1883.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
283 
application of some salt of nitrogen, as ni¬ 
trate of soda, produces a good effect, and is 
■often profitable with mangels. In short, tur¬ 
nips are greatly benefited by phosphatic 
manures, while mangels respond most freely 
to nitrogen compounds. 
From the large amounts of ash constitu¬ 
ents and nitrogen required by root crops, it 
is evident that a soil must be well stocked 
with these elements to produce profitable 
crops in succession. If the land is not ma¬ 
nured in some way it will become exhausted, 
the length of time depending upon the accu¬ 
mulated fertility. In ordinary farming, it is 
best to make the root crop one of a system of 
notation. In this way the roots will aid the 
following crops by the thorough tillage re¬ 
quired, and by clearing the soil of weeds. 
This help will be reciprocated by the crops 
preceding the roots, conserving the sub¬ 
stances most needed. Aside from this, the 
growth of roots permits a larger number of 
live stock- being kept, and, under judicious 
management, this means more and better 
manure, and ultimately a richer soil and 
larger crops throughout the whole rotation. 
Squashes and Pumpkins 
As we have never yet met a person who 
•could tell us the precise difference between 
a squash and a pumpkin, we speak of them 
together. The distinction is sufficiently 
marked between the common yellow field 
pumpkin and a squash of high order, like the 
“Hubbard.” But there are other products 
called pumpkins that are not unlike a squash. 
The author of “Gardening for Young and 
Old,” sent us some of the “Possum-nosed 
Pumpkin,” from which to make a drawing 
for his book. After serving this purpose, 
they were converted into pies, and better 
squash pies we never saw. They were sent 
as pumpkins, but had they not been so label¬ 
led, and merely sent for a name, we should 
have welcomed them as our old friend, 
the “Honolulu Squash,” quite popular 
years ago. In large and fleshy stem, in fine¬ 
ness of flesh, and in the chalky whiteness of 
its seed, the “Possum-nose” is no more a 
pumpkin than the “Hubbard,” while in the 
final test—the pie—no pumpkin ever ap¬ 
proached it. The writer, being New England 
born, holds to the heresy that the only good 
pumpkin pies are made from squashes. We 
are quite willing that the common pumpkin 
should be grown, as a stolen crop among 
corn, but squashes should have the ground to 
themselves, and the best soil on the place to 
insure good crops. It is a mistake in raising 
squashes to manure the hills highly, while 
the rest of the land is starved. The squash 
vine takes root at each joint, and as these 
secondary roots do much towards perfecting 
the crop, they should have something to feed 
on. Hence it is well to grow squashes on 
land that was highly manured for a previ¬ 
ous crop. Autumnal Marrow, Hubbard, 
Marblehead, and Butman are well-known 
large kinds, while Cocoanut and Perfect Gem 
are smaller editions of first-class squashes. 
Lay out the rows ten feet apart, and make 
the hills four feet apart in the row. Sow 
several seeds in each hill and then, after all 
the fighting with various insects, if two good 
plants, or even one, can be established every 
four feet, the vines will be thick enough. 
Few plants have more insect enemies. A 
thorough dusting with slaked lime, or a mix¬ 
ture of plaster and ashes, will take them 
through the attacks of the early insects, then 
hand-picking and crushing the eggs will keep 
the squash bugs in subjection. The only 
remedy yet known for the “ borer,” which 
suddenly kills the vine after it has made con¬ 
siderable growth, is to lightly cover the first 
few joints of the vine with earth. There is a 
12-spotted brother to the striped bug, which 
often plays havoc with the foliage; when 
this, fortunately yet rare insect, appears, 
poison it with Paris green. After squashes are 
grown and ripened, they should be handled 
as carefully as eggs, and stored where the 
temperature will remain evenly at 60° 
Self-regulating Guards for Tile Drains. 
BY FRED. GRUNDY. 
The mouth of tile drains should be properly 
guarded, to keep out rabbits, rats, and other 
vermin when dry, to save the end tile from 
being crushed by horses or cattle, and to pre¬ 
vent frost from heaving it out of place. 
Where a tile drain opens on nearly level 
ground, the arrangement shown in fig. 1 will 
answer the purpose. It is simply a box four 
to six feet long, made of plank, oak, or pine. 
The tile enters it at one end, and a loose lid 
or cover is hinged on the opposite end. 
Fig. 1.— END BOX FOR A DRAIN. 
When water enters the box, it raises the lid 
and flows out unobstructed. The end of the 
drain is always tightly closed when empty. 
Stakes should be driven down on each side 
of the box, to prevent frost from heaving it 
out. Where the tile enters it, tljere should 
be at least eighteen inches of earth over all. 
In draining soft, spongy places on liill-sides, 
and wherever the lower end of the drain in¬ 
clines sharply, we have found it expedient 
Fig. 2.— ANOTHER FORM OF DRAIN PROTECTOR. 
to use a box, as shown in,fig. 2. The water 
enters through a hole in one side, and flows 
out through the trap-door, d. This box pro¬ 
tects the outlet from stock and vermin, and 
also checks the flow of water sufficiently to 
prevent it from cutting great gullies at the 
end of the drain. It should be made of oak 
plank, and when painted with hot coal-tar, 
will last many years. 
A neighbor of mine has used a box like 
this as a watering trough for his cattle for 
several years. The water flows into it 
through a tile for nine months of the year. 
The trap-door, which is made water-tight, is 
opened two or three times a year, when the 
drain is flush, to clear the lower end of silt. 
Why Always Timothy? 
The tendency to fall into routine is nowhere 
more strikingly shown than in our grass 
lands. It is Timothy and Clover so generally 
in all the meadows, that one would suppose 
' Timothy was the only grass that would 
succeed in our climate. In New England 
Timothy was formerly called “Herd’s-Grass,” 
a name which in Pennsylvania is given to 
what is known elsewhere as Red-top. This 
formerly led to much confusion, but at pres¬ 
ent the name “Herd’s-Grass” is generally 
dropped. Timothy is especially unsuited to 
the too common method of treating grass 
lands. There are farmers who still, after 
taking a crop of hay, turn their animals upon 
the land, after the grass has made a sec¬ 
ond growth, and convert it into pasture. 
Timothy forms a bulbous swelling at the base 
of its stems, from which next year’s growth 
will start, and is greatly injured by cattle 
trampling it, and eating off the leaves that 
should protect the bulb during the winter. 
Some farmers, after a few years, give up a 
mowing lot to pasturage; the grass being al¬ 
most entirely Timothy is soon killed in spots, 
as, however valuable for hay, Timothy is a 
poor pasture grass. In many respects, a 
much more useful grass than Timothy is Or¬ 
chard Grass (Dactylis glomerata). This, in 
England, is generally called “Rough Cock’s- 
foot Grass.” Orchard Grass, the only name 
by which it is known in this country, unfor¬ 
tunately conveys the idea that it is only 
suited to the shade of trees. We never knew 
a farmer to fairly try Orchard Grass who was 
not so pleased with it that he did not con¬ 
tinue its use. Yet take the country through, 
it has made its way but slowly. It is prefer¬ 
able to Timothy to combine with clover for 
hay, as the two are in perfection, that is, in 
blossom, at the same time, while as pasture 
grass it is vastly superior. Orchard Grass is, 
in fact, a true pasture grass, while Timothy 
is not. It at once recovers after it is closely 
cropped, and the earliness of its growth in 
spring is greatly in its favor. The chief, in 
fact the only objection that has been made 
to Orchard Grass, is its tendency to form tus¬ 
socks, or clumps, a trouble which may be 
overcome by thick seeding. Two bushels of 
clean seed to the acre, if alone, or one bushel 
if clover is to be sown with it, will give a 
sufficiently thick growth to prevent the for¬ 
mation of clumps. 
Another grass which should receive more 
attention from farmers is the “ Meadow Oat- 
grass,” or “Tall Meadow Oat-Grass ” (Arr- 
henatherum avenaceum ). In Virginia it is 
sometimes called “ Peruvian Grass.” In that 
State, and farther south, it has been found 
especially valuable for winter pasturage. 
Those who have made a trial of this gener¬ 
ally neglected grass, speak highly of it, espec¬ 
ially as it may be sown in the fall, and pro¬ 
duce a good crop of hay the next summer, 
j Farmers commit a mistake in confining 
I themselves so exclusively to Timothy, and 
I not experimenting more with other grasses. 
