REPORT OF MR. R. ROBERTSON. 293 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



FIELD CROPS OF TURNIPS. 



The ground on which this crop was grown was previously in corn, having been 

 manured with stable manure, 20 one-horse cart loads per acre, and bone meal and com- 

 plete fertilizers each at the rate of 100 pounds per acre. After the corn crop was 

 removed, in the fall of 1899, the field was ploughed. In the spring it was disc-harrowed 

 and 18 one-horse cart loads of stable manure per acre spread and ploughed under. It 

 was then worked up with the disc, spring-tooth and smoothing harrows, after which 

 complete fertilizer at the rate of 200 pounds .per acre was sown and harrowed in. 



Drills were run 24 inches apart and the seed was sown with the turnip seeder- 

 One variety was sown on a one-quarter acre plot, four varieties on one-half acre plots, 

 and another variety on a two acre piece. The yield from these field tests were aa 

 follows : — 



Field Crops. — Turnips. 



Name of Variety and size of plot. 



i acre plot : — 



Purple Top 



^ acre plot : — 



Kangaroo 



Elephant 



Laing's Purple Top 



Drummond Purple Top. 

 2 acres plot : — 



Selected Purple Top. . .. 



Yield per acre. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH MANGELS. 



Twenty-three varieties of mangels were sown May 29, and duplicate ones two 

 weeks later, June 12. The land adjoined that on which the turnips were grown was 

 similar in character and received the same treatment, namely, manured in the fall 

 and spring, with 30 one-horse cart loads of stable manure per acre, 15 loads being 

 given at each time, the ground well worked up in the spring, and 200 pounds of com- 

 plete fertilizer per acre sown broadcast and harrowed in with the smoothing harrow. 



Drills were run 24 inches apart, after which they were raked off by hand, 

 and the seed planted in holes made by a marker, one foot apart, into which from 

 three to six seeds were dropped. The seed was lightly covered and rolled. On field 

 crops of mangels rolled this year alongside of those unrolled, the latter started much 

 more regular and thrifty. 



The crop from these plots was pulled October 25, and the following yields obtained, 

 being calculated from two rows each, 66 feet long : 



