1847 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
23 
could only plow it once, before the manure was put on, 
and then plowed it in. The weeds sprang up with the 
plants, and it required an immense amount of labor to 
keep them from choking them. Notwithstanding this, 
I kept the weeds down sufficiently to keep the turneps 
above them, and they flourished beyond my expec¬ 
tations. The compost I applied was so agreeable to 
their taste , that they fed upon it, and thrived exceedingly. 
It was a mixture of barn-yard manure, the refuse of 
slaughter-yards where thousands of cattle had been 
slaughtered, drawn into a mine or pile in the winter, 
and all turned over, and mixed well together in the lat¬ 
ter end of March. Give me such compost as this, so 
far decayed as to cut out with a shovel, and I shall 
never fear of obtaining a crop, unless the season is ex¬ 
cessively dry. Such a composition very soon dissolves, 
and forces the plant in its early stage out of the way of 
the fly. 
This crop was sown broad-cast at four different peri¬ 
ods ; the first, the early part of June, (say the first 
week ;) the second, ten days later, and so continued 
until the whole crop was sown. The object of the dif¬ 
ferent sowings, was to take advantage in hoeing ; as 
soon as the first was finished, the second was ready to 
commence, and when the last hoeing was completed, the 
first needed a second hoeing ; and when at the end again, 
they were safe from the weeds, and required nothing 
more doing to, until pulled and put into the cellar. 
I cut the tops as I pulled them, and drew them into 
the poorest part of the pastures ; the cattle eat them 
with avidity, and left their manure in the place it was 
wanted. This crop, as near as I could “ guess ” aver¬ 
aged about twenty tons to the acre. The second crop 
was on a similar soil about the same number of acres, 
and one-half of it under different treatment. Part of 
this lot was what is here called old meadow, but it was 
a complete mass of couch grass. I had some breast- 
plows made, pared off the sod and burnt it, and the 
quantity of ashes exceeded any thing I ever saw in 
England, under the process of 11 paring and burning ,” 
so generally practiced there for a turnep crop. The 
ashes were all the manure applied, and although sown 
later than those to which the compost was applied, did 
not incur one quarter of the expense in hoeing, the 
weeds having been previously destroyed by burning. 
The crop was equally as good as the former. I drew 
these tops on the pastures as before. I “ guessed ,” this 
crop as averaging twenty-five tons per acre. The third 
crop was a field of about twelve acres, of old pasture, 
and like the previous one, a bed of couch-grass. Part 
of this field was a dark sand, and the other part a light¬ 
er sand, either of them an excellent soil for turneps. 
The whole of this field was breast-plowed, and pro¬ 
duced only about half as many ashes as the former one, 
therefore, I added a slight dressing of compost; and 
although a very dry season, I should say the average 
was certainly twenty-five tons to the acre. If the sea¬ 
son had been favorable, the weight of produce would 
have been most extraordinary. In August and Septem¬ 
ber, the leaves were all dried up and withered. A 
heavy rain came early in October, and they grew with 
exceeding rapidity ; if they had had six weeks more to 
have grown in, as they would have done in England, 
they would have surpassed any crop I ever saw grow 
there. The fourth crop was a similar soil to the latter, 
but had been miserably impoverished ; the previous crop 
was a mixture of Canada thistles, weeds, and a small 
portion of barley, not sufficient to pay the expense of 
harvesting. To this crop was applied the same quan¬ 
tity of compost as the first crop. The dry weather in 
August and September very much affected their growth, 
the tops became mildewed, but I think they were equal 
to any previous crop, and would have compared with the 
best crops in England. They generally grow there un¬ 
til Christmas, and sometimes the middle of January- I 
should say that your climate in Virginia possesses ad¬ 
vantages in this respect over a northern clime ; and I am 
strongly inclined to believe, they would stand the frost 
the whole of the winter ; if so, the tops in the spring 
will produce you very early food for ewes and lambs, 
and enable you to send early lambs to market. 
These statements of crops, are somewhat like “ guess 
works ” as respects the weight per acre. I judged from 
the number of loads drawrn, having weighed a bushel 
basket full, and measured the wagon box with the 
basket. This gave me the impression at the time of the 
amount of produce. 
The true way to grow Sweedes is this. Plow your 
land as soon as the grain-crop is off; then all the per¬ 
nicious seeds exposed to the atmosphere will vegetate. 
Let them grow for a month, then plow again, and turn 
them under ; the seeds on the surface will again spring 
up, and the winter will destroy them. The more you 
stir your land, so much the more you make your weeds 
grow, by bringing those seeds that have been lying dor¬ 
mant, to the surface, which when once sprouted are thus 
destroyed, leaving your land free from refuse and weeds, 
to receive the crop you intend to grow upon it, and 
which saves you more than half in hoeing. 9 
By a continuation of this system, and sowing clear 
seed grain, you keep your land free from weeds, which 
I consider a very prominent item, not only in the expense 
of labor, but in the unprofitable exhaustion of the soil. 
By letting your various kinds of manure decay in the 
compost heap, and mixing them well together, you des¬ 
troy all injurious weeds therein contained, and you get 
a greater benefit from it in the early part of the season, 
when the plants require forcing to shade the ground 
with their leaves. 
My object in sowing broad-cast, is to put enough seed 
on the ground, so that the fly may feed on a part of them 
and then leave enough for a crop. A man who under¬ 
stands hoeing turneps broad-cast, can do as much in a 
day as he can in the drill, and I never want to see a 
horse amongst them. If the land is well pulverised, 
and reasonably free from weeds, a man can hoe the first 
time, half an acre per day. The second time he can do 
more, but to effect this he must do it while the plants 
and weeds are young ; the sooner after the second rough 
leaf appears, the better. 
There are but very few good turnep hoers ; most, 
men are afraid to exercise their hoe freely, leaving them 
much too thick, and do not bear sufficiently hard upon 
it to go to the bottom of the roots of the weeds, which 
take root again and grow as rapidly as ever. I gene¬ 
rally leave them from eighteen inches to two feet apart, 
and think I can obtain a greater weight by the latter 
space than the former. Great care must be taken to 
leave the plants singly. An experienced hoer will sel¬ 
dom have to put his hand to a plant unless they are 
very thick; they are principally drawn by the corner of the 
hoe made for that purpose. 
I put the roots in a long cellar, the whole length of 
the stable, about fifteen feet wide, ninety feet long, and 
ten feet high, putting a slight covering of straw on the 
top. In this way they have kept well the whole of the 
winter, and until the middle of May, sometimes sprout¬ 
ing in midwinter. I cut them for my young stock, and 
feed them whole to those whose teeth are well settled ; 
about a half a bushel per day to the latter, and less to 
the former. 
I am, dear sir your, ob’t servant, 
W. H. Sotham. 
Great Corn Stalk. —M. B. Bateham, of the Ohio 
Cultivator, has received a cornstalk from Kentucky, 
which is 7| inches in circumference, (24 inches, diame¬ 
ter,) 19 feet high and 12 feet to the ear. 
