APPENDIX. 



B. PAGE 41. 



From the Farmers' Cabinet. 



TURNIPS. In the spring of 1837, wishing to make an experiment in the cul- 

 ture oi'iurnips, I selected an acre which had been well ploughed the previous 

 fall. The preceding crop was potatoes, yielding about two hundred bushels 

 to the acre. In the month of May the ground was ploughed again, and well 

 harrowed. Cattle were then turned in occasionally upon the ground, until the 

 15th of June, when it was ploughed again, well harrowed, and marked out into 

 drills running north and south. I then divided the patch into four equal parts. 

 To one I gave a common dressing of stable manure; another, an extra quan- 

 tity of compost manure; in both cases it was spread upon the drills, the seed 

 sown immediately, and the whole rolled. The next day planted the remain- 

 ing two sections; on one I sowed ten bushels of fine lime with two and a hall 

 of wood ashes. The other remaining quarter of an acre received a dreiim 

 of two bushels of bone dust. Those dressed with manure appeared about the 

 same time above the soil, and, for a season, seemed to take the lead of their 

 neighbours. They were all kept equally clean of weeds, and the soil was retain- 

 ed, as far as possible, in a finely pulverized state, so as to enable it to imbibe the 

 moisture of the atmosphere. They all escaped the fly not so the turnip 

 worm, as sections 1 and 2 suffered by it; those parts dressed with stable ma- 

 nure and compost maintained apparently their ascendancy until about the 15th 

 of July, when the others appeared to take the lead. The soil was then again 

 well p'ulverized, and the whole cleared from all extraneous plants. As the 

 turnips required thinning, commenced that operation about the latter end of 

 July, and must have furnished many bushels, at least forty, to my stock. Un- 

 fortunately, I kept no account. On the 10th of November, they were gathered 

 in with the following result: 



Section 1. Dressed with stable manure, yielded 98 bushels, rate of 390 per 

 acre. 



Section 2. Dressed with compost, yielded 124 bushels, rate of 496 per acre. 



Section 3. Dressed with lime and wood ashes, yielded 185 bushels, rate of 

 740 per acre. 



Section 4. Dressed with bone dust, yielded 213 bushels, rate of 852 per acre. 



The turnips were not sent to market, but fed to stock, and excellent feed 

 they proved to be, and added not a little to my manure. The interest on the 

 land, and the expenses of cultivation, &c., including the manures, amounted 

 to 829 75. They were worth to me, as fed to stock, at least 25 cents per bushel, 

 but say 20 cents; this would be $124 for the yield of the acre, which will leave 

 $94 25 per acre as the proceeds. Now if we farmers can but average the half 

 of this, we shall be doing a clear business. I did not clear the fifth part of it 

 on my wheat lands. I shall hereafter study a little more variety and not stake 

 all a year's labour on a single staple crop. I have seen, yes, and 1 have fell 

 the effects. I am determined to make a part of my farm as good as I can by 

 being ''kind to the soil." I will see this and the ensuing season, if I am spared, 

 what a liberal and judicious application of manure, and keeping the soil well 



