THE SUGAR-BEET. 45 



OUR ROOT CROPS. 



ESSEX. 

 THE SUGAR-BEET. 



[Statement of "William Miller, Swampscott, Mass.] 



I had about a quarter of an acre planted with sugar-beets, 

 the production per acre being about forty tons, the average 

 of each bushel seventy pounds. I have grown them for the 

 last five years, and had better crops each year previous to 

 this. 



The land I raised them on was a black muck with a clay 

 bottom, the second year from old sod-land of twenty years 

 laying sour until drained. I planted the first week in May, 

 with stable-manure and guano, — six cords per acre, with 

 one-quarter ton per acre of guano. The drills were raised 

 on account of low, wet land. I have always succeeded best 

 with the raised-drill system on low land. I have never 

 failed in getting a good crop of sugar-beets. 



I have invariably succeeded best with all kinds of vegeta- 

 bles, except perishable seeds, to plant early, close to the sea- 

 shore as we are situated. My employer gives very liberal 

 encouragement to farm well ; for we let no weeds grow to 

 take the nourishment away from the plants. Weeds, in my 

 estimation, are the worst enemy a farmer has to contend 

 with. We mowed four tons and a half to the acre on land 

 that grew nothing but wild meadow-grass before it was 

 under-drained, then cropped with vegetables for two succes- 

 sive years, then laid down to grass before the ground froze 

 in the end of November. 



The underdraining was done with hemlock boards — one 

 board seven inches wide, and another eight inches wide — 

 nailed together A shape, with no bottom ; as it was a hard 



