SECRETARY'S REPORT. 105 



is generally cultivated in the State, in rows twenty to thirty 

 inches apart, cultivated with the horse hoe and cultivator. The 

 general statements from different counties (made in 1858,) 

 show a cost of about ten cents per bushel, and a profit of over 

 or about one hundred dollars per acre. The lowest statement 

 made of the cost of cultivation alone, upon the very best soil in 

 the valley counties, in a favorable season, and a large yield, 

 was five cents per bushel. Eight cords of manure to the acre 

 is not considered too much, if the greatest economy in the cost 

 of the crop per bushel is desired, (for the cost must be deter- 

 mined by the manure applied to the crop.) In the section 

 where eight cords of manure to the acre has been applied, the 

 greatest yield has been harvested. 



The carrot, mangold wurzel, and Swedish turnip have been 

 cultivated in Hampden County, upon one plot of ground in 

 even condition, showing the following results : — 



Two rows of the carrots yielded .... 1,200 lbs. 

 Swedes yielded .... 1,420 " 

 mangold wurzel yielded . . 2,220 " 



Two adjoining rows, cultivated in cabbages, yielded 290 

 merchantable heads. The average yield of mangolds in the 

 State of New York, (where six or eight cords of manure to the 

 acre is generally used, the crop cultivated in rows thirty inches 

 apart,) is twenty to twenty-five tons per acre. The premium 

 on the carrot crop in the State of New York, has been invariably 

 awarded upon a yield of from eight hundred to one thousand 

 bushels per acre, the average cost reckoned at about 12^ cents 

 per bushel. The ruta-baga is there extensively cultivated upon 

 a similar soil with that used for the carrot. The New York 

 State Reports show an increase from year to year in the quantity 

 raised of carrots and beets for feeding to all kinds of stock. 

 The Vermont State Agricultural Society Reports say, that sugar 

 beets, carrots, and ruta-bagas form the principal root crops for 

 feeding purposes. Beef fattened on the beet is more tender 

 and juicy, and sweeter, than when fattened with meal. The 

 editor of the Plough, Loom and Anvil, in publishing the answers 

 received to circular inquiries, as to the value of carrots for feed- 

 ing stock, gives the following opinions : A peck of carrots, 



14* 



