1858 . 
118 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Dr. Lee talks of 30 years rest. It may require that 
in Georgia, but not so in New-York State. If farmers 
would only keep abont one-fourth of their cleared land 
in tillage, and be industrious in making and saying 
manure, the farms would pay as well as ever, as grass 
generally pays me as well as any thing. But one 
great trouble with a great many farmers is, they think 
the land can do far more than it can. They over stock 
it with cattle and sheep, and then they pay litttle or 
nothing. It is not the number kept, but good keeping 
that pays. 
Having to hire all my labor, except what I did my¬ 
self, for the last 36 years, and to make the land pay 
for its first cost, as well as for labor and improve¬ 
ments, if I had not fed highly, I might now have been 
a town or county charge. ■ It has been high feeding' 
high manuring, and draining, that has left me some¬ 
thing to support me in old age. Farmers, will you 
not take counsel 7 J. Johnston. Near Geneva. 
-o * <»-- 
Carrots a Substitute for Hay. 
Messrs. Editors —Having noticed an article in the 
Jan. Cultivator, entitled “Substitutes for Hay,” by 
A. B. Reynolds, who wishes to know the cost of rais¬ 
ing and feeding the different kinds ,of substitutes. I 
have raised a substitute in carrots for five years past, 
which I think is a very good substitute. I raised last 
season two hundred and twenty bushels from fifty-sev¬ 
en square rods of ground, which would be nearly six 
hundred and twenty bushels to the acre. The ground 
on which the above crop was raised, was manured a 
year ago last spring, and planted with broomcorn— 
was plowed in the fall after the broomcorn came off-— 
harrowed and plowed last spring—ridged or drilled in 
rows of two feet apart—then passed a two horse roller 
over the rows to settle them down and make them of a 
uniform height. The seed may be sown by a planter 
or by hand. I sowed the last season by hand, as I had 
no planter, and thought that I could sow it by hand 
quicker than to get one, and just as well. I made a 
mark with a hoe or a sharp stick on top of the row— 
then put the seed in the mark, and covered it with 
a light covering of earth. As soon as weeds make their 
appearance, a horse and cultivator should be passed 
through the rows to destroy them, and continue to do 
so until the tops are six or eight inches long—then I 
passed a plow through them, and shoved the dirt to¬ 
wards the tops. I cannot exactly tell the cost of rais¬ 
ing the above crop, as the work was mingled with oth¬ 
er farm work, but will not vary much from the follow-* 
ing: 
Preparing ground and sowing seed,.$2.00 
Half pound carrot seed,. 50 
Cultivating, weeding and thinning,. 2.50 
Digging, trimming and putting in cellar,. 5.00 
- $ 10.00 
220 bushels of carrots at 20c.,...$44.00 
8 cart-loads of tops worth 25c. per load,... 2.00 
$46.00 
10.00 
Profits from 57 square rods,.$36.00 
or about one hundred and one dollars per acre. 
As regards the cost of feeding carrots, I consider it 
less than most of the root crops, as cows will eat them 
without slicing, except the largest ones, which I slice 
for the calves. J. Chalmers. Glenville. 
Salt as a Manure for Cabbage, Turnips, &c. 
Messrs. Editors —I was much interested in the 
perusal of Mr. Levesque’s account of his clearing a 
field of that troublesome plant, “coltsfoot,” as given 
in the Co. Gent, of 11th inst., and of the growth of $100 
worth of cabbage per acre, on land that three months 
previous had received a dressing of two tons per acre 
of salt—as also in his statement, that “ cabbages of 
sorts, Swedish turnips, kohl rabi, and mangold wurzel, 
all being in their native state, marine plants, conse¬ 
quently common salt is a necessary and beneficent ad¬ 
dition to the soil, in the cultivation of all plants as 
naturally grow near the sea-shore.” I believe Mr. L. 
is correct in his views as above expressed. 
Early in October, 1856, in company with Dr. Tyler, 
the then phj'sician of the New-IIampshire Insane Hos¬ 
pital, I took a stroll over a portion of the farm con¬ 
nected with the institution ; none of the crops interest¬ 
ed me more than their field cabbages, there being not 
far from 3,000 heads of the largest and best cabbages 
I had ever seen. I remarked to him, that for a few 
years the cabbage crop had, in my vicinity, been al¬ 
most worthless, in consequence of being “ dump foot¬ 
ed.” He remarked, that a liberal application of salt 
to the land, or manure intended for cabbages, was a 
certain cure and preventive for fingers and toes, and 
all other “ ills that the cabbage is heir to.” The ma¬ 
nure intended for cabbages, received all the beef and 
pork brine and salt of the institution, amounting to 
many barrels each year, and since they had made use 
of the salted manure, they had not failed to raise ex¬ 
tra large crops. For the three past years, cabbages 
from the grounds of the insane asylum have always 
taken the lead over all others at the N. II State Fair. 
L. Bartlett. Warner, Feb., 1858. 
-a- 
A New Manure. 
In a report of experiments with different manures, 
contained in a recent issue of the North British Agri¬ 
culturist, we observe that one of the. manures used 
was saw-dust steeped in chamberlye for six weeks. 
This, like the other manures reported, was employed 
as an application to a crop of turnips. Nothing is said 
about the manner in which it was dried and made fit 
for sowing, whether by exposure to air and sun, which, 
we think, would rob it of some of its most valuable 
properties, or by mixing it with some dry and pulveru¬ 
lent substance. Should any of our readers try this 
new manure, it would be well to employ some absorbent 
of ammonia, as charcoal dust or seasoned muck, in the 
reduction of it to a dry state. Neither is the quantity 
which was used mentioned, all that is said under this 
head being that it was “ sown with a good handful 
along the drill.” The effect of this manure upon the 
turnip crop is about equal to that of four and a half 
cwts. of Peruvian guano, costing about $16; the pro¬ 
duce of the plot manured with the soaked saw-dust, 
being at the rate of 17 tons, 8 cwts. of turnips per acre, 
(white globe,) and that of the plot manured with Peru¬ 
vian guano being at the rate of 17 tons and 18 cwts. 
per acre. 
We presume that this new manure will be tried by 
many both in Great Britain and this country during 
the coming season. The individual who reports upon 
it, says that the saw-dust steeping was an idea of his 
own, and that it will be tried next year on a more ex¬ 
tensive scale by several farmers. 
