ROOT CROPS AND VEGETABLES. 195 



it and harrowed in with Goddes' harrow. It was then har- 

 rowed with a light harrow, and the loose sods turned over with 

 the hoe. Lines were drawn with a marking rake, containing 

 three long heavy teeth twenty inches apart, drawn hy one man 

 and held by another. In the small furrows thus made, a small 

 quantity ofCoe's super-phosphate was sprinkled. The seed was 

 then put in with a sower. The seed used was Skirving's King 

 of the Swedes, imported from England the last spring. The 

 planting was finished in June. 



The land was hoed twice, and the plants were thinned out, 

 leaving spaces of six inches in the rows. 



The crop was harvested by four men and two teams in four 

 and a half days, ending at noon, November 15th. The amount 

 of the crop is one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six 

 bushels, at sixty pounds to the bushel, and the account is as 

 folltws : — 



TWO AND ONE-HALF ACRES OF RDTA-BAGAS. 



To 12 days' ploughing, .... 



3 " seeding, 



24 " hoeing and thinning, 



10 cords of barnyard manure and hauling, 



1,000 pounds of super-phosphate, . 



27 days' harvesting, .... 



$136 00 



Cr. by 1,876 bushels of roots, at 7f cents per bushel (the 

 actual cost as per estimate.) 



The market price of ruta-bagas varies materially in different 

 seasons. Last autumn they sold for fifty cents per barrel. 

 Last spring and this autumn they sell for one dollar per barrel. 

 At these prices it is easy to calculate the cash value of the above 

 crop. 



As food for cattle, ruta-bagas bear the relation to English 

 hay, which three hundred bears to one hundred. At sixty 

 pounds to the bushel, the crop -weighed one hundred and twelve 

 thousand five hundred and sixty pounds, or fifty-six and one- 

 third tons, equivalent to eighteen and seven-ninths tons of hay, 

 taking the estimate that three tons of ruta-bagas are equivalent 

 to one ton of hay. 



