232 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Hence the generally more nutritive quality of the two latter 

 roots, weight for weight. — Elements of Agricultural Chemistry , 

 p. 326. 



ESSEX. 



Statement of Robert A. Smith. 

 Sugar Beets. — I herewith submit a statement of a crop of 

 sugar beets raised on one-half acre of land. The land on which 

 they were raised is a clay loam, and has been in cultivation five 

 years, and manured at the rate of about five cords per acre, 

 yearly. Last year it was planted with corn, and yielded about 

 fifty bushels per acre. After the corn was taken off, a part of 

 the piece was manured with coarse horse manure at the rate of 

 eight cords per acre, the remaining part with manure from the 

 barn cellar in which hogs had been kept ; it was composed of 

 about equal parts of horse and cow manure and sand, and 

 applied at the rate of seven cords per acre, the whole spread on 

 and ploughed in. In December, fine gravel was put on at the 

 rate of two hundred loads per acre. On the 21st of May it was 

 harrowed and the rows marked off two feet apart ; the seed was 

 put in by hand nine inches apart, which I think is much better 

 than sowing with a machine, as it saves thinning out, and 

 enables me to do most of the weeding with the hoe. The crop 

 was taken off last week, and yielded four hundred and sixty 

 bushels, and weighed 22,585 pounds. The part of the bed that 

 was manured from the barn cellar yielded about one-third more 

 than the part where the horse manure was applied. 

 Newburyport, November 13, 1858. 



Statement of Aaron Loiu. 

 Ruta-Bagas. — I enter for the society's premium one-half 

 acre of ruta-baga turnips. The land on which these were 

 raised is a sandy loam, and has been cultivated two years. In 

 1856 it was planted with corn, and was manured with one 

 shovelful of barn manure to each hill, and produced a fair crop. 

 In 1857 it was planted with squashes and corn, and was manured 

 with two shovelfuls of manure to each hill of the squashes and 

 one to each hill of the corn, and produced a very good crop. 

 In the latter part of last May I hauled on three cords of barn 



