52 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Jan 
days of bright sun will shed what will cover the 
floor a foot deep, if kept drying by turning them once 
or twice a day. In extracting the oil, I used the 
press of the common linseed oil mill. I pressed one 
bushel at a time. They w T ere first warmed to a lit¬ 
tle over blood heat, to give the oil sufficient fluidity, 
without any grinding, and subjected to the full power 
of the press. The first run gave one gallon of what 
is commonly called u cold pressed oil.” The cake 
was then crushed under the grinder, and one to two 
quarts of water added w’hile grinding or mashing. 
It was then brought to a steaming heat, and again 
pressed, when I usually obtained another gallon of 
oil of a somewhat inferior quality, denominated 
“ hot pressed oil.” A process is now to be gone 
through with, equally as necessary, and perhaps 
more difficult, than any of the former. The oil 
must be clarified, or it will soon become rancid and 
unfit for use as a medicine. Suppose you have a 
kettle, holding ten gallons; into this turn five gal¬ 
lons of oil and one gallon of cold water; hang it on 
a crane over a slow but steady fire, stirring it occa¬ 
sionally till it boils, w r hich may be within one hour. 
A thick scum will arise, resembling fhat which oc¬ 
curs in scalding beef brine, which must be skimmed 
off, and the skimmings saved. Let the oil remain 
over the fire from ten to fifteen minutes, after the 
scum has all disappeared, but not allow’ it to boil, 
and then strain through flannel, and the process is 
done. Take the skimmings that remain and sub¬ 
ject them, without any additional water, to the 
same boiling process as the former, and the same 
result will follow. It may hardly be necessary to 
caution the operator to remove the oil from the fire, 
if it should show’ signs of boiling over. S. Spencer. 
Westfield , Chautauqve co., November 10, 1849. 
Gathering Clover Seed. 
I have used aw'ooden machine, made like a cranber¬ 
ry-rake, on a large scale, to gather my clover-seed 
this season, with good effect; but it has occurred to me 
that the enterprising farmers of the East must have a 
more complete machine, the teeth probably made of 
iron, and my object is to get a description of a more per¬ 
fect contrivance, that I can get one made. The difficulty 
with my wooden machine is, that it clogs and causes 
much delay. 
Again, what is the best machine for cleaning clover 
seed, and where and on what terms can w’e most con¬ 
veniently get it? C. W. Cathcart. New Durham, 
Laporte Co., Ind., 1849. 
We trust some one will furnish the information called 
for above. Eds. 
Culture of Turneps. 
We believe the farmers of the Northern and Eastern 
States, may make the culture of turneps profitable, as 
an auxiliary crop—especially on the lighter kinds of 
soil. The roots tend greatly to the improvement of 
soils of this description, particularly when fed off by 
sheep. The soil becomes rich, and at the same time, 
acquires the proper degree of compactness, which fits 
it for the production of wheat and the grasses. In 
England, some of the best wheat crops are raised in 
sandy districts, where formerly, this grain w 7 as not 
grown at all. We have seen some instances in our 
own country, w’here the effects of turnep culture have 
been quite as remarkable. We might cite, for example, 
the farm of Mr. McIntyre, on the sandy plain west of 
Albany, a tract which, till lately was regarded as of 
trifling value; but which has, chiefly by means of tur¬ 
neps and sheep, been brought to a state of productive¬ 
ness that 'will compare favorably with the first class of 
soils. 
It is true, that in our climate, we cannot feed turneps 
on the land w r ith the advantage that is derived in the 
milder atmosphere of England; but it may be profita¬ 
bly done even here, for at least two months in the year, 
or generally through October and November. This is 
a season of the year in which grass is commonly short, 
and the turneps will carry out, well, cattle or sheep de¬ 
signed to be slaughtered at the close of the season, or 
they will give them an excellent start for stall-feeding 
in winter. 
At the late meeting of the Norfolk County, Mass., 
Agricultural Society, Mr. Webster, in his speech at 
the dinner-table, alluded to this subject, and spoke of 
the success which had attended his trials in turnep-cul- 
ture at Marshfield. He said: 
u There is nothing that I know of in my mode of 
culture of the thin and light lands which I possess, dif¬ 
ferent from the general method of cultivation in the 
Commonwealth except this; that I have been persua¬ 
ded, by reading, and by observation abroad, that there 
is one species of cultivation almost unknown in the 
state of Massachusets, which is still very well suited 
for the counties of Norfolk, Plymouth, Bristol, and oth¬ 
er places where there is a great proportion of light 
land; I mean the root cultivation—that of turneps and 
beets. And from all flights of oratory upon Agricul¬ 
ture, I come down to simple beets and turneps, and to 
give you one word upon that subject. The time is 
coming when the light lands must yield themselves to 
this culture.” 
He states that on his farm, naturally very light and 
poor, he raises turneps that he is 11 willing to show to 
and compare with any farmer in Yorkshire.” 
It is, however, a modified turnep-husbandry that wo 
designed particularly to advocate at the present time; 
we would not adopt it to the exclusion of Indian corn, 
but as an auxiliary to this and other grain crops. We 
recommend it especially as an after crop, not interfer¬ 
ing with the regular course of cropping. For instance, 
it may be sowm after rye or hay, have been taken from 
the ground. There are several varieties which grow so 
rapidly that they will give a good yield if sown as late 
as the 20th of July to the 10th of August, and some¬ 
times wfien sown later. 
On the farm of Wm. 0. Bartlett, Esq., Worces¬ 
ter, Mass, we lately saw an excellent crop produced on 
a rye stubble. The soil was gravelly, on a porous, gra¬ 
nitic subsoil, and three years ago was regarded as com¬ 
pletely worn-out. It has been heavily manured with a 
compost of peat saturated with urine and mixed with 
barn-yard manure. The stubble was plowed immedi¬ 
ately after the rye was harvested, the ground rolled, 
and the turnep seed, (of the English round purple-top 
variety) sown from the 20th to the 25th of August, 
with Emery’s machine, in rows two feet apart. The 
crop was never hand-hoed, and only a portion of it 
thinned—the only cultivation being done with the. culti¬ 
vator and the subsoil plow. The crop was very clean 
from weeds, though there was some rye among it, 
which however, did not appear to have much checked 
the growth of the turneps. We should think the crop 
on the whole field, seven acres, would average 500 
bushels per acre, and there were portions which would 
give double that yield. 
Mr. B. showed us another lot of turneps, which were 
produced at even less expense than the one above-men¬ 
tioned. It grew on a drained bog. The surface was 
covered with small shrubs and coarse herbage, the roots 
of which formed a close net-work two or three inches 
deep. While the ground was dry, the surface was set 
on fire, and this fibrous covering was reduced to ashes 
—the fire going to just about the depth that the roots 
