REPORT OF MR. S. A. BEDFORD. 



319 



FIELD ROOTS. 



The season has not been a favourable one for field roots, the rainfall being much too 

 light for these moisture-loving plants. 



The land for all kinds of field roots was prepared by spreading ten loads of well 

 rotted manure per acre in the fall. The land was then ploughed at once eight inches 

 deep, and well harrowed and rolled. In the spring the field was simply harrowed and 

 the seed sown in flat drills, and kept clean during the growing season by means of a one- 

 horse cultivator and hoeing. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH TURNIPS. 



Eighteen A^arieties of turnips were tested this year, sown at two different dates. 

 The previous crop was mangels. They were quite free of injury from insect enemies, 

 but the yield, owing to insufiicient rainfall, was much below the average, although the 

 quality was excellent. As usual, the early sown plots, with few exceptions, gave the 

 largest returns. The purple top varieties continue to take the lead for productiveness. 



The soil was a rich sandy loam ; the estimate of yield has been made from the pro- 

 duct of two rows, each 66 feet long. The roots are free of rot. The first plots were sown 

 on the 20th May, the second on the 3rd June, in drills 30 inches apart ; all were pulled 

 on 1st October. 



Turnips — Test of Varieties. 



Name of Variety. 



Hall's Westbury 



Halewood's Brunze Top. . . . 



Mammoth Clyde. 



Shamrock Purple Top 



Prize Purple Top 



Marquis of Lome 



East Lothian 



Pearce's Prize Winner 



Bangholm Selected 



Carter's Elephant 



Skirving's 



Giant King . . . . 



Jumbo or Monarch 



Hartley's Bronze 



Sutton's Champion 



Perfection Swede 



Selected Champion 



Selected Purple-Top Swede. 



Yield 

 per Acre. 



1st Plot. 



Tons. Lbs. 



11 

 11 

 10 

 9 

 9 

 9 

 9 

 9 

 9 

 8 

 8 

 8 

 8 

 8 

 8 

 7 

 7 

 4 



1,232 



440 



328 



1,800 



1,536 



1,008 



480 



216 



216 



1,952 



1,9.52 



1,688 



1,424 



896 



632 



1,576 



1,048 



712 



Yield 

 per Acre. 



1st Plot. 



Bush. Lbs. 



387 

 374 

 338 

 330 

 325 

 316 

 308 

 303 

 303 

 299 

 299 

 294 

 290 

 281 

 277 

 259 

 250 

 145 



12 

 48 



36 



48 



36 

 36 

 12 

 12 

 48 

 24 

 36 

 12 

 36 

 48 

 12 



Yield 

 per Acre. 



2nd Plot. 



Tons. Lbs. 



8 

 8 

 6 

 8 

 8 

 6 

 8 



10 

 8 

 7 

 8 

 7 

 8 

 8 

 9 

 9 

 6 



11 



1,952 

 1,424 

 1,200 

 1,424 

 1,160 

 1,992 

 1688 



856 

 1,424 



520 

 1,160 

 1,576 



632 

 1,952 

 1,800 



744 

 1,728 



440 



Yield 

 per Acre. 



2nd Plot. 



Bush. Lbs . 



299 

 290 

 220 

 290 

 286 

 233 

 294 

 347 

 290 

 242 

 286 

 259 

 277 

 299 

 330 

 312 

 228 

 374 



12 

 24 



24 



12 

 48 

 36 

 24 



36 

 12 

 12 



24 



48 



