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VOLUME V. NO. 10 .! 
ROCHESTER, N. SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 1854 
1 WHOLE NO. 2:8 
^hunt's gtml gtito-gMlur: 
A QUARTO WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Literary, and Family Newspaper. 
The farm is well fenced with stone wall. The 
bottom stones are laid on the hard-pan, and in 
this way, if built with four or five rows of slats, 
they will stand for ages. They are live feet 
high, and cost about $1,75 per rod. He has 
also some movable picket fence on the farm, 
which is very convenient. It costs about half 
a dollar per rod. He keeps about 80 head of 
cattle, principally Durham grades. Mr. Root 
has a corn sheller of his own invention, which 
is a very superior article. He has shelled 100 
bushels of corn per hour with it Our space 
forbids a description in this connection. 
As regards turnips and carrots, &c., exhaus¬ 
ting the soil, we think, with Mr. Howard, that 
the experience of English farmers ought to 
settle this point. They are fully convinced 
that the cultivation of the turnip has been one 
of the primary means of increasing the fertility 
of the soil. They bestow more labor and ma¬ 
nure on their root crops than on any other, 
and it is a common saying with them, “ insure 
me a good turnip crop, and I will insure you 
good barley, clover, and wheat after it” But 
it must be remembered that they consume 
them on the farm with stock. Were they 
grown and exported from the farm, they would 
doubtless be as exhaustive as any other crop. 
But take a crop of turnips, and a crop of 
Indian corn, for instance, let them both be 
average crops, and both consumed on the farm, 
and the manure made from each be carried 
back to the soil, and our word for it, the soil 
on which the turnips grew will bear a better 
crop of wheat, barley, rye, or Indian corn, than 
that on which the corn was cultivated. Were 
this not the case, English farmers would soon 
quit cultivating turnips, for, considered simply 
as food for slock, they are not a paying crop. 
[Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker.] 
The cul ivation of willows with a view to 
profits, and a determination of their species, 
was first taken up with vigor and effect by 
James Howe, of Lukenham, on the alluvial 
flats near Norwich, England, by which this ex¬ 
cellent botanist not only gained much know¬ 
ledge, but was amply compensated by the re¬ 
turns in money. These willow holts are yet in 
vigorous growth, although planted nearly a 
century ago; and considered by the family as 
part of their best property. 
In an economical point of view, scarcely 
anything was added to our knowledge of the 
culture and uses of the willow since the time 
of the Romans, till the slight notices of the 
uses of willows given by Ray, and afterwards 
by Evelyn. The first systematic essay on the 
subject appeal’s to have been written by I)r. 
Walker, about the latter end of the last cen¬ 
tury, though not published till 1812. It is en¬ 
titled Salicelum, or the Botanical History and 
Cultivation of the Willow'. Here 22 species 
are described, and an account given of their 
uses and mode of cultivation. All these spe¬ 
cies, and various others which are promised to 
be described in a future volume, w'ere cultiva¬ 
ted by the author in his grounds at Colinton, 
near Edinburgh. 
Salius, &e., by Dr. Wade, was published in 
1811, and contains descriptions of most of the 
European species at that time known, with di¬ 
rections for vheir propagation and culture. 
Willows for basket making and hoops, were 
principally imported from Holland and France 
into England, till towards the commencement 
of the present century, when the exclusion of 
the British from the continent, in consequence 
of the continental war, led to the formation of 
plantations in Britain. The Society of Arts, 
directing their attention to the subject, have 
at various times offered premiums for the cul¬ 
tivation of willows, and in their Transactions 
for 1801, 1804, 1805, as well as in previous 
and subsequent volumes, will be found accounts 
of plantations made, for which premiums were 
awarded, although the price of the crops wes 
and is yet the best premium for the necessary 
outlay in commencing this business. In Eng¬ 
land, the principal of these plantations were 
made by the Duke of Bedford, on a tract of 
land near Wobourn Abbey, in Bedfordshire, 
by Arthur Barron, Esq., of Warrington, Lan¬ 
cashire; Mr. Wade, of Suffolk; Mr. Phillips 
and Mr. Bull, of Ely; and in Scotland by Mr. 
Sherrifif, at Captainhead, near Haddington. 
In Germany, a great many men of ample 
means, make the cultivation of willows for bas¬ 
ket making and hoops their only business. In 
England small islands in the rivers are planted 
entirely with willows, and called osier holts.— 
There are many such islands in the Thames, 
between London and Reading. The most ex¬ 
tensive willow plantations in fields, are in Bed¬ 
fordshire, near Wobourn, and in Cambridge¬ 
shire and Huntingtonshire, and perhaps the lar¬ 
gest plantation in England is that of Mr. Adams, 
near Reading, giving employment to no less 
than one hundred persons in the cultivation, 
and many more in their manufacture into bas¬ 
kets. The willow is frequently cultivated as a 
pollard; the top being more desirable for fence 
wood than even the cedar. It is also planted 
on the South Down hills, for winter brousing 
for sheep. Mutton so fed brings the highest 
price in the London market 
The importance of the willow to man has 
been recognised front the earliest ages; and 
ropes and baskets made from willow twigs 
were probably among the very first of human 
manufactures, in countries where these plants 
abound. The Romans raised the twigs for 
binding their vines and tying their reeds in 
bundles, and made all sorts of baskets of thorn. 
A crop of willow was so valuable in the time 
of Cato, that he ranks the Salicium or willow 
field next in value to the vineyard and the gar¬ 
den. In modern times, “ the many important 
uses,” Sir W. J. Hooker observes, “ rendered 
to man by the different species of willow and 
osier, serve to rank them among the first in our 
list of economical plants. The leaves and 
young shoots are wholesome and nourishing to 
cattle; and in some northern countries they 
are collected green, dried and stacked for that 
purpose. In France, those of S. Caprea, 
whether in a green or dried state, are consid- 
In Two Parts.—Part I. 
The willows are chiefly natives of the cold¬ 
er parts of the temperate regions of the north¬ 
ern hemisphere. They are generally found in 
cold, moist soil, or by water courses; the trees 
on plains, and the creeping or trailing sorts on 
heaths and mountains. A few species are na¬ 
tives of the Arctic circle. Salix Babylonia 
(weeping willow) is a native of Armenia, and 
also of China and Japan. The species indi¬ 
genous to North America, are neither numer¬ 
ous nor useful. The number of species in dif¬ 
ferent countries, cannot at present be deter¬ 
mined with anything like accuracy, since what 
are considered species by some botanists, are 
looked upon as only varieties by others. 
Theophrastus and Pliny speak of different 
sorts of willows; the latter describing eight 
species, as among the most useful trees for the 
husbandman. The willow, Pliny says, furnish¬ 
es long props for supporting, vines; and the 
bark may be employed for tying up the shoots; 
and the young shoots, he adds, are much em¬ 
ployed in basket making, and fodder for hor¬ 
ses, cows, oxen and sheep. 
The kinds which the Romans used for this 
purpose, appear, from Pliny’s descriptions, to 
have been the Salix Alba, Salix Vitellina, Sa¬ 
lix Helix, Salix Yiminalisand the Salix Amer- 
ena. These kinds formed the osier holts of the 
Romans, and are still those principally cultiva¬ 
ted for basket making throughout Europe at 
the present day. 
Among modern botanists, the Bauhaus in 
1650, first began to distinguish willows by 
their magnitude, the shape of their leaves, and 
by the nature of their flowers and fruit; and 
these authors were the first to recognise in each 
species a fertile*and unfertile individual; and 
with Tragus 
Progress and Improvement. 
FIRST SPRING-TIME VISIT, 
On the first of March, w r e made a short visit 
to some of our subscribers in the town of 
Sweden, and, thanks to the kind attention and 
hospitality of F. P. Root, Esq., the able Presi¬ 
dent of our County Agricultural Society, spent 
the day in a most agreeable manner. 
Brockport is a large and beautiful village, 
and has more extensive agricultural implement 
manufacturers than any place of its size in the 
State. Whiteside, Chappell & Barnet, we 
found busily engaged in the manufacture of all 
sorts of agriculture! implements. ♦ ‘j®, 
we noticed Curtis’s Iron Beam Plate, which 
we heard many farmers say they preferred to 
any other for “breaking up” heavy land.— 
White’s, Whitman’s, and all sorts of Corn Cul¬ 
tivators, are also made here in large numbers. 
Ganson, IIuntleY & Co., have a large estab¬ 
lishment, and are engaged principally in the 
manufacture of their “ Self-Raking Reaper”— 
and Root’s Patent Three-wheel Cultivator, a 
valuable implement Seymour & Morgan are 
also extensively engaged in the manufacture of 
their justly celebrated “New-York Reaper,” 
aid other implements. 
We next proceeded to the farm of S. L. 
Shei.den, Esq., and were much pleased with an 
examination of his imported French and Span¬ 
ish Merino sheep. From thence, we had a de¬ 
lightful ride to Mr. Root’s farm, through a 
beautiful country, dotted with handsome houses, 
well arranged and substantial farm buildings, 
gooil stone fences, &c., all testifying to the fer¬ 
tility of the soil, and the enterprise, wealth and 
intelligence of the owners. 
Mr. Root’s farm consists of nearly 700 acres 
of beautifully situated limestone wheat soil.— 
He sows from 100 to 150 acres of wheat each 
year. Last year his whole crop averaged 
about 35 bushels per acre, and one field of 50 
acres yielded 1)00 bushels, or 40 bushels per 
He plants about 30 acres of corn, which 
averages about 50 bushels per acre. Like all 
good farmers, Mr. Root generally raises his 
own clover seed, and seeds down all his wheat 
with ten pounds of red clover per acre, early 
in the spring, frequently before the snow is off. 
Some time in April he sows on his wheat about 
100 pounds of plaster per acre. This he con¬ 
siders of no use. whatever to the wheat crop, 
but of great benefit to the clover. He prefers 
to sow the plaster on the wheat rather than on 
the clover the following spring, because it pre¬ 
vents the young clover plants from injury by 
dry, hot weather. Mr. Root is an earnest ad¬ 
vocate of deep plowing. He mentioned a 
phenomenon which puzzled him. He had 
about an acre of land which, whenever the 
field was sown with wheat, though it looked as 
well as the rest in the fall, always turned yel¬ 
low in the spring, and did not yield more than 
five bushels at harvest Clover, corn and oth¬ 
er spring crops did as well on this spot as on 
the other parts of the field. This phenome¬ 
non was observed for several years. At length 
he thought he would see what effect very deep 
plowing would have. He accordingly was at 
some trouble to plow this acre very deep and 
RAISE YOUR OWN TURNIP SEED, 
When one goes to the store for seeds, he is 
not always sure of getting the best product.— 
There are those however, who make a business 
of raising seeds, that have by persevering hones¬ 
ty acquired a deservedly high reputation.— 
When one purchases of such he is sure of get¬ 
ting the worth of his money. Still all are not 
honest, and as we have said, one is not sure— 
especially in the country—of getting good seeds 
from his store-keeper. Sorw of u nei'dibors 
. * << 
the piust summer experienced the truth o? it, 
when they purchased seed from an honoruble(?) 
merchant in a neighboring city, what he assev¬ 
erated and warranted upon his honor, to be 
“first best” Ruta Baga seed, but the product 
proved to be inferior fiat turnips. 
It is an easy matter, with a little care, to 
save turnips, or other roots for seed, and in the 
spring put them out in a good situation, and 
then save the largest and best seed therefrom. 
By such a course one may improve his pro¬ 
duce, while he knows he will not be deceived in 
his expectations. In selecting turnips for seed, 
the fairest and smoothest should be taken, and 
those with but a small tap root, without side, 
or spraugling roots. They should be carefully 
pulled before fully ripe, and secured as other 
turnips are, but handled with care, in order to 
keep the roots uninjured. The leaves should 
be removed without cutting or injuring the 
crown. If large roots are taken and those ful¬ 
ly matured, they are more apt to rot before 
perfecting their seed. They should be put out 
If they have 
j the quantity of milk given by their cows. But 
1 Mr. Dorter, of Bradford, did not come to the 
I same .coweli,He 'reports them a irood 
j food for stock, but uot as increasing the meas¬ 
ure of milk given by the cows. 
Hon. Mr. Sprague said some esteemed cul¬ 
tivators in Plymouth Comity say they cannot 
afford to raise turnips for cattle—that they do 
not fatten cuttle. The general impression is 
that carrots are better suited to that purpose 
lie thought turnips more profitable, because 
they required iess labor. 
He had raised 300 bushels of carrots on a 
quarter of an acre of land. In winter, these 
roots operate much better than the mere 
amount of nutrimeut extracted from them might 
indicate. He should not think of trying to 
winter his cattle, without raising for them a 
quantity of roots. 
Mr. Towers had raised carrots and ruta¬ 
bagas for fifteen years, and had fed his cows 
with them. With these roots he kept up the 
milk of his cows, and made as much butter in 
October as in the summer. He fed two weeks 
with 3 pecks per day of carrots; then two 
weeks on ruta bagas. He could see no dif¬ 
ference in the quantity of milk, whether he 
used one kind or the other. His cows did not 
eat more than half as much other fodder when 
they were well supplied with roots. 
Mr. Fisk had given up raising turnips, al¬ 
though it had once been a favorite plan with 
him. He fed two cows on turnips. One did 
well—while the other did uot thrive. Both 
were in milk. Turnips did not suit the second, 
lie also thought turnips did not leave the land 
in a good state for the following crop. 
Mr. Sanford Howard, mentioned the great 
effect of turnip culture in England. It had 
been the anchor of her husbandly. All their 
crops had increased since the culture of this 
crop, and such a result was not consistent with 
the idea that turnips were a crop exhausting 
to the soil. Corn sometimes fails after turnips. 
This was sometimes owing to the aphides, 
which had been found on the roots of corn. He 
said Judge Burl was successful in farming on 
sandy land near Albany. He engaged in tur¬ 
nip husbandry. A second farm near to his 
was commenced as a milk farm. Turnips were 
produced annually to the amount of 4,000 
bushels. The owner was so well convinced of 
the value of turnip husbandry, that if he dis¬ 
carded the culture of these, he would discard 
the farm at the same time. 
Mr. Russell, of Pittsfield, had tried turnips 
three or four years, lie thought his cattle eat 
more lmy when they had roots than without 
them, lie tried carrots, and held much the 
same opinion about them. 
to assert that willows could be 
propagated from seed like other plants; a fact 
that had been denied since the days of Aris¬ 
totle. Scopoli, in his Flora, published in 
1760, relates that he had often observed fe¬ 
males fecundated by males which are account¬ 
ed of a different species; and if this observa¬ 
tion is correct, it will help to account for the 
great number of species of this genus. The 
scientific botanical history of the willow may¬ 
be considered as commencing with Ray’s sy¬ 
nopsis, in 1650, in which lie describes ten spe¬ 
cies as growing in the neighborhood of Cam¬ 
bridge, England. Linn.eus, in 1737, described 
in the Flora Lapponica, 10 species, chiefly Al¬ 
pine kinds; end in the second edition of his 
Species Plantarum, published in 1753, 31 
species. Haller, in 1758, described 21 spe¬ 
cies as natives' of Switzerland; and Villars, 
in 1789, 30 species as natives of Dauphine.— 
Wildmone, in his edition of Linnaeus’ Species 
Plantarum, published in 1797, describes 116 
species. Smith, in Bees Cyclopedia, published 
in 1819, describes 141 species; to which Wild¬ 
mone and other botanists have added, accor¬ 
ding to Koch, 41 species more, making in ail 
182; adding to these Schleicha’s 119 new spe¬ 
cies, the total number is 254! In 1785, Hoff¬ 
man published the first fasciculus of his elabo¬ 
rate History of Willows, the last fasciculus of 
which came out in 1791; but the work was 
never completed—a serious loss to the willow 
cultivator. In so far as it goes, it is a splendid 
work, and one which can scarcely be surpassed 
either for accuracy or beauty. In 1828, Pro¬ 
fessor Koch published an admirable work, of 
which it is to be regretted neither time nor space 
will permit to make copious extracts from 
at present. In 1829, the Duke of Bedford 
had printed for private circulation among the 
British Deers, the Salictum Wobourmires, in 
which 160 species are figured and described; 
all of which, with the exception of a very few, 
were at that time alive in the willow grounds 
at Wobourn. In 1731, Sir W. J. Hooker, in 
the second edition of his British Flora, ar¬ 
ranged the British species, and enumerated un¬ 
der these, 68 species, considered indigenous; 
which in the third edition of the British Flo¬ 
ra, published in 1835, were increased to 71.— 
In the same year (1835) l>r. Lindley adopted 
the system of Koch in his Synopsis of the 
British Flora, and reduced the 71 species of 
Smith and others to 28 species. 
as early in the spring as possible, 
been kept sufficiently cool in the cellar or pit, 
they will have sprouted but little. Covering 
the crown with earth, the leaves that will form 
in the light and air will stand the frosts un¬ 
injured, but a frost will kill the tender leaves 
fresh from the dark pit. The soil should be 
sufficiently strong, and kept loose and clean, 
but the plants should not be handled or med¬ 
dled with while in blossom, as they arc easily- 
blasted. Gather the seed as it ripens and be¬ 
comes fully matured, but nut. too green, and 
you will have fine, plump, black looking seed 
that you can plant with the utmost confidence. 
If you are obliged to buy, you cannot use 
too much caution. Some unscrupulous people 
will gather seeds from turnips that have stood 
the winter in the fields—sell them as first rate 
to the store-keepers, who unwittingly are made 
to impose on the buyer—such seeds are not 
good, and especially so as they come mainly 
from the poorest of the crop—turnips with no 
bottoms, with all necks, or otherwise, too worth¬ 
less to harvest How can any oue expect to 
reap anything but disappointment from such 
seed. 
We repeat it again, and would urge it con¬ 
tinually upon all farmers, raise your own seeds 
to what extent you can —and in raising them 
always select the best developed plants to pro¬ 
pagate from. Monsters should be avoided, as 
well as all half developed or deformed specimens. 
Use all proper care, and you may improve from 
year to year whatever you plant t. e. w. 
acre. 
