188 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



consequently we have been in the habit of putting them in 

 about the 20th of June — from the 18th to the 24th. I say I 

 have found that when I have planted my mangolds thus early, 

 there have been more or less rotten turnips at harvest time. 

 But we have no rotten turnips when we plant late. This year 

 my turnips were grown on three separate pieces. The first 

 piece was planted the 20th of June, and out of about 500 

 bushels, about 80 bushels were rotten. Another piece of turnips 

 was planted the 7th day of July, where we had picked our 

 strawberries — or rather where the strawberries should have 

 been — the crop wasn't much. We turned the piece in the 

 7th day of July, used some crushed bone for dressing, and 

 raised a handsome crop of French turnips — not a rotten one in 

 the whole. On another piece, planted, I think, the 9th day of 

 July, which was an old strawberry bed, turned in, and some 

 strippings of the barn-yard put on it, the crop was good, the 

 quality excellent, and there was not a sign of any rot. These 

 facts accord with the experience of my neighbors in this matter ; 

 and, in fact, it is very well understood with us, that if we wish 

 to get a good crop of turnips we must not plant them until late. 

 The fact is, people generally who raise root crops are too anxious 

 to plant them early and to harvest them early. There comes a 

 cold night in the fall, and they begin to think, " Here are my 

 crops out, and I must get them in." It is not time to get them 

 in. They will stand it a long while after we think it is time to 

 take them in. There is a gentleman in my neighborhood who 

 had a fine piece of turnips, which he did not commence harvest- 

 ing until the day after Thanksgiving ; I finished the 10th of 

 November. He says we are in too much of a hurry to get our 

 roots into the cellar. 



In regard to the crops to follow French turnips and ruta- 

 bagas, my experience agrees with Mr. Flint's statement. I can- 

 not raise corn or strawberries after them, and I never succeeded 

 to my satisfaction in raising grass after them. The best thing I 

 ever raised after a crop of French turnips or ruta-bagas was a 

 similar crop. Put on manure and plant them again, as you 

 would onions. I have a piece of about five-eighths of an acre, 

 which was manured from the barn-yard last year, perhaps twenty 

 horse-loads to the acre, and we raised 400 bushels on it. This 

 year I put on about twelve horse-loads of rather weak compost 



