40 



very liable, should esteem them best, also, for home use. We 

 have frequently suffered great loss by the potato rot, but know of 

 no effectual remedy. It is worthy of remark that although we dig 

 potatoes early to escape the rot, yet before we finish the digging 

 many of them will often be found decayed and worthless. As 

 they are dug, we select, for seed, those of a size unsuitable for 

 the market. These seldom rot, while larger and better ones can- 

 not be kept for family use. 



We raise but few roots, except flat turnips and ruta bagas. 

 For these last, we turn over a piece of sward land, after mowing. 

 Manure with four or five cords, per acre, and sow the seed 

 in drills from twenty to twenty-four inches apart. The plants 

 stand from eight to ten inches apart in the drills. We take 

 any soil, except a wet one, that may happen to want renew- 

 ing. Can raise them well as a second crop after peas, or straw- 

 berries. This year, they have been very profitable, the best being 

 worth from 40 to 45 cents per bushel. A common yield is from 

 600 to 1000 bushels per acre ; and we think they can be raised 

 for one shilling or less, per bushel. They are well worth being 

 raised, if only for feeding cattle. 



As before stated, we raise but little grass except herdsgrass 

 and redtop, and mow as nearly as possible when the grass is in 

 the bloom. Ordinary yield, from one to two and a half tons per 

 acre. We have never used a mowing machine, but do use a re- 

 volving horse-rake, which, we think, equal, — with a man, boy and 

 horse to work it, — to five or six men with hand-rakes. We think 

 hay can be made and put in barn, in favorable weather, at from 

 three to five dollars per ton. We pay good workmen from $1.75 

 to $2 per day. What may be a fair day's work at having, cannot 

 easily be estimated ; so different, often, are the circumstances in 

 which it is to be done. 



We have hitherto grown but little fruit. This year, have raised 

 strawberries with good success. 



We raise but few early vegetables except potatoes, peas and 

 turnips. We have, usually, in growth, from half to three-quarters 

 of an acre of peas, yielding, upon an average, twenty-five bush- 

 els per acre, and worth from $2.50 to $3 per bushel. And with 

 peas, we plant sweet corn, Avhich makes a large addition to the 

 value of the crop. Flat turnips sown early, if they escape the 

 fly and worms, are a profitable crop, often yielding $100 worth or 

 more from a quarter of an acre. Insects, however, and deception 

 in the character of the seed, make this an uncertain crop. 



We have a kitchen garden with the usual variety of vegetables. 

 Have kept no exact account to show its cost. The work is chiefly 

 done at leisure intervals ; and its real value can only be estimated 

 by those who have to purchase all their vegetables. 



