
vested in August or September, but even for 
this, turnips are better. Turnips may be sown 
among corn, and the seed hoed in at the last 
hoeing, they follow early potatoes well, and do 
well after winter grain. They ought seldom to 
be allowed to occupy land upon which late 
cabbages would grow profitably, unless the la¬ 
bor which cabbages xvould require prevent their 
cultivation, for we know no crop which, on 
soil adapted to it, will produce more food. 
Raise Your Own Clover Seed. 
“ Raise your own clover seed and sow it with 
an unsparing hand,” like nearly all agricultural 
precepts, needs qualification. On a xvheat farm 
it is not easy to grow too much clover, provided 
it is all consumed on the fixrm, or plowed in as 
a green manure; but it is quite easy to raise too 
much clover seed. Clover is, perhaps, all things 
considered, the best renomting crop that can be 
grown on a wheat farm. Like peas and beans, 
clover is a leguminous plant, and draxvs a con¬ 
siderable quantity of ammonia from the at¬ 
mosphere, while its deep roots penetrate the 
subsoil and bring up potash and other ingredi¬ 
ents of plant-food. It is admirably adapted to 
our climate, and as yet “clover sickness,” which 
is so troublesome on the light soils of England, 
is known in but few localities in this country. 
'Whether it is best for farmers to raise their own 
seed is a question which deserves consideration. 
"We have urged them to do so because we 
think they will be more likely to sow more if 
they have plenty of seed of their own, than if 
they have to purchase. But it should be borne 
in mind that the main object of sowing so much 
clover is to enrich the land, and it is undoubt¬ 
edly true that letting clover go to seed changes 
it from a renovating to an exhausting crop. 
John .lohnston, in a letternow before us, says 
he has frequently sold from $700 to .flOOOxvorth 
and over of clover seed, in a year. He thinks 
it one of the most profitable crops a farmer can 
grow, but he adds, “ I have known a crop of 
clover seed exhaust the land more than a crop 
of xvheat.” The conclusion is this: Clover is 
a great renovating crop when grown for hay, 
for pasture, or for plowing under, and should 
consequently be sown liberally. On the other 
hand, raising seed is highly profitable, but some¬ 
what exhausting to the land. Raise clover seed, 
hut use the money obtained from its sale to enrich 
the land. A bushel of clover seed will usually 
buy six or eight bushels of peas or beans, and 
these fed to stock on the farm xvill restore to the 
soil, in the form of m.anure, six or eight times 
as much plant-food as the crop of clover seed 
removed. Do not try to cheat the soil. Do 
not induce it to give you a good crop of clover 
seed, and then refuse it a share in the profits. 
In raising clover seed, cut the first crop early— 
say in this latitude, the first or second week of 
June. It is also important that the first crop 
should be mown as evenly as possible that tlie 
plants may start equally, and the future crop of 
seed ripen all at the same time. It is desirable 
to get the seed early, say the first or second 
"week in September. Occasionally a large crop 
will ripen in October; but at that season the 
weather is usually unpropitious,and a lai'ge num¬ 
ber of the heads when ripe are apt to drop off in 
wet weather, both before and after they are cut. 
A large growth of foliage is sometimes obtained 
by sowing gypsum on the clover after the hay 
crop is removed, but in a cool, groxying sea¬ 
son, the seed in this case is apt to ripen ixoorly. 
The largest crops are obtained, other things 
being equal, from laud seeded with nothing but 
clover—and in this case the seed should be sown 
pretty thickly, s.ay six or eight quarts per acre. 
This thick seeding has a double advantage: 
You get a finer quality of clover hay, and the 
plants being thick on tlie ground the crop is not 
so apt to lodge, and can be mown more evenly. 
Six bushels per acre is sometimes grown on 
good land when clover alone is sown, but three 
or foixr bushels is a full average. The expense 
of growing, harvesting, and hulling is very lit¬ 
tle, and the seed is practically nearly all profit. 
Let not the farmer who neglects and starves 
his land think that he can get rich by growing 
clover seed. The profits are not for him. There 
is no better indication of good land and good 
treatment than luxuriant crops of clover. The 
land that will produce good clover will produce 
^ood wheat or other grain—and the negligent 
farmer deserves neither one nor the other. Let 
him give the soil good tillage and liberal treat¬ 
ment, and it will prove grateful, but if he starves 
the soil the soil will starve him. 
Cows Long in Stripping. 
To the Editors of the American Agriculturist, 
Doubtless the fault is more with the milker 
than with the cows—they will learn bad hab¬ 
its, but usually need to be taught them. If 
they are properly milked—so as not to give 
them discomfort—they seem to enjoy the oper¬ 
ation, and usually part with their milk freely. 
I keep ten cows, and always do the milking ; 
raised them all, besides some that have been sold 
—have bought but one in ten years, and got 
cheated in the operation—and have never had 
a kicking cow, a “ stripping ” cow, or a cow 
with sore teats. Now let me prescribe for Mr. 
B. Always milk with clean hands; and if your 
hands are hard-and rough, keep a cup of grease 
—goose or hen’s oil, lard or fresh butter is 
good—at the stable, and once a day, before 
milking, rubalittle on the inside of your hands— 
just enough to make them feel smooth. Some of 
this xvill adhere to the teats and prevent sores 
and cracks, and all together xvill make smooth 
work. Rough hands arc a “nuisance” to a 
coxv’s teat, and xvill prove a nuisance to the 
milker, in “long stripping.” At the time of 
milking, take a small pail, xvhich is the most con¬ 
venient, xvith a little water in it, and a sponge 
about txvo-thirds as large as your fist, or a xvoolen 
r.ag xvill ansxver, and the first thing to be done 
after sitting down to the cow, is to xvash the bag 
after this manner, squeeze the sponge a little 
so that the water xvill not drip from it, and rub 
the bag all ox'er, teats and all—keeping the milk 
pail out of the way, of course; this xvill insure 
