10 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Jan. 
Management of Manure. 
Messrs. Editors —The letter of the farmer’s friend 
and ours, John Johnston, published on page 362 of 
the current volume of the Co. Gent., (we name the page 
so that subscribers can readily find the article, and 
those who have not can read it, and those who have 
read may read again,) will be worth a life subscription 
to that paper to every farmer who will practice on the 
recommendations there given. In allusion to this mat¬ 
ter, “ we speak that we do know and testify that we 
have seen,” so far as rotting and saving manures are 
concerned. We have seen, and can see at any time, 
piles of manure drawn into the field for next year’s 
planting, and covered over so much surface that every 
drenching will penetrate them to the earth on which 
they rest. We have seen, the year after, where such 
heaps have been laid, the effects of the winter wash 
from them for several rods from the outline of the 
heaps. This wash did not hurt the land, of a certainty, 
over which it passed. A luxuriant vegetation told too 
plainly the reverse of this. But it did injure the corn 
crop the next year, for it took away much of the very 
aliment which had been taken to the field to effect its 
growth. 
What would be thought of a farmer who stacked his 
hay by drawing it to a convenient place, and tipping 
it from his cart in as compact a manner as tipping out 
would admit, yet necessarily covering a great surface 7 
The natural inference would be that the man was crazy, 
—that his hay would soak through never to dry again, 
—go into a rapid fermentation—mould and rot. Rea¬ 
son teaches every farmer that this would be so, and they 
accordingly stack their hay in the manner best calcu¬ 
lated to resist storms. Often after the stack is com¬ 
menced, if the weather is fine, it is allowed to stand 
and settle before it is finished, to give it a more storm- 
resisting compactness and form. Thus we often see that 
well cured and well stacked hay comes out in winter 
(except the outside, exposed to storms,) as bright as 
barn-cured hay. 
The same practice recommends itself in forming 
manure heaps ; the less surface they present to atmos¬ 
phere and storms, the less loss—the more conical their 
form the better they will turn off heavy rains to which 
they are exposed at all seasons, and the less the rains 
penetrate them, the more they will retain their ferti¬ 
lizing qualities for future use. 
We are aware that it requires more labor and care 
to form a manure heap in a way to have it rain resist¬ 
ing, than it does to drop the loads pell-mell over three 
or four times the surface they ought to occupy. But it 
is the labor in which there is profit, and profit is the 
stimulant of all labor. 
We have learned to prevent our manure from fire- 
fanging long ago. It is done by simply mixing the 
manure from the horse stable with that from the cattle 
stalls. If this is not sufficient, add an occasional coat¬ 
ing of gypsum, muck, or turf from the roadside. The 
two latter we know are not readily obtained in our fro¬ 
zen winters, but plaster can be applied at any time. 
Thus manure is not only saved, but its quality impro¬ 
ved beyond what it would otherwise be. Where muck 
is added, additional points are obtained. A Substance 
which in its natural state is charging the air with ma¬ 
laria, sickness and death, is converted into a healthy 
and powerful fertilizer, producing bread to the sower 
and the consumer; and as to the beauty of the thing, 
we suppose any one would prefer seeing a cavity in the 
swamp filled with clean water, with green fields around 
it, to looking upon an unsightly morass, to catch the 
straggling seed of every w r eed, and grow up to all man¬ 
ner of bushes and weeds w r . B. 
Parsnips and Other Roots. 
One of our subscribers in Michigan gives us the fol¬ 
lowing items of his experience in the cultivation and 
use of parsnips and other roots for stock, with the hope 
that what he has learned this year may benefit others 
in succeeding years: 
“ For a few years after commencing to read “ The 
Cultivator,” I noticed occasionally articles recom¬ 
mending the cultivation of roots; but as none of my 
neighbors were in the habit of raising any crops of this 
kind, save potatoes and a few turnips or ruta bagas, I 
had not the courage, being about the youngest farmer 
in my school district, to venture upon any innovation 
upon time-honored customs. At length, however, I 
become persuaded by the statements I found in your 
columns to venture upon a trial, though only upon a 
small scale, so as to have enough for medicine at least, 
as I felt sure that an occasional change of feed would 
be as agreeable and as beneficial to digestive powers 
of domestic animals, as I have experienced a similar 
variety to be in my own “internal machinery.” Ac¬ 
cordingly I have for three years raised small patches 
of mangold wurtzels, sugar beets, and carrots, and am 
so well satisfied with them as being more economical, 
more relishing, and more nourishing than hay and dry 
food constantly, that I intend to enlarge my root cul¬ 
ture considerably next year. Last year I was induced 
by an article on parsnips in The Cultivator, Jan., 
1856, to add this to the list of my “ root medicines,” 
as I call them. Finding the few I raised last year ap¬ 
parently as highly relished by my stock as they were 
on the family table, 1 have raised a larger patch this 
last season. From what I had heard and read, I an¬ 
ticipated that there would be more difficulty in getting 
them started from the seed, and in the first weeding, 
than even with carrots. Mr. Watson, in his Prize 
Essay on Practical Husbandry, says that the early 
stages of parsnip culture are more difficult than in the 
case of the carrot;—that the vitality of the seed is 
quite uncertain ;—and that they germinate so slowly 
that weeds will generally get the ascendancy, and oc¬ 
casion great labor and difficulty at the first weeding. 
Now I wish to say to those who may be deterred by 
such representations, that I have not found it any more 
difficult to get parsnips either started or weeded than 
carrots. On the contrary, I think there is less difficul¬ 
ty in weeding them the first time, as they come up with 
a broader leaf, and are more easily distinguished from 
the surrounding weeds. 
“ I have been induced to make this statement by the 
desire of making my little experience in root culture of 
some use to others, and of thus paying a debt I owe to 
you and others in the way which Franklin has recom¬ 
mended. I feel under obligation, certainly, to those 
whose statements have persdaded me to commence the 
cultivation and use of roots, and I know of no better 
way to discharge this obligation than by trying to per¬ 
suade others. With a rich and mellow soil, pretty free 
from weeds, crops of beets, carrots, parsnips, &c., can 
