254 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



as they usually are on our heavy soils. On sandy soils, in this 

 vicinity, the yield of this variety is not large, and the potatoes 

 are apt to be watery. My crop is a very good one, partly in 

 consequence of the earliness of planting, the potatoes becoming 

 nearly ripe before the time of the usual August blight." 



Albert Thomas, of Middleborough : 80 rods of sandy loam ; 

 in grass without manure in 1869; in Indian corn in 1870, 

 manured with 17 loads of barnyard manure ; ploughed twice, 

 7 inches deep, in April and May, 1871, turning in 15 loads of 

 manure ; harrowed well and planted May 25th, with 7 bushels 

 of Bulkley's seedlings, in drills 3 feet apart, seed 2 feet apart 

 in rows ; manured in the hills, one-fourth with a large spoonful 

 of plaster and hen manure, one-fourth with the same quantity 

 of ashes and hen manure, one-fourth with plaster only, and 

 one-fourth with hen manure only. The best yield was from the 

 mixture of plaster and manure. Cultivated twice and hoed 

 twice. Product, 153|-{j- bushels, being at the rate of 307f $ per 

 acre. Expenses : ploughing and harrowing, $9 ; manure $18 ; 

 seed and planting, $11 ; cultivation, $6 ; harvesting, $10. Total, 

 $54. 



Statement of Thomas O. Jackson. 



Beets. — Fifty-nine rods of clayey loam, on which potatoes 

 were raised in 1869 and 1870, manured in the former year with 

 7 loads of 30 bushels each of stable manure, and in the latter 

 with 21 loads ; ploughed April 8th, 1871, 8 inches deep, turn- 

 ing in 22 loads of similar manure ; harrowed and bushed ; 

 planted April 25th and 26th, by hand, using 4 pounds of seed, 

 of the globe mangel wurzel ; thinned and hoed twice ; har- 

 vested October 26th and 27th, by pulling and removing the 

 tops, each basketful being weighed when put into the cellar. 

 Product, 21,637 pounds, or 360f § bushels, being at the rate of 

 977|| bushels per acre. Expenses: ploughing, &c, $3; ma- 

 nure, $33 ; seed and planting, $4 ; cultivation, $4.20 ; harvest- 

 ing, $14.50. Total, $58.70. 



Mr. Jackson says : " A strawberry bed was first set, in rows 

 three feet apart, and the beet seed planted between the rows, 

 the broad leaves of the beet being a sufficient shade for the 

 young strawberry plants. 



