164 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



upon which you would raise a great mangold crop, and under- 

 take to devote it to turnips, and you will fail ; it cannot be done. 

 But take a warm piece of light soil, which has been in grass for 

 some time ; — I make this point now, because the turnip is a 

 little impatient, also, of previous cultivation ; it enjoys a mono- 

 poly of what it undertakes to feed upon ; it does not very well 

 follow any other great feeding crop ; it needs a light soil, which 

 has been left in grass for years, until the grass crop has to a 

 certain extent run out ; — take a piece of light land of that 

 description, I say, (and we all know there is enough of it in 

 Massachusetts ; there is down our way, at any rate,) light, 

 somewhat sandy warm land, on which water never stands any 

 length of time, plough it from the 15th to the 20th of June, 

 put on a very little well decomposed barnyard manure, — manure 

 in which the mineral salts have been created by decomposition 

 before going into the soil, and out of which the nitrogenous ele- 

 ments have to a certain extent departed by decomposition ; 

 harrow it in ; put the land in good condition, as far as you can, 

 with the harrow ; and then with a marker, make your rows 

 twenty-seven or twenty-eight inches apart, and sow in those 

 rows a little good superphosphate. 

 Question. Where do you get it ? 



Dr. LoEiNG. I won't undertake to say. Get it wherever you 

 can find it. I have no doubt you can find it somewhere — 

 A Voice. Make it yourself. 



Dr. LoEiNG. Well, make it yourself, if you like, or get some- 

 body else to make it for you ; but get it. It will take three 

 hundred and fifty or four hundred pounds to the acre, sown by 

 the hand, in these little rows. That is just about as much as 

 you want, and it is not an expensive manure ; and, remem- 

 ber, I am for economy in farming. Put in the superphosphate, 

 and then sow your seed. I am particular about the season of 

 the year. Do not put it in any earlier, unless you want the 

 louse or the fly to destroy your plants. Sow your turnip seed 

 in those rows, and, more than all, be sure to use a seed-sower 

 that will cover your seed well. If you cannot find a seed-sower 

 that will do that, put on a good solid iron roller and roll them 

 in, and then you will be likely to get a good crop. When the 

 plants come up, they will need a little thinning out with the 

 hoe. They are very hardy, and you can knock them about con- 



