96 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



I will licrc romark, that I have invariably found the largest erop when I 

 ploughed and harrowed my old ground twice before planting ; it will ])ay the 

 extra expense. How can the small roots of the plants find nouri.-^hmeut in 

 lumps of manure and earth ? they run off" a long distance for support, and will 

 go round any lump of manure or hard substance which they cannot penetrate; 

 and, unless it is worked over so as to be free from lumps, the farmer might as 

 well leave it in his barn-yard as to think of getting any good from it in such a 

 state. The great secret in growing large crops of roots, or any crop on new 

 ploughed laud, is in getting the soil fine — as the old saying is, as " fine as an 

 onion bed." That remark applies to the growing of all kinds of grain and roots, 

 as well as to onions. 



In 1863 I spread upon an acre of land (before ploughing) that had been in 

 grass for several years, about eight cords of strong manure from my barn-cellar, 

 and ploughed eight or nine inches deep with my Michigan or double plough, leav- 

 ing the sod well covered with the soil, then rolled and harrowed it well, and made 

 it as level and smooth as possible. I then furrowed it out at a distance that 

 would let my horse go in one furrow, and the wheels of the cart in the other 

 two ; spread fine manure directly from the cart in the furrows; had a man fol- 

 low with a r.ake and bring back the soil which the plough turned out when 

 furrowing out for the manure ; if any lumps of earth or turf were in the rows 

 they would be removed at that time. Then, as soon as possible, after covering 

 the manure, the man would sow the seed upon this ridge. Much time Avas spent 

 upon this acre in preparing the land, manuring, &c., thinking I should get a 

 large crop, but the season proved bad for all kinds of roots. There was too 

 much rain. The soil is a sandy loam, and was in good order, usually called 

 rich land. I did not have more than a quarter of a crop, and attributed the 

 failure to the mode of culture more than to the season. I think green sward is 

 not suitable for growing mangolds ; they grow chiefly out of the ground, and 

 need richer soil nearer the surface. This was the second time I had failed in 

 planting them in this way, and I shall not try it again. One reason why I 

 attempted this mode of culture was to keep the land as free from weeds as pos- 

 sible. Old gi'ound filled with manure is more inclined to grow weeds than new 

 ground. 



In 18G2 I planted an acre of land upon which I had grown a hoed crop well 

 manured, ploughed in about twenty four horse-cart loads of manure from my 

 barn-cellar, then cross-ploughed it, harrowed it well, and sowed to mangolds 

 and sugar beets. The sugar beets did not come up well, and 1 ploughed that 

 part up, about one-quarter of an acre, and sowed to turnips of the purple top 

 variety, (it was rather late for beets,) sowed the seed in drills, and kept them 

 well weeded and thinned out. The result was a very large crop of both man- 

 golds and turnips. I never saw such a growth on an acre. 1 had about 800 

 bushels, costing me about seventy-five dollars, (charging one half of the manure 

 to the crop, and nothing for the use of the land, which was worth twelve dol- 

 lars,) making the cost of the crop about eleven cents per bushel. There were 

 probably more than twenty tons on the acre. Mangolds are heavier than 

 carrots per bushel, and English turnips not so heavy — and who would not 

 rather have that crop of 800 bushels, than an acre of corn of 40 bushels, which 

 is more than an average throughout New England? The weight of mangolds in 

 the fall is about 60 pounds. I have weighed them in April and found they had 

 shrunk only 8 pounds, while my carrots had shrunk' from 51 pounds to 40 ; loss 

 on mangolds is li>^ per cent; loss on carrots is 21^ per cent. 



TrVIE OF HARVESTING. 



This should be done before the cold and frosty nights arrive, as the freezing 

 of the tops injures their value for feeding purposes ; besides, the men can then 

 remain in the field in pulling and topping the roots. The tops at that time are 



