are ploughed down in the fall. Clover seed is sown early in the spring on two of the wheat fields, those which have been most recently manured. By this method, each field yields three crops of wheat, two of clover, one of rye, and one of corn, every eight years. Each field, in the mean time, has lain an open fallow, and received a heavy dressing of manure, perhaps at an average of fifteen four-horse loads per acre. His crop of wheat is seldom less than fifteen hundred bushels, but often much more. His average rye crop is about four hundred and fifty bushels, and his corn crop annually about five hundred bushels; all which grain, at the present low prices, would amount to more than two thousand dollars annually, and at former prices to double that amount, and his farm is withal very highly improved.”
ROCKS.
Are easily broken in pieces by building a fire on them, and throwing on water while hot.
SMALL FARMS.
In conclusion, we desire to impress on the common-sense reasoning of every man, the paramount importance of having no more land in culture than can be well cultivated. By no means attempt to manage more than you can manage well. Be a farmer, not a mere earth-scraper, lazily scratching up sufficient earth to destroy the face of the soil, and throw seed away, or you will always have to scratch hard for a living. But make your farm a source of pride, and it will surely become a source of profit. Make the object to be not to have many, but rich acres.
THE SUGAR BEET.
BY JAMES RONALDSON, PHILADELPHIA.
In the feeding cattle, milk cows, and stock of all kinds, every farmer who his tried the Sugar Beet, knows that it is equal to any, and superior to most of the feeds that are used. Its culture is attended with little expense, and in our dry climate is more certain of making a good crop than any other of the roots grown for the purpose of feeding stock.
A gentleman interested in the growing of sugar-cane in Louisiana, states that a crop of Sugar Beets is found to be superior to all other crops as a refresher and renovator of the land after the fourth crop, that is, the fourth year of sugar-cane. If it proves suitable for making sugar from in the cane latitude, the making of sugar will assume an entirely new character; and in Louisiana, the boiling season will commence with the beet, and close with the cane, whereby the same capital that is invested in the works, machinery, &c., connected with the boiling house, will prove a great saving on this portion of the planter’s capital.
As yet the process of extracting sugar from beets has not been made sufficiently perfect to obtain the whole saccharine matter as in the case of the sugar-cane, therefore the residue forms excellent food for cattle.
Choice of Ground.–Beet thrives in the soil suited to the potato. In the absence of manure the roots will be small, but where they grow fresh and healthy, it has been found that small plants yield a large proportion of sugar; but this by no means makes up for the want of mass.
Land essentially stiff clay is not suitable for beets, because the seed germinates badly, and the root becomes forked and rises too much above the surface, where it becomes hard and reedy. One of the evils attending forked roots is, that stones, gravel, and earth get enveloped in the interstices, and injure the machine, when the object is to make sugar. Clay soils are improved by deep and frequent ploughing and harrowing: the manures best suited to this kind of ground, are half-rotted straw, fresh stable dung, leaves, &c.
Preparation of the Ground.–Here, as in all other departments of the farming business, much of the success depends on the skill and judgment of the farmer. In many cases three ploughings will be necessary, and one of these ploughings should be before winter, that the turned-up soil may be mellowed by the frost; the last ploughing has to be in the spring immediately before planting the seed; two ploughings in this country will be found sufficient; in all cases it should be well harrowed, and rolling will be an improvement that amply relays the expense. Deep ploughing is generally useful, but the farmer has to consider the nature of the substrata. It would be improper to turn up much of the poor clay or gravel bottom, and where the substrata is an open sand, deep ploughing is not required. Manure in which the process of fermentation has not advanced far, will answer best for beets, nevertheless all kinds are useful; but the half-rotten best divides the soil and suffers the roots freely to expand.
Of Sowing in Beds.–By this method the whole of the seed is sown on a small portion of land compared with what it is intended to occupy; these plants will be fit to pull up and plant out where they are finally to remain, in a month or six weeks from the time of sowing; this planting is performed by means of a dibble with which boles are made in the ground, always a little deeper than the length of the plant that is to be put into them, and with this dibble the earth must be carefully pressed close to the root. This mode of sowing should be thought of only where seed is scarce, the quantity to be sown not great, and labour easily procured.
Broad Cast.–This manner is the simplest. Six pounds of seed will be required where two and a half or three would have been enough when planted in drills by the hand, and the produce is never as great as by the following method:
Rows or Drills.–The little furrows into which the seeds are to be dropped are made by a harrow, having the teeth at the distance one from another that the rows of beets are intended to be from each other, and the seed is dropped two or three into the drills at the distance of twelve to eighteen inches apart from each other. After the planting is finished, the seeds are covered by having a light harrow with plenty of teeth in it drawn over the ground. In this way there is a great saving of seed and the plants are regularly spaced. Four boys will plant an acre in a day. By using a drill drawn by a horse, the labour is very much abridged and the work will be expedited. This machine is very important to those who plant large fields. In fixing the distance that is to be between the rows, reference should be had to the kind of horse-hoe that is to be used in keeping the crops free from weeds. When the plants are far from each other the roots will grow to a large size, and the contrary will result from planting them close. The seed should be planted at the depth of from one to two inches.
Time of Sowing.–This depends on the position of the place and the nature of the soil; as a general rule, the earlier the better. Provided the land is dry and in proper order, early sowing is particularly important when the object is to make sugar, because the roots ar-
