130 



no nation can be very populous, which cIiks not draw a great 

 portion of its food from underground. 



Although the potato crop the present season will not be as 

 remunerative, as in former years, it should not discourage the 

 planting of them in future. According to the statistics in 1873, 

 the entire potato crop of that year in the United States was 

 106,037,000 bushels. 



Perhaps next in importance comes the turnip, both as a crop 

 for market, and food for ourselves and our cattle. No farmer 

 owning cattle can afford to dispense with their use, of all the 

 varieties grown the Ruta Baga is considered the most profit- 

 able, the yield oftentimes reaching as high as thirty-five tons 

 per acre ; in Essex County an average yield is about twenty 

 tons. In England and Scotland in the great sheep growing 

 districts no farmer would attempt to raise a flock of sheep with- 

 out the cultivation of turnips. 



The turnip will grow on all the varieties of soil, some varieties 

 succeed best on sandy soil, but th^ Ruta Baga best on a soil 

 more heavy, Of the many varieties, after some experience, we 

 would give the London Swede the preference. After some ex- 

 perience in the growing and feeding of the Swedish turnip, I 

 would give them the preference for feeding to Sheep, Colts and 

 Horses. The horse will do much better fed with them and 

 come out looking better in spring than when fed with Carrots. 



Turnips, Cabbages, Potatoes and many other kinds of vege- 

 tables were unknown to man until within the sixteenth century, 

 while the Onion was a great favorite in Egypt four thousand 

 years ago. The number of different varieties of root crops is 

 so numerous one hardly knows which to recommend for culture 

 as a profitable crop. It is natural for most farmers to grow 

 those varieties that will return to them the greatest amount of 

 profit in dollars and cents, regardless of the use made of them. 

 In the Connecticut valley many farmers who a few years since 



