ROOT CROPS. 201 



more certain. Witli seeds selected and cleaned as we have 

 described, you can sow just the number of seeds you want on 

 an acre. If it is desired to have the roots one inch apart, twelve 

 seeds to the foot can be dropped with great regularity. Many 

 of these seed sowers also have an attachment by which guano, 

 phosphate, or any fertilizer, can be sown with the seed. If the 

 iroppings of the privy have been saved and composted, as 

 directed in Chapter III., you have just the thing to sow 

 with your seed. Some application of the sort is desirable. 

 Four or five bushels of salt to the acre should never be omitted 

 unless you have kelp or other sea mosses in abundance. Kefuse 

 salt is as good as any ; when sown with the drill, less seed is 

 required, and thinning is unnecessary. When good turnip seed * 

 i.s drilled in, on well prepared grouud, one half pound per acre 

 is enough. Too thick seeding is injurious. One pound to the 

 acre is often sown broadcast, but that is too large a quantity. 

 Mr. Ware, a successful cultivator in Massachusetts, drills three 

 and a quarter pounds of carrot seed per acre. They germinate 

 sooner if soaked, for twenty-four hours before planting, in warm 

 water. The drills should be far enough apart to allow a horse cul- 

 tivator between them. Constant weeding is necessary in growing 

 root crops, although a large proportion of the weeding may be 

 saved by previous thorough breaking up the so^l. When sown 

 broadcast, they may be thinned by harrowing after they come 

 up. This also tends to leave them in rows, kills many weeds, 

 and loosens the crust. As soon as the weeds get started, go 

 through with a horse hoe between the rows, and follo\v with 

 the hoe or " weed killer." Never let the weeds get the start of 

 the crop. Kuta bagas should be thinned ; this may be done by 

 cutting up the plants with the hoe. With rows three feet apart, 

 and plants on an average two inches apart, if the soil is plowed 

 deeply so that the roots can find pasture, from twelve to fifteen 



