by tho Rural PtibflriiiuK Company, in the office <>f the Librarian of CongrcM ut Washington.] 
[Entered according to Act of Conyreaa, in tho year 1877, 
hey are ho in fact as well as in appearance, and 
for these reasons wo prefer them. 
Tho Yellow Aberdeen is an older variety, simi¬ 
lar to tho last, and a most excellent sort. Both 
of those yellow-flushed sorts rotain their good 
qualities until late in spring, if kept in a cool 
place during winter. 
COW-HORN TURNIP. 
This is a remarkably large turnip; that is, it 
contains a largo amount of pulp or flesh, and 
grows very long instead of round, as is usual 
with this class of roots. Its form is distinctly 
shown In the accompanying illustration, taken 
from a modiuin-sizod specimen. The shape of 
this root admits of a greater weight being pro¬ 
duced per aero than with the flat or round sorts, 
as the plants can stand nearer together, a por¬ 
tion being buried in Um soil and tho remainder 
risiug above it. A turnip of this form, a foot 
long and four inches in diameter, will of course 
contain four times an much substance aft ono of 
the same diameter and only three inches in depth. 
This Cow-horn turnip is a white-fleshed sort 
and grows as freely as any, and quite an rapidly ; 
the flesh, however, Is not quite so solid, nor will 
they koep quite as well as the more firm and yel¬ 
low-fleshed varieties. Still, it is an excellent tur¬ 
nip, succeeding well on light, rich soils. These 
are, on account, of their shape, very easily hand¬ 
led, especially in gathering and preparing for 
storing in winter, and we believe would become 
more popular if better known. 
tritive and sweet. Golden-fleshed turnips, like 
golden butter, look richer than the white, oven 
if they are not; but we are inclinod to think 
is large enough for convenience in handling and 
storing, while tho roots are smooth and solid, 
the flesh of a rich orange-yellow, and very nu- 
TURNIP CULTURE 
Among all of our various roots cultivated for 
the table or for the purpose of foeding animals 
there Is none so easily and cheaply raised as the 
turnip. It is true that it does not contain as 
much nutriment as the beet, carrot or parsnip, 
but when we take into consideration its produc¬ 
tiveness, and adaptation to different soils and 
climates, wo arc compelled to admit its great 
value, and place it in the front rank of root crops. 
In Europe, and especially in Great Britain, tur¬ 
nips rank among the indispensable adjuncts of 
every farm. No man who raises stock would 
think of omitting to cnltivate a goodly quantity 
of beets and turnips. Corn, to some extent, has 
liUed tho place of root crops in one agricultural 
system, but It cannot and never will do it fully, 
any more than the locomotive can wholly super 
cede the uso of horses in hauling the products of 
our farms to market. Hay, grain and corn- 
fodder are all well enough In their way for 
keeping or fattening farm stock, hut there is 
still a place for the roots, and when our farmers 
learn to value these more, we shall not hear of 
poor, half-starved and sickly animals which come 
loss from scarcity of food than from feeding that 
which is dry and indigesdable. 
A straw stack with plenty of turnips, will go a 
great way in carrying cattle Bafoly through 
winter, and who among our farmers can say ho 
is too poor to provide such food in abundance ? 
There are certainly many who are too lazy and 
improvident, and next winter and spring the 
ONE MORE FORAGE PLANT 
Wrrn Prickly Gomfrey, Jerusalem Artichokes 
and similar long-neglected plants lately brought 
prominently to the notice of our farmers, it is 
to bo honed that we shall soon cease to hear of 
in their barnyards in misery, and a disgrace to 
their owners and keepers. 
It is not too lute to sow Ruta Bagas upon land 
in good tilth, hut there is plenty of time to pre¬ 
pare for the later varieties. There is always 
plenty of unoccupied land upon the farm for 
late turnips ; for the wheat, rye, or oat stubble 
may be plowed under and by giving the laud a 
light top-dressing of immure, it will bo ready for 
turnip seed. “Twenty-fifth of July, wet or dry,” 
have your turnip seed in the ground, and if the 
land is passably good, a fair or largo yield is 
pretty sure to reward your labors. We would 
also suggest that you sow a little more ground 
to turnips than you may think actually necessary 
to produce the number of bushels desired, for it 
sometimes happens that a portion of the plants 
will he eaten up by insects ; or the dry weather 
or early frosts may interfere with the perfect 
development of the roots, and even if all goes 
right, who ever heard of a farmer having any too 
many roots at tho time the grass starts in spring ? 
If our observations have not misled us, a 
goodly number of farmers, in every neighbor¬ 
hood, are in the habit of turning out their stock 
quite early in spring owing to a scarcity of fodder 
in tho barn. 
Now is the time to think of all this and pre¬ 
vent any lack of fodder by sowing a few ounces 
or pounds of turnip seed, the cost of which is 
not worth mentioning in comparison with the 
value of the crops that may be secured there¬ 
from. 
VARIETIES OF tATE TURNIPS. 
While the number of varieties of turnips given 
in our seedsmen's catalogues are frequently more ■ 
confusing than instructive to the farmer, still 
we may count the really distinct and valuable 
without going beyond the limits of a baker’s 
dozen, and perhaps the half of this would be 
abundantly sufficient for both the early and late 
sorts. Our preference for the late, or what is 
generally torrned flat turnips, is the Golden 
Bali, or, to give it a more high-sounding name, 
Robertson’s Golden Ball. It does not grow so 
large as some of the white-fleshed sorts, still it 
cow-iiorn TTjrtrsrir. 
starving herds in any part or the country, 
whether the land bo rich or poor, or the climate 
is dry or not. But tho list of neglected plants is 
not by any moans exhausted, and no ono need 
despair of finding some ono or more good forage 
plants, adapted to his climate and soil, no mat¬ 
ter how uncongenial they may appear to be to 
ordinary and well-known crops. 
Among tho latest revivals of old things, the 
English Farmer bids the farmers of Great Brit¬ 
ain to remember the Gorso or Whin, which 
thrives where few other plants will grow. Years 
ago Stephens, in his Book of the Farm, in speak¬ 
ing of this plant, says: 
That horses will thrive on bruised whins or 
furze, I had considerable experience in the win¬ 
ter of 1826, in consequence of tho heat of that 
summer having burned up the straw of all sorts 
of grain on light soil. Old whins growing in a 
fir plantation, supplied young shoots Horn one 
foot to three feet in length, which were cut by a 
Held worker witli a hook, and Jed to the steading, 
where they were bruised with a rammer, having 
a shank three feet eight inches in length, a 
bulged-out part to give the implement weight, 
and shod with an iron cutter four inches square 
and three inches deep, having its lower edges 
sharpened, and furnished with three parallel cut¬ 
ters riveted to it by their ends. Every man 
bruised with this implement as much furze in 
the morning on a stone floor, in twenty minutes, 
as served his horses for tho day. llui horses 
relished the whins better than hay, and became 
remarkably flue in condition and coat. Whins 
may also bo prepared by placing them on a 
wooden block and bruising them with a light 
mallet, having on its face a number of parallel 
cutters set pretty close together. 
When whins are employed for foefling on a 
larger scale, the old whin-mill, not uncommon 
in some ports of the country fifty years ago, may 
bo revived. It consisted of an old millstone set 
on edge with an axle fixed in tho eye. One end 
of the axle was attached to a central post by a 
swivel working on a pin in tho top of it. To the 
other end of the axle a swingle-tree was attached, 
NEW YORK CITY, .'JUNE 30, 1877. 
I’llICK SSI3C CENTS. 
$4.50 PER YEAR. 
VOT.. XXXV. No. 46.) 
V WHOLE No. 1131. * 
