Ruta baga is also ui gn at advantage in the feeding of horses, either when gig t n raw or boiled, or with 1)10 ken corn. II a sufficient quantity were cultivated, it is plain that a great deal of grain might be saved, while the health and condition ut tae woraing stock would be invigorated and augmented. An evening lead of this nutritious article would be of incalculable benefit; even the most of horses are load of common turnip in a raw state ; and it is a subject well worthy of every farmer's attention, whether it would not be for his in terest to raise these esculents in such a quantity as to serve them during the long period when grass can not be obtained. That the health of the animals would thereby be benefited is unquestionable ; and perhaps the saving of grain would greatly exceed the trou ble occasioned by furnishing a daily supply of these roots, Every farmer who wishes to have any of the va rieties of turnip of a right kind, ought to rave seed for himself. It is unnecessary to expect pure seed from the shops, unless an attention is bestowed in the rearing and NI inning processes, exceeding what is usu ally given by those concerned in these processes. Hence heavy losses are often sustained by cultivators who trust to these agents; and this has been the case par ticularly with ruta baga. A few years ago, this excel lent root was nearly given up by many fanners, because a spurious seed was furnished by the shops. However, by the attention of some respectable agriculturists, seed of a Letter kind has again been obtained, which may re store the credit of this valuable root. This credit, however, is only to be preserved by a continuance of the sedulity which caused its renovation; or, in other words, by keeping ruta baga at a distance from every other va riety of the turnip and cabbage tribes, when forming its flowers, and procreating its successors.
We now come to another branch of this subject, not of less importance in many districts than the raising of the crop; and that is the way of preserving turnips Ore ugh the winter months, and having them at all times at hand, and in condition for feeding cattle and sheep even during the severest storms. With those who are acqualmed with, or pay attention to the variable cli mate of Britain, this part of our subject mill appear in to re sting, and of material consequence to the breeders and feeders of live-stock.
In treating of this subject, we cannot do better than submit to the consideration of our readers, one of the Essays presented to the conductor of the Farmer's Magazine, when a premium was offered by that re Tectable agriculturist sir George Stuart Mackenzie of Cool, Batt., for the best essay on storing turnips Iur winter consumption. Though this essay, from particular circumstances, did not gain the premium offered, yet it contains an extent ol valuable informa tion on the question agitated, highly interesting to agriculturists, and particularly those placed in situa tions where the practice of storing is expedient and necessary.
" The introduction of turnips into the regular rota tion of crops, is the important improvement which agriculture in.s received in modern times. Previous to that event, the live stock were maintained, during sum mer, on the nerbage which nature spontaneously produ ced on land exhausted by a previous succession ol white crops, and overrun with the accumulation of weeds for ages ; curing NS lute 1., on the straw and chaff of the preced
ing crop, w ith an occasional allowance ol oats. Under that sy stem, the I:dialling season was confined within the narrow limits 01 the luxuriance of the natural grass : no animal was tit for the shambles till the wane of sum mer; and as soon as the pasturage began to decline in autumn, the whole fattening stock was hurried indis criminately to the market ; and their half-fed carcasses, carefully salted, and frugally consumed, satisfied the simple desii es ol our forefathers till the return of veal and lamb in spring. The condition of the breeding stuck, on their wilder fare, was truly deplorable. 11 the season was unusually severe, or if the spring was unfavourable to vegetation, vast numbers of cattle were literally starved to death ; and those which survived, had become so feeble and emaciated at the approach of summer, as to require no small assistance to qft them, set them on their legs, and support them to the nearest field which happened, in the fashion of those days, to be most grass-proud.
But, since the introduction of turnips, the grand de skit raium in the former practice of husbandry has been supplied. From this improvement of their food, young stock cunt nue their giowth, and fat cattle are prepared for the market during every season of the year. Tur nips succeed the decline of the grass, and afford succu lent and nutritious food till the return of summer. Our farmers seem to brave the disadvantages of their nor thern situation ; to emulate, by their industry, the natu ral resources of happier climes ; and to compensate, by the succulence of their turnip crops, the want of peren nial verdure on their fields. But turnips, though pos sessing this invaluable excellence, are in some respects a precarious crop. After escaping the ravages of the fly and caterpillar, after arriving at their full size to wards the close of autumn, they are liable to be injured, sometimes to be destroyed, by the severities of the en suing winter. Storing is said, by its advocates, to afford complete seem ity against these calamities. In the pre sent paper, I shall describe the most approved methods of storing, and afterwards estimate the peculiar advan tages of that practice.
Though turnips have been cultivated in this country to a considerable extent, for upwards of thirty years, yet storing is a practice of a much later origin, and is still circumscribed within narrow bounds. From the first introduction of that vegetable, some intelligent farmers regularly carried off the field, and laid up, under cover, a quantity of turnips sufficient for two or three weeks' consumption. That practice, affording provision against the contingency of frost, has extended itself into every district where the turnip husbandry is properly understood. But the plan of raising and storing the whole crop, immediately after harvest, seems to have been adopted first in the Upper Ward of Clydesdale, and to have thence travelled slowly into the adjoining counties. Even in the place of its origin, this practice has met with opposition ; and in no other has it yet gained a complete establishment.