THE CULTIVATOR. 
65 
moist, or is immediately after covering saturated with an abundant rain, it 
may be advantageously applied in the drills. There is a greater propriety 
in applying short manure, or bone dust, in the drill to this crop, than to 
almost any other, as the roots gather their food within a limited space.— 
We have seen short muck applied as a top dressing to the common turnip, 
when sown broadcast, with the best effect. When cultivated in the drill 
system, with the manure deposited in the drills, the usual distance be¬ 
tween the rows is 27 to 30 inches. 
Fig. 21. 
wvw 
A A * * 1 A -A A 
a good thickness of earth, and by all means take care to ventilate at the 
crown of the pile, to prevent the roots heating and becoming rotten. 
Use. —The ruta baga, in particular, is eaten by all farm stock,—sheep 
and oxen are fattened upon them. They are almost invariably fed raw, 
but require to be cut, or sliced. There are machines for doing this in a 
summary way; but the labor is readily performed with a spade or meat 
smirk. 
“ The extended culture of the turnip,” says Prof. Lowe, “ has ena¬ 
bled us to carry the practice of breeding and feeding our domestic animals 
to a state of perfection, in which no offier country has yet been able to 
rival Great Britain. The cultivation of the plant in rows, instead of the 
former method of broadcast, may well be regarded as an improvement of 
the highest importance. It has enabled the farmer to secure abundant 
returns, which the former methods of cultivation did not admit of, and so 
to increase the number of useful animals, that may be maintained upon 
the farm, and to subject the lighter soils to a species of culture more be¬ 
neficial than any other that had been before devised for them.” 
SPRING POLE AND TREADLE CHURN, &c. 
! Explanation of the cuts. —Fig. 21, shows the ridgelets, when the dung 
is placed in the drill; then the dung covered with the plough, fig 22; roll¬ 
ed and the seed sown, fig 23; the young plants with the earth hoed away 
from them with a curved coulter, fig. 24; the plants further advanced, 
covering the soil with their leaves, and enjoying the dung with their roots, 
fig. 25. 
In sowing, the drill barrow, of which several kinds are now for sale, is 
the best implement to use. A man walks briskly forward with one of 
these before him, propelled like a wheel-barrow. The drill is made, the 
seed sown, covered, and, by some the ground rolled, as he advances. 
Where this implement cannot be had, a small implement formed like a 
pepper box, with holes at one end, and fastened to the end of a walking 
stick, and followed by a man with a rake to cover the seed, may be sub¬ 
stituted. Sow upon the fresh stirred soil. 
After the sowing is completed, the plants generally make their appear¬ 
ance in from five to eight days; and if the weather is showery, they will 
soon grow into what is termed the rough leaf, when they are a couple of 
inches high. The process of horse hoeing then commences, by running 
f the cultivator, or light plough, up and down between the rows, as near to 
• the plants as can be done without injury, or within three inches of them, 
.so as to cut up any weeds that may have sprung up. In two or three days 
this should be followed by the hand hoe. The weeds should all be eradi¬ 
cated, and the plants thinned, by drawing the hoe crosswise of the row, 
so as to leave them standing single at the distance of eight or ten inches. 
The cultivator may be subsequently once or twice passed again between 
the rows, and the few weeds that will spring up be destroyed. The tur¬ 
nip crop may be advantageously followed with spring wheat or barley. 
Quality .—The relative portion of nutriment afforded by each of the fol¬ 
lowing species, has been estimated by the late Mr. George Sinclair, as 
amounting, in 64 drachms, to 
White tankard,. 76 grains. Norfolk white,... 83 grains. 
Common white loaf, 80 “ Stone or garden,. 85 “ 
and Swedish turnips, 110 grains. 
The Turnip fly is the greatest enemy to the crop; and although many 
preventives have been recommended, no particular one seems to have 
given full confidence. Soot and quick-lime have been strewed along the 
drills, and on the young leaves, at the rate of six bushels per acre, with 
good success. This mixture is applied when the leaves are dry. Some 
sow radish seed with their turnips, which first attract the fly. The Lon¬ 
don Society of Arts awarded a gold medal for this mode of prevention, 
which consists in drilling, thick, a row of common turnips between the 
rows of-ruta baga. The fly destroyed the former, and spared the Swedes. 
Gathering the crop. —The roots may be generally drawn by the hand, 
or with a potato hook. They should be topped and tailed, and be permit¬ 
ted to lay upon the ground till the loose dirt separates from the roots. We 
have described the best mode of performing these p ocesses in two or 
more of our numbers. They should not be cut too close, nor the roots 
wounded, lest it causes them to rot. 
Storing —They may be stored in cellars or pits, as before described. 
Let the pits not exceed three feet in breadth, raise the roots a foot above 
the surface of the ground, sloping from the sides to the centre, cover with 
John Low, of Milford, Otsego, has sent us the drawing of a spring 
pole power, which he applies to churning, washing and pressing cheese; 
and which he says may also be used to crush apples, corn, barley, to cut¬ 
ting fodder, &c. The pole may be either placed diagonally, as in the cut, 
or horizontally. A. is the spring pole, made firm at the butt end; B. is a 
strip attached to the pole, through which the handle of the churn or beater 
passes, and which is fastened to the pole by an iron bolt, removable at plea¬ 
sure; C. is a cord by which the tread board is attached to the end of the spring 
pole; D. the tread board, to which the power is applied; E. the churn or 
wash tub; F. the cheese press. How far this power may be made useful 
for family uses, we are unable to say, except from Mr. Low’s representa¬ 
tion, who speaks of its great utility in his family. As no patent right is 
claimed, any farmer may satisfy himself in the matter, without much ex¬ 
pense or loss of time. Steel rods or springs may be used on the same 
principle. 
Fig. 26. 
PRESERVATION OF HEALTH. 
Health is truly classed among the first blessings of life; and it requires 
no argument to prove, that it is easier to prevent diseases than to cure 
them. These considerations have induced us to publish, in our preceding 
volumes, several articles on the prevention of disease, from Roget, 
Combe, and other high medical authorities. The subject which we now 
offer for consideration, is 
THE IMPORTANCE OF FRESH AIR. 
According to the best authorities, a man inhales, or takes into his lungs, 
from six to ten pints of air at every respiration, or breath. This air comes 
in contact with the blood in the lungs, and both the blood and the air un¬ 
dergo a material change in consequence. The blood imbibes a portion of 
the oxygen from the air, assumes a florid red hue, and acquires thereby 
the power of supporting life, and fits it to become a part of the living ani¬ 
mal. The air receives, in return for the oxygen, or vital air, which it 
gives to the blood, about an equal portion of carbonic acid, which vitiates 
it, and renders it unfit for further respiration; or, if this vitiated or impure 
air is again respired, the blood becomes likewise vitiated by its'contact 
with it, and all its functions become more or less disordered. Atmosphe¬ 
ric air consists of about 79 parts of nitrogen, 21 of oxygen, and nearly one 
of carbonic acid. A greater or less quantity of oxygen unfits the atmos¬ 
phere for animal respiration, and causes disorganization and disease in the 
animal system. When atmospheric air is inhaled upon the lungs, it parts 
with eight or eight and a half per cent of its oxygen, and receives in re¬ 
turn a like quantity of carbonic acid. Thus atmospheric air beeomes ra¬ 
pidly vitiated by being breathed, and is as speedily restored to its purity 
by healthy vegetation, which takes up the carbonic acid, or decomposes it, 
and gives off, or sets free,'oxygen. According to Dr. Bostock’s estimate, 
an averaged sized man consumes about 45,000 cubic inches of oxygen, 
and gives out about 40,000 of carbonic acid in 24 hours. “ Taking,” says 
Dr. Combe, “ the consumption of air at 20 cubic inches at each breath¬ 
ing, as a very low medium, and rating the number of respirations at 15 in 
a minute, it appears that, in the space of one minute, no less than 300 
cubic inches of air are required for the respiration of a single person. In 
the same space of time, 24 cubic inches of oxygen disappear, and are re¬ 
placed by an equal amount of carbonic acid; so that in the course of an 
