GardeK
VOL. LXV
INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 2, 1910.
NO. 27
FARMERS, RAISE MORE   TURNIPS.
Editors  Indiana Farmer:
We sow or drill turnips any time
during July—the middle of the month
being perhaps the  best period.
If they are to be planted on ground
that is liable to become weedy, it is
preferable to drill the seed in rows 18
inches apart, to admit tools for the
necessary cultivation.
Plant the seed good and thick to insure a sufficient stand, and thin the
plants to a distance of from 3 to 6 inches apart when they are up and start-
may be eaten either raw or cooked in
a variety of ways. Eaten in moderate
quantities, they are very nutritious and
wholesome.
Turnips are also a valuable feed for
poultry and all kinds of live stock.
Their sweet flavor and juicy consistency
make them especially desirable as a
balancing ration for the dairy cows
during the winter months, when this
class of feedstuff is not obtainable on
most farms. When farmers understand
the nearness to which turnips approach
the  ingredients  found  In  summer-tfme
the soil just before planting the crop,
heavy and light applications of commercial fertilizers and of fresh and
rotted manures, rotted manure turned
and unturned while in the compost
heap, commercial fertilizers derived
entirely from mineral sources and
those derived entirely from vegetable
sources, an<J the use of stable manure
as compared with commercial fertilizer
for sweet potatoes.
The manures and commercial fertilizers were used in connection with green
crops turned under.    As nearly as pos-
The smaller quantity of stable manure
(5 tons per acre) produoed almost as
large a crop and gave much greater
profits than larger applications of manure.
GASOIJNE   ENGINES   AND   BOYS.
Editors  Indiana Farmer:
Is not the gasoline engine an important factor in the problem of keeping the boy on the farm? This Is the
opinion expressed in a recent number
of "Gas Power." Not every boy has a
mechanical bent; but the gas engine is
-^
*my.
iJ*a
Hay Harvest on the Wallace Farm, Miami County
ed to growing. This will give plenty
of room, and permit them to develop a
heavy crop of suitable-sized turnips.
Drilling turnips has other points of
advantage. The plants thrive better
where they are cultivated. The stand
Is more uniform, for, in broadcasting,
the seed often fail through some cause
or other, to come up in certain portions
of the field. This leaves spaces of
ground unoccupied. At other points,
they are so thick it is necessary to thin
them out and throw many of them
away, or their crowded condition will
cause them to be small in size.
Where broadcasting is employed, we
find it about as good a plan as any, to
watch and sow turnip seed just before
a heavy rain. Have the ground in
prime condition, and the rain-drops
will beat the seed into the soil and do
the covering for you—in a pretty uniform manner,  too.
Newly broken sod is the finest place
turnips can be grown; although any
good, sandy soil will produce them.
They may even be sown in the corn
field or the potato patch after these
crops are laid by, the soft, damp earth
forming an ideal seed bed for quick
germination. If this can be done just
preceding a shower, so much the better.
Unless some of the above conditions
exist,, one will be more likely to secure
a satisfactory yield by lightly harrowing the seed.
As a general rule, the farmer pays
little attention to the turnip crop; yet,
they are excellent table vegetables, and
grazing, they will make a greater effort to raise a bountiful supply of thees
easily grown roots. We store them
for winter use, the same as potatoes,
feeding them every winter, and consider them to be of great assitance in egg-
production, and in stimulating a profuse milk flow.
One excellent plan, is to sow the turnips in the corn field at laying-by, and
turn the sheep into the field when the
plants reach a fair size. The sheep
will not only make good use of the
corn blades (never molesting the ears),
but will save you the back-breaking
job of pulling the turnips. And sheep
thrive on turnips. They clean out the
weeds,  too!
Plant more turnips. Their immense
yield and the many uses to which they
may be put, commend them to every
tiller of the soil. They should be
classed as a regular crop, instead of a
forage  or  catch-crop.
M. Coverdell.
Worth  Co., Mo.
I      »      |	
MANURING       AND       FERTILIZING
TRUCK CROPS.
The Department of Agriculture recently received a report from the Maryland Experiment Station containing the results
of several manuring and fertilizing experiments with truck crops in which it
was sought to bring out the relative
values of stable manure and commercial fertilizer, plowing under commercial fertilizer as compared with using it as a top dressing harrowed into
sible, the same amount of actual plant
food was supplied in the chemical fertilizer as was found in the stable manure. The results briefly summarized
are as follows:
"Stable manures always increased
the yields, but valued at $2 per ton did
not give as much profit as commercial
fertilizer.
"Fresh manure spread in winter did
not give as much increase as the same
amount rotted and plowed down at
same date in the spring.
"Turning the manure while rotting
was better than heaving it without being turned.
"Commercial fertilizers plowed under In the spring invariably gave larger
yields than when sowed on the surface
jt.st before planting in the summer.
"About 750 pounds of commercial
fertilizers seemed to be more profitable
than three  times that amount.
"Continuous crops, of sweet potatoes
on the same land does not appear to be
bad practice.
"The quality of the crops, cabbage
and potatoes especially, grown upon
the check plats, was of very poor grade.
"The soil on plats heavily dressed
with mineral fertilizers does not seem
to have been changed or injured any
more than where the organic fertilizers
were   applied."
In the work with sweet potatoes,
commercial fertilizers gave the best results for the first three years. The
results as a whole, however, appear to
favor the use of a combination of stable manure  and  commercial  fertilizer.
now so comparatively simple and withal such a labor saver that it can be
assummed that the majority of boys
will take a keen interest in operating
one.
The writer at one period of his life
thought it was a fine thing to have a
splendid spring as close as 100 yards
from the house. Then later he thought
what an improvement it was to have a
well right at the kitchen door and a
pump. And then again later a gasoline engine chug-chugged and pumped
water into a tank in the garret and
supplied the house with plenty of water. The engine was an old one and
had to be tinkered with a good deal
but how satisfactory it was to feel its
forceful throb and know that an hour's
pumping would fill that big tank. Now
the spigots run with municipal water
—free as air (outside of the water tax)
but I am sure my youngsters will never
appreciate it as I did that gasoline
pumped water.
To make metal and fuel do what the
hands and the arms and the back were
wont to do; but to do twice or four
times as much is no sign of laziness. It
is a sign of brain activity and the boy
who successfully operates a gas engine
will be provided with a sufficiency of
both brain and manual labor to keep
him busy and on the job. It is the
hands continually at work doing endless tasks and the brain continually
dreaming great things that eventually
drives many an ambitious boy to the
great centers.
G. E. M.