308 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



old, and taken by a practical friend, whose crop I weighed 

 in 1856, (42 tons to the acre,) and I never weighed a 

 crop for this farmer less than 34 tons, and the last year 

 he had the greatest weight of any year in his practice. 



109. "Swede turnips may be cultivated with success in 

 high altitudes, even at 400 feet above the sea, in the north 

 and northwestern counties. I weighed 6 roots grown at 

 an altitude of 550 feet which weighed 105 Ibs. ; all the 

 6 were remarkably handsome and sound. The seed should 

 be sown in bleak or high districts by the end of April, and 

 good seed may be obtained under all the circumstances 

 named as to altitude, by due care and attention. 



110. " Let the bulbs intended for seed be taken up be- 

 fore being damaged by frost; select those bulbs which 

 have one good tap root, break the branch or haulm off 

 with the hand not cut it off- lay them together in a 

 little sand or soil, not thick or bulky in the pye or hog, 

 and well protected from frost. The bulbs may be planted 

 out about the middle of April ; keep a look-out for frosty 

 nights, and protect with straw. The bulbs for seed should 

 be planted on a tolerably strong soil containing considerable 

 quantities of carbonaceous earth; if this is not naturally in 

 the soil, a dressing of quick lime may be put on the land in- 

 tended to raise seed a month or six weeks before the bulbs 

 are put down. The seed should be raised on a soil which 

 has not been cultivated for the same crop for many years 

 if a virgin soil, so far as regards turnips the better. 

 Never raise turnip seed on a ferruginous sandy soil, or on 

 a clayey soil, containing much ferruginous matter, unless 

 the same has been well dressed with quick lime or strong 

 carbonaceous marl. The bulbs should not be planted on 

 the same soil, or any soil in the vicinity of cabbage, rape, 

 or any other of the brassica tribe of plants. A person, to 

 grow good turnip seed, must not think of growing tons of 

 it in one year, and it is quite worth the time and little 

 trouble for farmers residing in different localities who have 

 confidence in each other's care and attention to this subject, 

 to exchange seed frequently. One cause, and in my 



