396 FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 



Note on the method of cultivating Turnifis on the Melvill farm, in 

 Berkshire, Massachusetts, and which received the premium from 

 the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, October, 1817. 



Persuaded that the opinion prevalent in this part of the 

 country, relative to the cultivation of turnips, was errone- 

 ous; that, with not much more labor and expense than for 

 p<> at oes, old imfiroved land could be made to produce, as in 

 Europe, a much greater quantity than in the usual manner 

 oi raising them, on new land recently burnt over, or on 

 bog-land; I determined to appropriate an acre on the farm 

 belonging to my Father, and under my care, to this experi- 

 ment. 



For this purpose, I selected a piece in a lot, which was 

 probably one of the first cleared on the farm, and has cer- 

 tainly been (from what I could learn from the Neighbors) as 

 often under ullage as any other part of it, and quite impov- 

 erished : The soil a gravelly loam; in 1813, it was sowed 

 to gram and stocked; in 1814 and 1815 mowed; 1816, half 

 the lot was planted to potatoes, manured in the hill; the 

 other half was continued to grass, and plastered; on the 

 20th May, 1817, ploughed up of the potatoe-hnd half an 

 acre, and the same quantity of sward-land, immediately ad- 

 joining. In this *tate it remained till the 20th June, when 

 ploughed it a aeconti time, and formed it into drills of 

 twenty-eight inches; the next day carried on fourteen loads 

 of Hog-manure, seven of Sheep do. and seven of common 

 barn yard do and spread it, immediately, on the top of the 

 drills; and in order to preserve the whole strength of the 

 manure in the soil, as well as to produce quick vegetation, 

 sowed the seed on the manure, and rolled it in the same 

 day. The following day, sowed on the piece thirty bushels 

 slacked lime, and filieen bushels house-ashes, and, to ex- 

 tend the experiment* divided these top dressings equally on 

 tht different kinds ot manure (so as to ascertain which ma- 

 nure and which top-dressing was best suited to turnips) 

 left about two square rods without either manure or top- 

 dressing, and marked off three drills not to be hoed 

 at all 



lo a few days, had the satisfaction to see that the seed 

 had taken well; that part which had Sheep-manure and 

 ashes appeared the best and most rank; while that without 

 manure could hardly be perceived to have pierced the soil, 

 On the 10th July, harrowed between the drills, with a com- 

 mon corn-harrow, to extirpate weeds and loosen the soil. 

 On the 15th July, examined the field and found no signs of 

 \vorms; the part with Sheep manure and ashes continued 

 the most promising; that with Hog-manure and ashes, next. 

 We now hoed out the field (with a small hoe, about five 

 inches wide and four inches deep, well steeled, and sharp 



