118 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Dr. 



Cost of ploughing 267 rods, $8 00 



of barn manure, 5^ cords, and applying the same, . 50 00 



of fertilizers . . . 20 00 



of weeding and hoeing, 50 00 



of cleaning turnips and marketing, 70 00 



Total, $198 00 



Cr. 



By 6,000 bunches, ... $300 00 



115 bushels, at 12£ cents, 14 2,1\ 



Total, $314 37i 



Balance, . $116 37^ 



Statement of Francis R. Appleton of Ipswich. 



The half-acre of ruta-baga turnips, which I enter, was a 

 part of a field of about one acre. They were planted in the 

 middle of June, in drills two feet and a half apart. The soil 

 is a heavy clay loam, thoroughly drained with tile, and has 

 been in grass for the previous years. It was ploughed last 

 fall, and again this spring, and thoroughly harrowed. To 

 prepare the land for the seed, trenches were made with the 

 plough, and barn-yard manure put in them, — twelve ox-cart 

 loads in all, — for the half acre. These were then covered by 

 the plough, making a ridge where before was a trench, and 

 rolled. Just before the trenches were covered, there was 

 sown upon the barn-yard manure a mixture of ashes, super- 

 phosphate of lime, plaster, and Brighton manure, in all, six 

 bushels. The seed was put in with a hand-drill, care being 

 taken to do this immediately after the rolling. It is impor- 

 tant that the above operations should follow one another in 

 quick succession, leaving the least possible interval between 

 the stirring of the soil and the planting of the seed. The 

 plants were thinned to about ten inches distance from each 

 other. They were cultivated by a horse once, and the thin- 

 ning and weeding was done by a man with a common hoe. 

 The yield from the half-acre was two hundred and fifty-six 

 bushels ; weight, sixty-three pounds per bushel, or over eight 

 tons in all for one-half acre. 



This result is not satisfactory, nor does it equal the average 

 crop of this farm, owing to the long drought. No rain of any 

 account fell for two months after the seed was planted. 



