feeble specimens of no value. It is recom¬ 
mended in Europe to mix 8eeds with other 
leguminous plants and grasses for permanent 
pastures. 
Several other Bpecies of several different 
genera of leguminous plants are more or less 
raised for forage, and, quite likely, still 
others, not yet tried, are valuable. Enough 
has been written to carry out the statement 
made at the outset that the order Leguminosai, 
is remarkable for its valuable forage plants. 
ground the whole season to flat turnips. It 
should always be a second or a supplementary 
crop. In the spring is the time to make calcu¬ 
lations for it by putting in barley or some 
other crop early to mature, so it can be gotten 
out of the way in time for the turnips. Tur¬ 
nips in the late fall are as useful to fill out the 
frost period a3 sowed corn is to make np the 
wheat and potatoes. When the press of work 
comes on, the garden should receive its share 
of attention and not be allowed to suffer from 
neglect. 
One cause for neglected gardens is the in¬ 
convenience in using horse power in the culti¬ 
vation. In selecting a plnc« f or a garden and 
in planting it, we should aim to make horse 
fecting the size, and possibly the quality of the 
fruit, or the longevity of the tree. 
[See cut in last issue.— Eds. 1 T. T. Ltofr. 
THE BEHAVIOR OF PHOSPHATES lit 
THE SOIL. 
PROFESSOR O. C. CALDWELL. 
It is a well established and universally ac* 
cepted principle of vegetable physiology that 
no food can enter tMfclant except in the 
liquid or the;gaseous fofW; that there are no 
orifices in the roots or leaves by which par* 
tides of Bolid matter can be admitted within 
the cells and enter the laboratory where the 
mysteriousand wonderful work is carried on of 
converting dead mineral matter into living 
vegetable substance. In an ordinary arable 
FAILURE vs. SUCCESS WITH ROOTS. 
What They do for Stock—Turnip Experience 
and Importance. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS 
10 raise roots successfully requires ex¬ 
perience. This is perhaps the first essential, 
the other requirements being rich land and 
good tillage. No crop of roots will do well 
wit hout both of these condi tions being complied 
with. No man who does his work in a slip¬ 
shod manner, on the broadcast plan, letting a 
crop take care of itsdf, need ever expect to 
grow roots successfully ; for he will not do it. 
By these precautionary remarks we do not 
desire to be understood that it Is a pressing, 
tedious and never-ending job to grow a good 
crop; but that the work must be done right at 
first, and doue well all the way through. 
To illustrate—the first time we undertook to 
grow swedes we never harvested one. as the 
seed did not grow. We rolled it in, and as 
the weather was dry, it did not come up. Our 
first crop of mangels were neglected until a 
wet spell coming on they could not be culti¬ 
vated, aud when at last the ground got dry 
enough, vje had to mow the weeds before the 
cultivator would go through them. That crop 
of mangels—a small one—cost us 25 cents a 
bushels. It was our beginning. We read an 
old speech the other day made about this time 
in which we took grouud that roots did not 
pay. Years afterwards, when we came to see 
how easily they could be raised, we tried again, 
going slowly at first, and profiting by expe¬ 
rience. We eau now, take one year with an¬ 
other, raise swedes and mangels at less than 
five cents a bushel. 
Feeding Value, 
A bushel of mangels will teed a hog for two 
days, and a bushel of swedes will make 'food 
enough for a little more than a day. We mean 
for a full grown pig ; such as a breeding sow. 
A bushel basket of turnips and uiaugels filled 
three times a day, feed9 four breeding sows in 
one pea. A peck a day of swedes fed to the 
oxeu with hay iu the morniug aud straw the 
rest of the day, has kept them in fine condition. 
Esquire Davidson said receutly they were fair 
beef, and these oxen have doue a good deal of 
work. A bushel of turnips fed to fifteen Bheep 
morning and uight has made them into prime 
mutton. They had nothing else but hay. The 
calves, with five quarts of roots each aud Lwo 
quarts of buckwheat brau, are growing as in 
summer time, and the cows with a peck of 
roots and four quarts of bran, gain in flesh, 
having hay but ouce a day aud straw the rest 
of the time. 
Our Prospective Crop. 
Roots have gained in favor with us during 
the past ten years—since we have raised them 
with success. Each year we have enlarged 
the area aud next year we shall double it, put¬ 
ting in five acres of sugar-beets aud mangels 
aud two acres of swedes. We want two acres 
of sugar-beets of Lane's Improved to feed the 
pigs iu the early fall, aud the mangels to win¬ 
ter the hogs ou, reserving the swedes for the 
sheep aud cattle. We shall sow fiat turnips 
in the corn, and have a patch of an acre or so 
besides. These are for the sheep and store 
pigs to feed on uotil winter seta in. The patch 
will be fed ou the ground aud so will those iu 
the corn fid*!, as it hardly pays to handle flat 
turnips or to bestow much labor upon them, 
as other roots are so much better. When they 
can be put lu broadcast and fed on the ground, 
there is no crop which will pay better for the 
cost or furuish as much feed at the time of 
year as fiat turnips. One ean afford the ma¬ 
nure and the labor expended ou thu grouud, as 
both pul it iu mostexcelieut order for any crop 
the next year. With this system of culture 
there is no hand labor at weeding, wliieh is al¬ 
ways costly. 
Patting In the Crop. 
If possible the ground should be plowed 
twice, with au interval of a week or more, to 
give the weeds a chance to start aud be killed 
by the second plowing. The manure should 
be harrowed iu and the seed slightly covered. 
ThiB may be done with a coarse harrow or by 
dragging brush over the grouud. A pound of 
seed is enough lor an acre if the ground is 
mellow and so free from lumps aud clods, so that 
all of the seed will be likely to come up ; but 
if not, then double the amount of seed should 
be sown. This cron wav be nut in the loat nf 
MOUNTAIN TULIP APPLE 
deficiency of the summer drought. Both extra 
crops we thiolc essential, and the farmer who 
neglects to provide for these times of shrink¬ 
age In the pail and growth, loses a considerable 
part of the profits of the season, which he could 
so easily preveut. We would not spare the 
manure on the spring crop where turnips are 
to follow, or when the turnips are put in. The 
manure gives them a vigorous 6tart and this 
sends them ahead of the fly, and makes a growth 
very soon, which covers the ground and makes 
them independent of drought. Plenty of ma¬ 
nure keeps the ground moist. This manure is 
not lost or exhausted with the crop of turuips, 
for as the roots derive a considerable part of 
their growth from the atmosphere, it remains 
in the soil to feed the next crop. Clover sod 
may be turned over, after the hay has been re¬ 
moved, for a crop of turnips or swedes. Plaster 
sown broadcast over the turnips during the 
season is beueficial. A light sprinkle as soon 
fig. 99. 
culture available. The amount of work neces¬ 
sary to cultivate an eighth of an acre of garden 
is very considerable, if it must all be accom¬ 
plished by hand, and it is more than the farmer 
should attempt. A garden should never be 
cramped by fences. It should be as long and 
narrow as possible, so as to make little turning 
at the ends of the rows when cultivating. 
Several different kinds of vegetables may be 
planted in the same row without barm, and if 
so plauted, with the exception of onions, let¬ 
tuce and a few other articles, may be cultivated 
more easily and expeditiously by horse power 
than by hand. I don’t mean that the hoe is to 
be entirely laid aside in any instance; but I 
believe that much hand labor might in this 
way be avoided in our gardens. 
The garden should be a rich, well drained 
plot of ground, containing as few weeds and 
weed seeds as possible, and it should be kept 
free from the pests by not allowing them to 
grow and mature their seed. Those who have 
not already ordered their garden seeds should 
make out their lists and seud them at once. 
Store seeds are not to be depended on. It is 
much safer to seud directly to some reliable 
seedsman. G. A. G. Jr. 
Chemung Co. 
profit, nevertheless, in putting soluble plant 
food into the soil. How shall we di«pose of 
such an apparent contradiction, and recon¬ 
cile known facts concerning the behavior of 
soils and the structure of plants with our re¬ 
sults in manuring crops ? 
It was Liebig who performed the first ex¬ 
periments leadiug to the conclusion now so 
generally adopted by vegetable physiologists, 
that plants have, to a certain extent, the power 
of making their own solution. The feeding 
rootlets of the plaut are in closest contact with 
the particles of the soil in which they grow, as 
may be seen on carefully pulling up a young 
plant from a dry soil; the youngest rootlets, 
and the root hairs will be found to be sheathed 
with a coating of particles of soil which can¬ 
not be shaken off, and not even pulled oft with¬ 
out iu some cases taking with them portions of 
the rootlets. These rootlets and hairs are satu¬ 
rated with sap, a liquid that has a greater sol¬ 
vent power than pure water or than soil -water, 
and as a result of their close contact with par¬ 
ticles of difficultly soluble phosphate of lime or 
iron, or difficultly soluble compounds of am¬ 
monia or potash, these substances may be 
taken into solution, aud under such conditions 
that they cannot but enter the plant right then 
and there. 
But, it may be said, if soluble phosphate is 
converted into insoluble phosphate iu the soil, 
why take so much trouble to make insoluble 
phosphate soluble before applying it? Why 
not use the powdered rock phosphate or bone 
dust directly, instead of first treating it with 
acid ? Because in the former case we have a 
particle of the phosphate among ten thousand 
of soil, which the rootlet may have but oue 
chance in as many thousands of meeting, 
while in the latter, as the soluble phosphate is 
taken into solution by the first rain that thor¬ 
oughly wets the soil, it is distributed through¬ 
out the upper layers to a considerable extent 
before conversion into insoluble compounds, 
and is spread over the surface of such a great 
number of particles of the soil that the root¬ 
lets are constantly meeting with it as they 
press onward in their growth. That the effect 
of a given quantity of phosphoric acid as sol¬ 
uble or superphosphate, applied to a soil, for 
iustauce, that is suitable for wheat, is in most 
cases very much greater than that of the same 
quautity in powdered rock phosphate, how¬ 
ever finely it may be ground, has been fully 
demonstrated by both experience and experi¬ 
ment, aud it is easy to see the reason why in 
the above explanation. 
The behavior of phosphates In the soil ha 3 
received a careful study recently at the hands 
of Albert aud Vollbreeht at one of Ihe German 
Experiment Stations, and some useful conclu¬ 
sions can be drawn from the interesting results 
that they obtained, It may be necessary to 
state, first, that there are three phosphates of 
lime, oue soluble in water. auotb'Tj.^fj^so- 
called reverted phosphate, dif’acukly soluble' 
The Mountain Tulip Apple, 
This gaudy fruit is well named, its stripes 
and shades, as well as its shape, closely simu¬ 
lating the flower from which it is called. The 
Mountain Tulip originated as a seedling on the 
slopes of Yamaska monntaiu, near Abbottsford, 
Quebec. It is a very good as well as a showy 
fall apple of the mouth of October. It is one 
of medium size aud mild, sub-acid flavor, mel¬ 
low aud agreeable, with some aroma. The 
tree is hardy and productive. We have many 
apples of this season, but even lor decorative 
purposes a tree or two of this variety would 
be valued iu the grounds of many growers. 
The tree itself is thrifty and symmetrical, with 
the evenly drooping branches characteristic of 
a heavy bearer. The shape of the apple is uot 
unlike that of the Chenango Strawberry apple, 
but the size is less. T. H. Hoskins, m.d. 
Orleans Co., Vt. 
Doura amt Cliufus. 
Mr. James J. H. Gregory writes us as fol¬ 
lows: “1 am glad to find you editors have be¬ 
gun to understand the merits of Doura and 
Chufas. I have grown the latter ou iny farm 
for a dozen years. They will ripen here (Mar¬ 
blehead, Mass.) ou warm, light soil eoen/ sea¬ 
son aud ean be grazed for green fodder and be 
used for hogs—only the season being shorter, 
the grazing season is shorter also, and hence 
they have uot for hogs the same value here as 
in the South. The Chuta is also a very nice 
nut for children to raise—they are capital." 
IWe would ask Mr. Gregory if bis Doura de¬ 
velops more than one stalk to a seed ?— Eds ] 
Souvenir du Congres Pear. 
The introduction of this exceedingly prom¬ 
ising Pear to the American public, 13 believed 
to be due to Ellwanger & Barry, of Rochester, 
N. Y. Although it has been growing upon our 
grounds for several years, it has, so far, failed 
to show fruit. It has been iu the hands of 
various growers iu this country for more than 
a decade. Mr. Barry exhibited very flue spe¬ 
cimens at the session of the American Borno¬ 
logical Society, in 1878, at Boston, he having 
then fruited it three years. He characterizes 
the tree as a moderate, upright grower; very 
productive, I very well recollect the won¬ 
derfully large size and fine appearance of the 
specimens shown by Mr. Barry at Chicago in 
September, 1875. I have not tried it on 
quince stocks; but it is reputed to be unsuc¬ 
cessful, unless double worked, I do not 
regard it as likely to take a high position so 
far as quality is concerned; although it has 
not the objectionable, musky aroma of the 
Bartlett, and, while it is earlier in ripening, It, 
like that old popular favorite, is quite exempt 
from the tendency to decay at the core, I 
regard it as pretty sure to take a high positiou 
as a market fruit preceding the Bartlett, uu- 
less its apparent tendency to overbeur shall 
prove a bar to its popularity by seriously af- 
THE FARMER’S GARDEN 
