ROOT CROPS. 251 



The crop is 340 bushels, 60 pounds to the bushel, on 128^ 



rods. 



Cost of cultivation and seed : — 



Ploughing and harrowing, 

 , Planting, ..... 



Hoeing, ...... 



Digging and putting in cellar, . 



Three barrels seed, bought in Vermont, 



160 00 



They were planted April 19. They are late potatoes and 

 should be planted early ; but they are most excellent table po- 

 tatoes, and great yielders. 



Newburyport, Sept. 23, 1871. 



FRANKLIN. 



Statement of F. H. Williams, Sunderland. 

 Turnips. — The ground on which my turnips were raised con- 

 tains one-half acre. The nature of soil is sandy loam ; it had 

 been in grass during 1869 and 1870, and mown twice a year. 

 No manure had been used, but a little plaster was sown in the 

 spring of 1870. The fifteenth of July the land was ploughed 6 

 inches deep, and harrowed ; furrows were then turned 2 feet 

 apart, and 8 loads (30 bushels each) of compost from the hog- 

 pen applied in the furrows. These were covered with a tobacco 

 coverer or ridger, a very good implement for the purpose. The 

 seed was sown July 17, in drills 2 feet apart, using the purple 

 top or strap-leaf variety. The seed sower was run upon the 

 ridges, which I think a good plan in raising turnips, as they do 

 better to stand a little above a general level. The plants were 

 cultivated twice, and thinned to about six inches apart. When 

 harvested they filled the entire space. I commenced harvesting 

 November 8. The tops were first cut and then the turnips col- 

 lected in a cart. This was a second crop, a crop of hay having 

 been cut early in July. 



