Turnips for fall and winter use are generally sown in the last of
July. I have been long apprehensive that this sowing was too early.
The weather at this season of the year is generally very hot and
very dry; and drought has a direct tendency to dwarf and spoil a
field of young turnips; the black fly, also, a natural enemy of the
turnip, is at this period very voracious, and the crop is too often
destroyed, or rendered unprofitable from one or the other of these
causes.
With a view to remedy these evils, I sowed my turnips two seasons
ago, very late in August. My neighbours laughed at me, and said
I would not have a single mess. I had, however, more and better
turnips than any of them. Encouraged by the success, I sowed the
last year, on the 25th of August, a small piece of ground, eight
rods only, with turnips. They came up well, and not a fly touched
them. When they had four or five leaves I directed one of my men to
weed and thin them, so as to have them stand eight or ten inches
apart. The ground afterwards was slightly stirred with a garden
hoe. The leaves grew rapidly, covered the ground, and prevented
the further growth of weeds. On the 11th of November, I pulled the
turnips, trimmed and measured them, and had on the eight rods of
ground, (the twentieth part of one acre only,) forty-five bushels of
as large and well formed turnips as I ever saw. This produce is at
the rate of nine hundred bushels to the acre. The soil is a sandy
loam, in good heart, but by no means in high tilth.
I sowed two other small pieces of ground, the one on the 1st, and
the other on the 8th of September. Neither of these yielded like the
one sowed on the 25th August; but each of them produced much larger
and better turnips, than I have seen, that were sowed at the usual
time.
I attribute my success altogether to the late sowing; the heat is
then less intense, the rains more frequent, the dews more copious,
the fly harmless, and the crop abundant.
I would earnestly recommend to the farmers to set apart a small
piece of ground, and try the experiment of late sowing, and I am
confident they will be amply compensated for making the attempt, by
a greater increase of crops.
[_Connecticut Courant._
(From the American Farmer.)
_On the use of Oxen and deep ploughing in New England, by Josiah
Quincy, Esq._
BOSTON, Nov. 2, 1817.
_My dear Sir_,
In reply to your inquiries in your last letter I answer:--Oxen are
used almost wholly for plough and team work in this quarter of the
country. A single horse is usually kept by our principal farmers, to
go to mill, and to church, and for the convenience of the family.
Occasionally he precedes the oxen at plough, or on the road. This
is so universal as to be almost without exception, among mere
farmers. They certainly answer all purposes, except perhaps speed;
and in this, on a long journey, they are considered as quite equal
to horses. But of this our farmers have not many opportunities of
comparison, oxen are so universally used. They are "worked" with
yokes, and "broken" when very young, pretty much as men break
horses.--Our farmers are so satisfied with their utility and economy
that no argument would induce them to change.
A very good yoke of oxen will cost when well broke, and about
five years old, if well matched and of good size' from 80 to 100
dollars. They continue good, without accident, and with good usage,
until ten years old; then they are usually fatted, and bring from
the butcher according to their size and fatness from 100 to 120
dollars.
Whether oxen are not more susceptible of _heat_ than horses, I
am ignorant. My opinion is that they are. A circumstance in your
climate to be ascertained in forming an opinion of their comparative
utility.
With respect to "deep ploughing," a considerable change is producing
in this state, in the opinion and practice of farmers in this
respect. Deep ploughing begins to be more general than formerly.
I should state _five_ inches to be the most approved practice, on
turning up the sord for corn. With respect to deepening it for other
crops, after the sord is broken, it depends upon the nature of the
crop and the resources of the farmer, and also the state of his
soil. My own rule is never to lay down land to grass until it has
been turned up to the depth of _fourteen inches_. But my practice is
peculiar, as I carry a regular succession of, 1st corn, 2d potatoes,
3d carrots, 4th grain, 5th grass, over my whole farm; considering,
as I do, that _carrots_ is of all farm products the most profitable,
and using them as the test of the actual state of the depth of tilth
on my farm.
Undoubtedly when the depth of ploughing pass the old tilth, and
enters upon the virgin soil, "manuring" must be in proportion to the
depth of the virgin soil, which you turn, otherwise you sacrifice
present crop to future crops;--a practice very discouraging to any
farmer.
I enclose you the newspaper account of our last cattle show. A more
detailed statement will appear in our Repository.
Respectfully,