ROOT CROPS. 249 



where they and their ancestors before them were born and reared, 

 merely because they may be able to better their condition 

 pecuniarily. Nature oftentimes punishes this irreverence se- 

 verely. Of the scores of families who have left home from my 

 native town to settle in the far West, in the last thirty years, 

 with barely an exception, all who had sufficient means at com- 

 mand, returned, having realized in their absence that " Home " 

 was more than merely an abiding place. 



James J. H. Gregoet, Chairman. 



Statement of Joseph N. Rolfe. 

 The half acre of land upon which the onions were grown that 

 I offer for premium, is a dark loam, with a clay sub-soil. It was 

 planted with onions the two previous years. The land was 

 ploughed about six inches deep, the manure was spread on after 

 ploughing, harrowed in with a common tooth harrow, at the 

 rate of nine cords per acre : sowed about the 13th of April, in 

 drills 13^ inches apart, using four pounds of the Danvers yel- 

 low seed per acre. The ground was hoed seven times with a 

 wheel hoe, and weeded four times. The crop was pulled the 

 12th day of September, and topped on the ground. The ma- 

 nure used consisted of a compost of horse, cow and hog manure. 



Cost of manure on half acre, . 

 Cost of preparing the ground, 

 Cost of seed and sowing, 

 Cost of cultivation, 

 Cost of harvesting and topping, 



$45 00 



6 00 



9 00 



20 00 



20 00 



The crop on the half acre, when measured and averaged by 

 the committee, was 545 bushels. The weight, when sold, was 

 25,220 pounds ; making 485 bushels, at the rate of 970 bushels 

 per acre. 



Statement of A. P. Noyes. 

 Onions. — The one-half acre of onions I entered was meas- 

 ured by the two members of the committee on root crops who 

 visited my farm. They also measured and weighed two rows 

 that would be a fair average, and estimated that they measured 

 at the rate of 445| bushels to the half acre. The crop of 1870 



32* 



