174 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



thirty-three tons to the acre ; the rows (on ridges) four feet 

 asunder, and the plants a foot asunder in the rows. 



In this mode of raising the ruta-baga, by transplanting the 

 entire crop, so much time is gained for preparing the ground, 

 that two crops of weeds may be destroyed, by that number of 

 ploughings ; the first in the beginning of June, and the second 

 immediately before transplanting. But Mr. Cobbett recom- 

 mends a previous deep fall ploughing and another deep plough- 

 ing in April, of the ground intended for the ruta-baga. The 

 like two deep ploughings will be equally proper and beneficial 

 for the mangel wurzel and carrots. 



Among the advantages of the transplanting method, men- 

 tioned by Mr. Cobbett, one is, " that it saves almost the whole 

 of the after culture. There is no hoeing ; no thinning of the 

 plants ; and not more than one ploughing between the ridges." 



A method somewhat similar to this was adopted by Messrs. 

 Tristram and Henry Little of Newbury, who, in 1823, received 

 a premium from the Massachusetts Society for raising the 

 greatest crop of turnips on an acre. It is a valuable and 

 interesting experiment. Their statement says : — 



" The lot is on the north side of a small swell on our farm in 

 said town ; the soil is a yellow loam on a gravelly bottom, and 

 had been down to grass two years ; in July, 1823, the lot was 

 mowed and the hay was made on the same land, and the pro- 

 duce was one ton and eight hundred. The sward was then 

 ploughed as deep as would turn over, and twice harrowed ; 

 furrows were then opened at a distance of three feet apart, ten 

 ox-cart loads of manure, mixed with ten loads of marsh mud 

 and sod, were put into the furrows, which were covered with a 

 plough ; one pound of seed was sown with a machine, one row 

 on each ridge, and a roller was made to pass over the same, 

 which completed the sowing. As soon as the third leaf was 

 grown they were thinned to the distance of one foot apart in 

 the rows. After that they were three times ploughed between 

 the rows, and hoed twice ; the harvesting was in November, 

 and the product was nine hundred and eight bushels." 



The method adopted by Messrs. Little has the advantage of 

 being more simple and practical than that described by Cob- 

 bett, whose estimate of the capacity of modern labor, is indi- 

 cated by his supposition that one man could sow seven acres of 



