162 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Statement of Ira F. Burnham. 



Onions. — The land on which my onions grew, as measured 

 by your committee, contains one-half acre. In the spring of 

 1874 it was dressed with three cords of barn-manure, and 

 planted with a variety of vegetables for family use. Last 

 spring I ploughed in four cords of barn-yard manure, harrowed 

 it till fine, and sowed, on the 26th of April, two pounds of 

 Danvers onion-seed, in rows fourteen inches apart. The seed 

 came up very evenly. In June I sowed on two barrels of the 

 Brighton blood fertilizer, which had a very marked effect, the 

 young plants growing very rapidly. The following is the 

 cost of the crop : — 



Ploughing and preparing land, . 



Seed, 



Manure, 4 cords, 



Weeding 3 times, 



Two barrels Brighton fertilizer. 



Harvesting, . . . . 



$86 00 



By 330 bushels of nice, well-ripened onions, at 75 cents per 



bushel, $247 50 



Statement of J. J. H. Gregory. 



Beets. — The soil on which these grew is a strong loara 

 manured with an admixture of sea, barn, and glue manure at 

 the rate of five cords to the acre. This was thoroughly mixed 

 with the soil, and after harrowing and raking, the seed was 

 planted at intervals between the 18th of June and the 3d of 

 July, in rows sixteen inches apart. In the plot were four 

 varieties of the turnip beet; viz., early blood, Simon's early, 

 Dewing, and Egyptian. The beets were thinned to six inches 

 apart in the rows, had clean cultivation, and were pulled and 

 topped from October 15 to October 25 when of an average 

 diameter of about three and one-half inches, a good size for 

 table use. The area of the plot was 22.346 feet, and the 

 number of pounds of the yield was 19,754, a little short of 

 ten tons, which, at sixty pounds to the bushel, would make 



