174 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



on a hot bed, made of warm manure, with a covering of four 

 inches of fine mold. After splitting the potatoes, place them 

 on this and cover with three inches of light earth. As the 

 sprouts appear, draw and transplant them after a rain, in 

 the same manner as before suggested with the roots. When 

 early vegetated, a bushel of seed will, in this manner, supply 

 plants for an acre. 



The preservation of the Sweet Potato through the winter 

 is often difficult. A careful seclusion from air and light, 

 and the absence of frost and absolute dryness seem to be 

 essential to their preservation. They are frequently kept, 

 by piling in heaps on dry earth, which are still more secure 

 with a layer beneath of corn stalks or dry pine boughs, 

 six or eight inches deep. On this, pack the roots in piles 

 six feet in diameter. Cover with corn stalks and dry earth, 

 and protect this with a roof of boards, and a ditch deep enough 

 to carry off all water. There must be a hole at the top, slight- 

 ly stopped with straw, to permit the escape of heated air, and 

 to preserve uniformity of temperature. There are numerous 

 varieties of the sweet potato, white, red, yellow, &c. They 

 yield from 200 to 300 bushels per acre, and under favorable 

 circumstances, sometimes double this quantity. 



THE TURNEP (Erassica rapa). 



The flat English Turncp was introduced into this 

 country with our English ancestry, and has ever since been 

 an object of cultivation. When boiled, it is an agreeable 

 vegetable for the table. Its principal value, however, is as a 

 food for cattle and sheep, by which it is eaten uncooked. Its 

 comparitive nutritive properties are small ; but the great bulk 

 which can be raised on a given piece of ground, and the fa- 

 cility and economy of its cultivation, have always rendered it a 

 favorite with such farmers, as have soil and stock adapted 

 to its profitable production and use. 



The proper soil for it is a fertile sand or well-drained loam. 

 Any soil adapted to Indian corn will produce good turneps. 

 But it is only on new land, or freshly-turned sod, that they are 

 most successful. An unfilled, virgin earth, with the rich dress- 

 ing of ashes left after the recent burning of accumulated^ege- 

 table matter, and free from weeds and insects, is the surest 

 and most productive for a turnep crop. Such land needs 

 no manure. For a sward ground, or clover ley, there should 

 be a heavy dressing of fresh, unferrhented manure, before 

 plowing. 



