ROOTS AND VEGETABLES. 101 



eight cords to the acre. As soon as the shoots break the 

 ground, a small quantity of some good fertilizer applied ren- 

 ders material aid in hastening the crop. Another cheap and 

 profitable manure has been found by using one cask of pure 

 bone-meal to the same quantity of unleached ashes thoroughly 

 mixed together ; let the heap remain upon the barn floor for 

 a week or ten days, shovelling it over once in a day or two ; 

 apply this compost in the hill or drills at the rate of four or five 

 casks per acre, using care to throw a small quantity of earth 

 upon the seed before applying the compost. This has been 

 found a valuable manure, costing only five-eighths as much as 

 that of superphosphate, the best now in use, and producing 

 quite as good results. As all fertilizers act quickly upon 

 plants, compared with barn-manure", it is plain that the whole 

 quantity should not be applied at once or at the time of 

 planting, but one-half at the time of depositing the seed, and 

 the remainder at the first and second hoeings, thus keep- 

 ing the crop constantly supplied with plant-food during its 

 growth. 



To grow a heavy crop of potatoes at the present high price 

 of land already denuded of its humus, ^^ogether with the high 

 prices of poor labor, it is necessary that all requisitions should 

 be fulfilled ; that is, we can't gather grapes from thorns, 

 nor good potatoes from a dry, hungry soil without special 

 care. 



We remember, when boys, and living in Vermont, about 

 sixty 3^ears ago, it was not uncommon for farmers to grow 

 from three to four hundred bushels to the acre ; now it is 

 well known that half that amount is more than an average 

 yield on the same ground. 



This great falling-ofi' in quantity cannot be attributed to the 

 running-out of varieties, for varieties are yet extant that have 

 not passed their prime ; neither can it be caused by disease, 

 for disease does not occur every year, nor does it enter every 

 field ; it may be traceable mainly to poverty in the soil in 

 certain ingredients, or in other words, the soil is partially 

 denuded of its humus. Now it is suggested that if one will 

 plant on comparatively dry, suitable soil, enriched with leaves, 

 seaweed, or by ploughing-in green crops till the soil is filled 

 to a proper depth with vegetable matter, he will find that the 



