No. 10. Report of the *^gricull lire of Massachusetts. 



303 



the yield on two acres at 600 bushels to the 

 acre; and the cost of cultivation, exchisivo 

 of manure and rent of land, at 25 dolbirs per 

 acre ; or a little more than four cents per 

 bushel. For feeding horses, he says, he 

 should prefer one hundred bushels of carrots 

 and one hundred bushels of oats to two Imn- 

 dred bushels of oats. He applied them in a 

 raw state to the feeding of his team horses, 

 and horses in preparation for market; and 

 they were kept by them in high hcilth 

 and spirits. Oats fijl lowed his carrot crop on 

 the same ground with great success. The 

 experience of J. C. Curwen, Eng., in the use 

 of carrots for horses, corresponds with that 

 of Mr. Merrill. The authority of Curwen is 

 unquestionable; and he was in the habit of 

 employing constantly as many as eighty 

 horses on his farm and in his extensive coal 

 mines. 



"I cannot omit," he says, "stating the 

 great profit of carrots. I have found by the 

 experience of the last two years, that where 

 eight pounds of oat-feeding was allowed to 

 draft horses, four pounds might be taken away 

 and supplied by an equal weight of carrots; 

 and tl»e health, spirit, and ability of the horses 

 to do their work be perfectly as good as with 

 the whole quantity of oats. With the drill, 

 husbandry and proper attention, very good 

 crops of carrots may be obtained upon soils 

 not generally supposed suitable to their 

 growth." 



He adds in another place : — " The profits 

 and advantages of carrots are, in my opinion, 

 greater than any other crop. This admira- 

 ble root has, upon repeated and very exten- 

 sive trials for the last three years, been found 

 to answer most perfectly as a part substitute 

 for oats. Where ten pounds of oats are given 

 per day, four pounds may be taken away; 

 and their place supplied by five pounds of 

 carrots. This has been practised in the feed- 

 ing of eighty horses for the last three years, 

 with the most complete success, and the 

 health and condition of the horses allowed to 

 be improved by the exchange. An acre of 

 carrots supplies an equal quantity of liwd tor 

 working horses, as sixteen to twenty acres of 

 oats."* 



My own experience of the value of carrots, 

 which has not been small, fully confirms these 

 statements. 1 have obtained at the rate of 

 more than a thousand bushels to the acre on 

 three quarters of an acre ; but on several 

 acres my crop has usually averaged 600 bush- 

 els to the acre. 



Smith, of Middlefield, Hampshire 



county, from three-fourths of an acre obtained 

 900 bushels. 



Charles Knowlton, of Ashfield, Franklin 



* Curwen's Hints on .■Vgricultural Subjects. 



county, this year obtained 90 bushels on 

 twelve rods of ground. This was at the rate 

 1,200 bushels to the acre. 



D. Moore, of Concord, Middlesex county, 

 from six rods of land, obtained this year 56 

 bushels, or at the rate of 1,493 bushels to the 

 acre. 



According to Josiah Quincy's experience, 

 in Quincy, Plymouth county, charging labor 

 at one dollar per day, his carrots cost him 

 eleven cents per bushel. David and Stephen 

 Little, in Newbury, Essex county, in 1813, 

 obtained 961 busliels to the acre, at an ex- 

 pense of l$79 50, every expense included, ex- 

 cepting rent of land. This was at a rate less 

 than nine cents to a bushel. 



I shall subjoin in the Appendix an account 

 of an experiment made in feeding swine, illus- 

 trating the value of this vegetable, from Ar- 

 thur Young. 



The great objection to the cultivation of 

 car.ots lies in the difficulty of keeping them, 

 while growing, free from weeds. If sowed 

 without any preparation, the seed is a long 

 time in germinating, and a plentiful crop of 

 weeds is liable to get possession of the land 

 before the carrots make their appearance. — 

 There is another difficulty. The carrot seed, 

 from its minuteness, is liable to be sowed too 

 thickly. To obviate, in a degree, these ob- 

 jections, let the ground be ploughed deeply, 

 well manured, and put in fine tilth ; and let 

 the first, and perhaps the second, crop of 

 weeds be ploughed in. After this, let the 

 land be thrown into ridges two feet apart, 

 and the seed sown on top of the ridges, either 

 in a single line, or the ridges be made so 

 wide as to receive two rows of carrots, eight 

 inches or one foot apart. In the mean time 

 the seed should be freely mixed with fine 

 sand ; and this sand kept so moist that the 

 seed shall germinate. As soon as it is sprout- 

 ed it should be sown. This may be so ar- 

 ranged that the sowing shall take place about 

 the first of June. Tiiey will then have the 

 start of the weeds. The mixture with sand 

 will prevent their being sown too thickly. — 

 Aftpr the first thinning and weeding is over, 

 if done with care, the battle may be consid- 

 ered as won. Afterwards let them be culti- 

 vated with a plough, or cultivator, and kept 

 clean. When the time of digging arrives, 

 the work will be greatly facilitated by pass- 

 ing a plough directly along the side of the 

 carrots; and they are easily thrown out by 

 the hand. 



RUTA BAOA. 



Ruta baga are differently estimated by dif- 

 ferent individuals. Mr. Merrill, of Lee; Va- 

 let, of Stockbridge; Lawton, of Sheffield ; Ba- 

 con and Chapin, of Richmond ; Colt, Goodrich 

 and Plunkctt, of Pittsfield, highly approve 

 of ruta baga ; and some of them consider tliem 



