CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



standard weight assumed by the society, would give a crop of nine hundred 

 an. I three bushels to the acre. 



The turnips were planted on the 29th of June and 2nd of July; about one 

 pound and a half of seed was used for the acre; and they were gathered and 

 stored in cellars and in the barn in the last part of November. 



The ground on which they grew is a good soil, neither wet nor dry, and bore 

 the last year an abundant' crop of onions, and corn the year preceding the 



li was well manured at both times, and in fine tilth. It was manured 

 with at least six coids to the acre of barn manure the last spring, and sowed 

 again to onions; but the seed entirely failing, it was ploughed, harrowed, 

 furrows struck out, and about ei^ht cords of barn manure spread in the fur- 



ploughed again so as by a back furrow to form a ridge over the manure, 

 and the seed sown with a small drill-harrow on the ridges, making the rows 

 about twenty inches asunder. As soon as the plants were of sufficient size, a 

 drill-harrow, with small shares fixed to it, to cut off all the weeds, was passed 

 through the rows; and the plants thinned with a small weeding hoe to the dis- 

 tance of about eight inches apart, and the vacant places filled up by transplant- 

 ing from the supernumerary plants. They were once more harrowed and 

 cleaned, which was a very small labour; and owing to the very unpropitious 

 weather, were not harvested until very late. Some of them were very large; 

 one weighed fifteen pounds, and many were nearly as large. The exact ex- 



Oi cultivating the acre cannot be estimated, as it was intermixed'with 

 other farm work; but the whole, from the sowing to the gathering, was not 

 two-thirds of the labour usually bestowed on planting, cultivating, and gather- 

 ing an acre of pot:i 



^wedish turnips the last year, of which I raised considerable quantities, 

 were fed off to my oxen, dry cows, young stock, and fatting sheep. To the 

 cattle they were of very great advantage; and for feeding sheep, they proved 

 the last year, by an accurate account, worth from ten to twelve and a half cents 

 per bushel. The man who has the care of my stock considers them as among 

 the most profitable feed which can be given either to fatting or to store cattle. 

 Three years' experiment has increased their value very much for these pur- 

 poses in my own estimation. 



IV. THE ONION. 



THE common bulbous onion, so highly esteemed among us, 

 is a biennial plant; it is supposed to be a native of Asia. There 

 are a great variety of plants, and many of them may be culti- 

 vated as field crops to great advantage. The following account 

 of the mode of culture, &c., we take from the Practical 

 Farmer. 



This is a well known vegetable. It has many varieties, distinguished by 

 colour, size, and taste. Of these the red is the largest and most raised. The 

 pale red and the yellow are less in size than the red, and somewhat milder; 

 but the white, though the smallest, are the mildest, the soonest fit for use, and 

 the best for keeping. 



This root requires a mellow, dry soil, and the richer the better. The soil 

 may be a rich sand, sandy loam, dry loam, or a gravelly loam; or either of 

 these earths, of common quality, when strongly manured, will answer. It is 

 supposed that well rotted and fermented composts, formed of such materials as 

 are most suitable to the soil, will always be found the best manure for this root. 

 In April, or as soon as the ground is sufficiently dry to pulverize well, make 

 it very fine, but not deep; make the rows a foot apart, and scatter the seed 

 thinly an inch or more deep. Then fill in the drills, and harden the surface 

 with the back of a shovel. 



