124 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Value of Crop. 



150 bushels, at 40 cents per bushel, $60 00 



Value of tops for fodder, 2 50 



Total value of crop, $62 50 



Profit, ' $42 39 



BRISTOL. 



Statement of Nathan B. ' Gardner of Swansea. 



Beets. — Area, one-quarter of an acre. The soil is a strong 

 loam. I ploughed in the fall of 1875, and again the first of 

 May, seven inches deep, and applied one-fourth ton of fish 

 guano in the fall. Five loads of raked seaweed, and three 

 loads of stable manure, were ploughed under in May. Fifty 

 pounds of sulphate of potash (eighty-five per cent.), and 

 Stockbridge's fertilizer for 167 bushels, were sown broadcast, 

 just before planting. I planted, May 11, with Holbrook's seed- 

 planter, in drills, thirty inches apart, two pounds of seed, of 

 a variety called Norbiton's Giant. It was cultivated with 

 horse cultivator twice, and hoed three times, and thinned to 

 ten inches apart in the rows. 



In raising beets I intend to apply to an acre sufficient nitro- 

 gen, and potash, and soluble phosphoric acid for 1,500 bushels ; 

 then give clean cultivation, and trust to Providence for the 

 result. According to Professor Stockbridge's formula, one 

 hundred bushels of beets require eleven pounds of nitrogen, 

 twenty-five pounds actual potash, and six pounds of soluble 

 phosphoric acid. 



Expense. 



Ploughing, $1 50 



Manure, 32 00 



Seed and planting, 1 50 



Cultivation, 4 50 



Harvesting, 5 00 



Total, $44 50 



Yield, 23,040 pounds. 



