ROOT CROPS. 



161 



Statement of J. J. H. Gregory. 



Onions. — The lot of onions offered for premium are of the 

 early red globe variety, and were grown on a piece of 

 reclaimed meadow-land. This land, after having been suit- 

 ably drained, was covered with sand and gravelly loam at the 

 rate of about a hundred two-horse loads per acre. The land on 

 which the onions grew had onions also the year previous, and 

 the year before that we cultivated it to cabbages and pota- 

 toes. The manure used this season was mostly a compost of 

 well -rotted glue-manure and muck, which had absorbed the 

 drainings from a manure pile of the same material located on 

 a slope above. It was applied at a rate of about nine cords 

 to the acre. The land was brushed and planted in rows four- 

 teen inches apart at the rate of four pounds of seed to the 

 acre, great care being taken to get the seed at a uniform 

 depth. Throughout the season the ground was kept clear of 

 weeds, receiving, in short, first-rate care. The crop ripened 

 down very early. The piece selected contained exactly half 

 an acre, and the crop weighed 18,484 pounds, which, at the 

 legal weight of fifty-two pounds to the bushel, would make 

 355 bushels. 

 crop : — 



The following statement shows the cost of the 



Manure and spreading on half an acre, 

 Ploughing half an acre, . 

 Harrowing, rakingj and planting, 



Seed, 



Three slidings, ..... 

 Three weedings, .... 

 Pulling and turning, .... 

 Harvesting, ..... 



Topping, 



Use of land, ..... 



Total, ..... 



$108 50 



Onions raised on reclaimed meadow cost less per acre than 

 on upland, the difference being felt mostly in the preparing of 

 the ground and the weeding. As I use a large proportion of 

 each of the crops entered by me; viz., onions, squashes, and 

 beets, as seed stock, I make no estimate of market value. 



21* 



