CULTURE OF BOOTS. 



61 



per acre, spread upon the surface before plowing and covered in with 

 the plow. In place of this, but all the better with it, 300 to 500 

 pounds per acre of superphosphate, or Peruvian guano, should be 

 applied by sowing on the surface after plowing, and harrowing it in. 

 Immediately after this, the soil should be well smoothed by the 

 smoothing harrow and roller. The seed is sown in drills, by means 

 of a seed drill, the Planet or any other of an equally good kind, 

 twenty-four inches apart in light soils, and thirty inches in strong, 

 rich land, the plants being thinned to nine inches apart in the former 

 case and twelve in the latter. This is what is termed flat culture. 

 Some farmers, however, practice the ridge system, and as this is 

 your method, Mr. Crozier, please describe it, and say how you pro- 

 duce the enormous crops which I have seen in your fields ? 



(Mr. C. ) After thoroughly plowing, harrowing and smoothing the 

 land, I strike out furrows with the double mold-board plow (if this 

 is not obtainable, any plow that will make such a furrow will do), 

 thirty inches apart. The furrow is six to seven inches deep. These 

 furrows are then half filled with compost (see chapter on Manures) 

 or stable manure, thoroughly decomposed, or, if yet rough and un- 

 rotted, it is pressed down in the rows with the feet. After the 

 manure has been placed in the furrows, the plow is run on each side, so 

 as to cover in the manure, and to raise a ridge as high as the furrow 

 was deep. These ridges are leveled with a roller or chain harrow, 

 about two or three inches, which widens the ridge, so as to permit 

 the seed sower to work on it. Where stable manure is scarce, I use 



superphosphate, or bone 

 dust, sown in the furrows 

 at the rate of about 300 

 pounds to the acre, keep- 

 ing the ridge over the 

 furrows not so high as 

 over the manure. About 

 six to eight pounds of 

 seed are used to the acre, 

 sown with the seed drill. 

 If sown by hand, fully 

 double that quantity will 



be required. The plants are thinned to twelve or fourteen inches 

 apart, the land is well cultivated, and kept loose and free from 

 weeds. 



This system of culture, both for mangels and turnips, requires 

 more labor, but is a saving in manure. The best time for sowing, in 

 the latitude of New York, is from May 1st to the 15th; but this time 



SEED DRILL FOB ROOT CROPS. 



