ROOT CROPS AND VEGETABLES. 197 



WORCESTER SOUTH-EAST. 

 4 



Statement of James H. Putnam. 



Cabbages, — I make the following statements in regard to the 

 piece of cabbages, I have entered for premium. The piece 

 contains seventy rods. The soil on which they were planted 

 was of a dark loam with a yellow loam for sub-soil. Last year 

 it was a rough, bushy pasture ; it was ploughed the last of 

 April, once, and harrowed, holed out and planted with squashes. 

 It received about three shovelfuls of night-soil to the hill, and 

 was not ploughed at all again till last May, the 23d day, for the 

 first time this season. I then spread and ploughed in nine 

 horse-loads of horse manure, night-soil and cow manure. The 

 night-soil and horse manure were mixed together and worked 

 over once. I ploughed again the 31st of May, and harrowed 

 it down. It- was ploughed the first time about eight inches 

 deep, the last time nearly ten inches deep. The quality of the 

 manure was about the average from the stables in town. I 

 furrowed it out as nearly twenty-eight inches between the rows 

 as I could, and put the hills, the other way, twenty-eight inches 

 apart. I used about one-half of a common sized shovelful of 

 compost in the hills, or six loads for the piece. The compost 

 was made of equal parts of well pulverized night-soil and ashes, 

 taken from heaps where I had burned sods or turf, and twenty 

 bushels of leached ashes, and five hundred pounds of ground 

 oyster shells, well mixed together. I then covered the compost 

 about one inch deep, and put three or four seeds in the hill, and 

 covered with the hand. 



For seed I used the Stone Mason, excepting about four 

 hundred hills, in which I put the Mammoth Drumhead. The 

 quantity used was about one thousand — planted one-half, June 

 1st, the rest a week later. Ran a cultivator through them 

 once ; hoed three times ; thinned out the plants the second 

 and third time hoeing. I used the sweepings of the lime-room 

 for keeping the flies off. The times of hoeing were June 28th, 

 July 10th and 25th. Transplanted where they were missing. 



Commenced harvesting September 4th. Sold in September 

 2,285 pounds for $28.20 ; sold in October 10,960 pounds for 

 $76.90. I have included in the above weights three hundred 



