Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-07-23

cutting is necessary and there is no dam
ger of choking. The same advantages
apply to it as food for milk COWS. For
its culture considerable previous prepare
ton IS necessary, and for a crop for next
season it is not too early now to begin to
prepare the seed-bed. One great advan-
tage of this crop is that a succession
may be grown and an early crop may be
ready for use in August, at which time it
will be found of the greatest value for
COWS that are in milk. For this early
crop the plants must be grown in the
fall and wintered over in cold frames.
The bed for the plants should be
chosen in a dry, warm, sheltered
place, and the soil should be carefully
dug over with the spade or the fork, and
made fine and mellow, and rich with
well-rotted manure. For each acre of
crop a bed of two square rods will be
sufficient, upon which space one pound
of seed should be sOwn. Drill sowing
will be found more convenient than
broadcast, as it will be necessary to keep
the bed clear from weeds and the hoe can
be used between the drills. The seed
should not be sown until the end of
August or early in September. We have
found the large drumhead the best for
this early crop, as it is very hardy and
upon rich ground comes forward quickly
IN the spring and grows to a large size.
Heads weighing twenty pounds and over
are not uncommon in a field of this
variety. When the plants are about four
weeks old it is best to transplant them to
the spaces between the drills, by which
they are checked in their upward growth
and make more stocky plants with more
spreading roots. The frames may be
made by placing boards upon their edges
between the rows, about four feet apart,
and mailing strips to hold each pair of
boards together. The strips may be
nailed about three or four feet apart, and
loose boards laid between the strips to
complete the covering. The loose boards
may be removed during the days when
the weather is not too severe, to give
light and air to the plants. Upon very
cold nights straw or coarse hay may be
heaped upon the frames for protection.
The ground for this crop may be corn
or Oat stubble plOwed in the fall and ma
nured we'll with ten to twelve twO-hOrse
loads Of fine manure directly upon the
plowed ground. The soil and manure
should be mixed by thorough harrow
ing or working with the cultivator, and
then lightly crOss-plowed and left rough
until spring. In spring, as early as pos
sible, the ground should be narrowed
level and marked out into rows three
feet apart. A dressing of 200 pounds of
fine bOnedust, superphosphate of lime,
or guano spread in the rows will be found
Of great benefit. The plants should be
set out two feet apart in the rows, and if
troubled with the flea they should be
JI,C+oI fi,n DIV 81 cl-pA limo
or SCOT. Clean cultivation is needed. A
later crop may be made from plants sown
in a hot-bed in March and planted out in
May and June. For this crop we have
found the early Winningstadt an excel
lent variety, and growing to good size.
The late crop will be raised from seed
sOwn in an open bed in May and planted
out in July, and the Marblehead man.
moth or the drumhead are probably the
best varieties. If piece of clover sod
can be plOwed and well MANFRED early in
this month, it will pay to purchase plants
from the seedsmen if they have not
been prepared at home. A good clover
sod turned under has yielded us an eX-
cellent crop, and we have also raised q
good crop by planting cabbages between
the hills of corn and working them with
the hoe. For these late crops and such
a catch crop as that raised with corn we
have found Peruvian guano or fish guano
the best fertilizer. With a small hand
full of fish guano with every plant we
have raised some good cabbages in
corn-feld; but where a piece of ground
can be specially devoted to them it will
be found the best, although where it can
not be had we would by all means raise
what we could in every available spot,
either with the corn or in vacant spaces
amongst the potatoes. Over 1000 plants
may be raised upon an acre, and if by
careful cultivation and liberal manuring
heads of an average weight Of six pounds
only are grown there will be twenty tons
of most excellent and healthful fodder.
Such a crop is by no means beyond the
range of probability where the proper
attention is given. We know of few
crops which return a greater value for
the labor expended, and it is one which
stands heat and drought better than tur-
nips and equally well as mangles.-
american Agrjculturtst.