CROPS. 



257 



tion ; but that will be constantly diminishing. Improved ma 

 chinery, and new implements of husbandry, are yearly affording 

 increased facilities in cultivation ; and, for our husbandry to be 

 successful, it will require the liberal application of capital, added 

 to enterprise, experiment, effort, and perseverance. 



The following result of an experiment, by Mr. J. Bloomfield, 

 of Warham, Norfolk county, to determine the best distance at 

 which plants should stand, was given me by this excellent 

 farmer, and will be curious to my readers. It was made upon 

 Swede turnips. The row was twenty yards long. 



Fractions are omitted. The stone is 14 pounds. 



9. POTATOES, BEETS, CARROTS, PARSNIPS. Of these several 

 crops I see nothing peculiar in the cultivation in Great Britain, 

 which would require me to treat them at any great length. 



The potatoes brought upon the table are, in general, of a muck 

 better quality, drier, and more mealy, than those grown in the 

 United States. The potatoes grown on new land, however, in 

 the Northern States, are excellent ; and the potatoes brought to 

 market from the northern parts of Maine, and from Nova Scotia,. 

 are not excelled by any which I have met with. Within my 

 own observation and experience, likewise, I have found that the 

 finest seed potatoes from this country, planted in the United 

 States, with the exceptions above referred to, have, after the first 

 year, deteriorated, and become conformed to those usually planted 

 in the country. It is demonstrated, therefore, to my mind, thai 

 new lands yield potatoes of a better quality than lands which 

 have been long under cultivation ; and that a low temperature 

 and damp climate, such as are found in the northern parts of 

 Maine, and the British Atlantic provinces of North America, are 

 favorable to potatoes, while in hot and dry climates the quality 

 of the vegetable is inferior. 



