THE CULTIVATOR. 
71 
The Sugar Beet. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I have noticed in the 
late numbers of the Cultivator, Dr. Guthrie’s and Mr. 
Bement’s attacks on the sugar beet, insinuating that it 
is an almost worthless root for the feeding of stock ; and 
as the opinions of these gentlemen, with partial experi¬ 
ments, are directly at variance to those of the most em¬ 
inent agriculturists of France and Germany, after an 
experience of more than thirty years, and to those also 
of many of our own countrymen, after trying it with 
satisfactory effect about five years ; and as I had the 
honor of appearing in the last May number of the Cul¬ 
tivator, strongly recommending its production and feed¬ 
ing, I feel bound to make some comments on these com¬ 
munications, and reiterate my own experience in the 
feeding qualities, of what I consider as one of the most 
valuable of roots. 
I am perfectly satisfied by Doct. G.’s statement of the 
analysis that he made of the beet, vol. viii. page 40, 
that he was either grossly imposed upon in the pur¬ 
chase of seed, and had grown the mangel wurtzel in¬ 
stead of the white Silesian, or that he had planted it in 
so rich a vegetable soil, as to produce so rank a growth 
as to almost totally destroy the saccharine matter that is 
usually found in it. especially when he adds, that “ the 
beets brought upon our table are totally destitute of 
sweetness.” Now I have not only my own taste for 
three years in succession, to prove that sugar beets 
raised in and about Buffalo, are exceedingly sweet 
and nutritious, but can also bring a hundred witnesses any 
time to corroborate the assertion, from their own daily 
eating. The famous blood beet cannot compare with the 
sweet, tender Silesian, and as for mangel wurtzel and 
other beets, they are almost tasteless after them ; and 
they are never boiled in a pot by themselves, that there 
is not a sweet syrup left at the bottom, almost of the 
thickness and agreeable taste of sugar-molasses, which, 
in my opinion, only wants to be clarified and granulat¬ 
ed, to make good sugar. So much for personal taste 
and experience ; now for that of stock. I know that fed 
raw to cows, they considerably added to the quantity and 
especially the quality of the milk, making the butter as 
sweet, and almost as yellow as is produced on fresh sum¬ 
mer’s grass ; they also kept them, with the addition of hay 
alone, in the best possible order ; and the young stock 
fed on them, together with hay, were as fat and almost 
as fine and glossy in their coats, as when on the best of 
summer pas'ture. I never tried them with horses, but 
should hardly think them hearty food enough for those 
at work. Not keeping sheep, of course I could not ex¬ 
periment with them ; but others speak very flatteringly 
on this point, as may be seen from some communica¬ 
tions that went the rounds the year pas't in most of the 
agricultural papers, copied, I think, from the Phila¬ 
delphia Cabinet. Beets there were said to produce the 
best of mutton and the finest of wool. 
The most important use, however, that I have made 
of them is with hogs. But as my breeds embrace only 
the China and Berkshire, it is in reference to these su¬ 
perior animals alone that I can speak, and here it seems 
that Doct. Guthrie’s Berkshires did tolerably well, 
while his others almost starved. The first winter I 
kept my grown swine partly on beets and partly -- n p 0 _ 
tatoes, raw ; the second winter almost exclusively on 
raw beets. thrCTTn to them on the ground. I did not 
notice any difference whatever in their appearance du¬ 
ring these two sf&sons, but each time they were kept in 
as good flesh as I ever wish to have breeders, and they 
were by no means allowed to eat their fill of them ei¬ 
ther. The third winter, (the last) having erected a 
steaming apparatus, with a new piggery, I commenced 
cooking the food for my hogs, and have frequently 
steamed beets alone and fed them to all ages, from the 
pig two months old up to the grown animal of four 
years. To the last, I had to stint them to a common 
water pail half full twice a day, or say from eight to 
ten quarts, or they would get too fat for breeding, and 
as to the former, with the addition of a trifling quantity 
of corn, I never saw animals thrive better, or more con¬ 
tented in my life. They would fill their bellies and lie 
down in their straw, and dose away for hours together, 
as contenied ns puppies and as whist as mice ■ and this 
stock thus treated, I am not afraid to show, either for 
general size or fineness of point, against any thing in 
the United States, saving my late importation, and that 
only for great weight, these last being somewhat of a 
larger class than is usual among Berkshires. During 
this same winter I steamed a mixture of carrots and po¬ 
tatoes with the beets occasionally, but in feeding I found 
that as a general rule, the pigs would pick out the beets 
first, the potatoes second, and only eat the carrots when 
hungry at the last ; but if any one were to ask which I 
thought the most nutritious, I should say the potato 
without doubt. My accommodations are too limited, 
however, to make the careful experiment as to the re¬ 
lative value of roots, bushel for bushel, and again in 
comparison with grain, as requested by Mr. Caton, of 
Illinois, but I trust that the above will be satisfactory 
to him and to others, so far as it goes, for it is experi¬ 
ence and not theory. I must say that I do not like this 
jumping at conclusions from partial experiments. Ire- 
collect reading an address some two years ago, by some 
one in Pennsylvania, before an agricultural society, in 
which the writer maintained—and he seemed to be an 
intelligent, scientific man—that ruta baga, by analysis, 
was but little else than wood,, and therefore, as a food 
for man and beast, it was almost totally worthless. In¬ 
deed ! And yet this same despised root, together with 
a little straw, makes most of the English beef and mut¬ 
ton, and in some instances at times one-fourth supports 
its laboring population. Appropos to this, I recollect 
once telling an intelligent neighbor that I cultivated 
pumpkins a good deal, and liked them much as food for 
swine. “ Well,” he replied, “ they never did anything 
for my hogs but scour them.” The fact was, he had 
an inferior breed of animals. Again, I shut up some 
Berkshire sows that were quite poor, about three weeks, 
to put them in condition; they were allowed nothing but 
pumpkins during this time, and were then turned out, 
having got really, in that short time, almost too fat for 
good breeding. An intelligent gentleman who had seen 
them previous to their being shut up, and then again 
when they were let out, acknowledged that nothing but 
seeing the thing with his own eyes would have convinc¬ 
ed him of the truth of it, and wound up by adding, (I 
do not give the words exactly, but the ideas,) “ why in¬ 
stead of fatting them, the urine that would have come 
from common hogs, thus fed, would have made them 
skeleton poor by this time.”—I am no chemist and 
therefore humbly ask, what would be the analysis of 
clover? Not much, I fancy, but water. And yet Berk¬ 
shires, and in fact, all good crosses of the China hog, 
will keep fat upon it in summer and grow well; and I 
will conclude this long letter on sugar beets by saying, 
that if their stock does not thrive upon them, why then 
gentlemen have been deceived in their seed, or they 
have not got the right sort of animal to consume the 
roots. 
Like Judge Garnett of Virginia, I have occasionally 
eat Rohan potatoes ; whether I was inmy “ right senses” 
or not at the time, I can’t say, but this is the conclusion 
that I came to at the different times I partook of them, 
that they were only of about a third-rate table quali¬ 
ty. Yours, A. B. ALLEN. 
My compliments to Mr. Howard of Ohio, with acor- 
rection of his quotation of my opinions of Herefords as 
expressed in the October number of the Cultivator. I 
there said that “ in comparison with these,” viz. 
Messrs. Coming’s and Sotham’s “ all others that I had 
ever seen had narrow hips, thin loins,” Src., not simply 
that they “ were narrow at these points,” as he makes 
me write in his communication in the last January num¬ 
ber of the Cultivator. 
February , 1841. 
The Hessian Fly. 
Messrs. Editors —The vast amount of wheat annu¬ 
ally destroyed, (or supposed to be,) by the wheat or 
Hessian fly, as it is called, ought to induce every intel¬ 
ligent cultivator of this best of grain to investigate the 
subject with more care and attention than they yet have 
done. As yet opinions as to the cause or a remedy are 
conflicting and various. Some say that the fly deposites 
its eggs on the grain in the ear, while standing ; there 
it remains until the grain vegetates ; and after the wheat 
has formed one or two joints, it gets up between the 
stalk and the leaves and there brings forth the fly. Oth¬ 
ers say that this fly deposites its eggs in autumn at the 
first or second joint of the growing xvheat; and many 
believed that if they deferred sowing until after frost, 
the fly would be dead and the wheat safe, but here they 
were disappointed, and soon discovered that the spring 
wheat was also destroyed. Where does the fly winter, 
or where is it hatched early enough to deposit eggs in 
the spring wheat long before any are hatched in the 
winter wheat? Will any of those who believe that the 
eggs are deposited on the grain, tell us how they get up 
to the second joint of the wheat between the leaves and 
the stalk without possessing any power to move, or any 
apparent animation? 
I had not been long engaged in the cultivation of 
wheat, before my attention was drawn to this subject. 
I found the eggs that destroy the wheat at the joint, 
usually the second joint, between the leaves and the 
stalk. In the earliest stage that I have seen them, they 
were nearly the size and shape of a small grain of rye, 
of the same color as the stalk where they were—a pale 
green, semi-transparent—standing up lengthwise of the 
stalk, with a minute filament at their lower extremity, 
as though they had been attached to the joint. In a 
few days after this, they were white, and after another 
short period they are brown, hard, and much enlarged, 
pressing so upon the stalk as effectually to stop its 
growth. The leaves now receiving more than their 
usual nourishment, become larger and deeper colored, 
so that they may easily be distinguished from the other 
wheat at some distance. Occular demonstration com¬ 
pels us to believe many things that we otherwise would 
not. After mature reflection on what I have seen and 
read on this subject, I am induced to believe that the 
eggs which destroy the wheat, are produced by, and 
grow in diseased or unhealthy wheat; that this wheat 
has become diseased or unhealthy by one or more of the 
following causes. 1st. Bad seed, old, shrunk, or other¬ 
wise imperfect. 2d. The ground naturally or other¬ 
wise unsuitable. 3d. The weather too warm and moist, 
or perhaps too much electricity in the air. When the 
first and second cause prevails, the wheat will be inju¬ 
red only in pieces so circumstanced. When the third 
cause prevails, whole districts will be injured. I am 
aware that by many I shall not be considered orthodox 
in this matter ; and they will perhaps smile at the idea 
of a vegetable producing an animal. They must recol¬ 
lect that the lower order of animals approach in consti¬ 
tution so near to a vegetable, that naturalists cannot 
agree where to draw the line of separation. Who 
would believe that a horse hair immersed in water 
warmed for a short time by a summer sun, would be¬ 
come an animal, having every appearance and motion 
of a snake, if we had not seen it ? Can they believe 
that an egg is deposited by its parent for each animal- 
culm that we find swarming in most liquid substances 
exposed to warm weather ? What is an egg but a for¬ 
tuitous assemblage of organic particles, which, when 
operated upon by a certain degree of warmth a given 
time, produces an animal ? Mr. Cross produced insects 
by passing the electro-magnetic current through silicate 
of potash. I believe there is no better remedy, than to 
sow only new, sound, and healthy wheat on the most 
suitable ground prepared in the best manner ; use lime, 
and put your manure on a previous crop. 
Morristown, N. /., 1841. R. K. TUTTLE. 
The Hohan and Silver Bake Potatoes. 
Messrs. Gaylord &. Tucker —Frequent communi¬ 
cations have appeared in the agricultural papers for the 
last few months, in relation to the qualities of the Rohan 
potato. It is doubtless true, that.we, as a people, are 
somewhat prone to be taken up with new things, but I 
imagine a greater difficulty with many of our farmers, 
is, an unwillingness to adopt improvements, xvhen they 
are truly important, solely because they are new. And 
it appears to me evident, also, that when a single ex¬ 
periment in relation to any new grain or vegetable, does 
not exactly equal all that the cupidity it may be, of the 
experimenter expected, the article is at once cried down, 
and pronounced a cheat, or it is said, “It is done for a 
speculation .” 
Now I do not pretend.that all that has been said about 
Rohan potatoes is true—neither do I believe that all that 
has been said against them is any nearer the truth. In 
this, as in many other matters, the truth lies between 
the extremes. I haveraisedthe Rohans for three seasons, 
and if my experience is worth any thing, it is, that the 
Rohan is a very productive potato and of very good qua¬ 
lity. The first season I planted but a few ; the next I 
planted a bushel, and the yield not far from one hun¬ 
dred bushels. Last season I planted five bushels on an 
acre of ground, and although the season with us was 
unfavorable for the soil which xvas occupied, yet the 
yield was equal to nearly 400 bushels to the acre, while 
other varieties in the same field and under the same 
culture, yielded much less, besides using three times as 
much seed to the acre. 
I fattened my hogs mostly upon these potatoes, occa¬ 
sionally throwing in sugar beets to vary their food— 
and I venture to say a finer lot of pork or better fat¬ 
tened, was not raised in this region. The hogs were 
mostly half blooded Berkshires and Chinas—and they 
did remarkably well—and I have never fattened hogs 
at so little expense, by at least one-third. Your corres¬ 
pondent, H. D. Grove, speaks of the Merino potato. I 
have raised them, and I consider the difference in the 
nutritive qualities very great, and entirely in favor of 
the Rohans. 
I have not used the Rohans much as a table potato, 
because I have varieties more choice ; but I can say, 
to those who call them ‘ ‘ abominable ,” that if their wives 
understand how to cook potatoes as they ought to be 
cooked, they will find very many kinds of potatoes which 
deserve such an appellation rather than the Rohans. 
My Rohans boil up very mealy and are a solid potato, 
and remarkably nutritious. I regret very much to see 
such sweeping denunciations as are contained in some of 
the communications in your paper. In your February 
number, S. Guthrie has made a furious attack upon 
the sugar beet—and it may be the beet deserves all the 
hard words that are spoken of it—but I believe such 
kind of communications have a tendency to weaken the 
confidence of the community in statements which are 
made in our agricultural journals. 
I have another variety of potato, which I procured in 
Ellington, Conn, two years siilce, called the Silver Lake, 
which I believe is a better potato than the Mercer or 
Pinkeye, and is a much better bearer—the yield is full 
one-third greater than the Mercer. I have a considera¬ 
ble quantity of these potatoes, and if they prove on fur¬ 
ther trial, as choice as they now appear to be, you may 
hear from me again. B. P. JOHNSON. 
Rome, Oneida county, N. Y. Feb. 23, 1841. 
Preservation of Bacon—Wintering- Calves. 
Messrs. Editors —As the season is rapidly ap¬ 
proaching when all good house-wives feel a natural so¬ 
licitude for the preservation of their bacon, permit me 
to inform such of your readers as may not be appris¬ 
ed of the fact, that by white-washing their bacon, 
they can preserve it, perhaps, more economical¬ 
ly and effectually, than by adopting any other of 
the various modes which have been recommend¬ 
ed for this purpose. A respectable neighbor of 
mine has saved his bacon in this way for the last 
twenty years, without the loss of a single piece. Early 
in the spring, after his meat is well cured, he gives his 
bacon a good coat of white-wash, with the common 
brush, on the fleshy side and on the ends of the hocks, 
sprinkling a small quantity of fine ashes on the moist 
white-wash, and hangs it up again in his smoke-house, 
where it is permitted to remain until it is taken down 
for use. The process does not injure the meat in the 
slightest degree. It owes its efficacy, obviously, to the 
fact that the hard crust it forms over the bacon, pre¬ 
vents the fly from depositing its eggs in it. Any oth£r 
means, which would exclude the fly from all access to 
