TUENIPS. 131 



winter and put it in large square heaps, about five feet 

 high ; in the spring, if necessary, turn over the heaps to 

 facilitate decomposition. 



When the manure is in heaps in the field, it is an easy 

 matter to draw it about the lot, even if the land has been 

 plowed ; put it in rows about five yards apart, and make 

 the heaps at about the same distance in rows. This would 

 give one hundred and ninety-three heaps on an acre, and 

 if you put three bushels of manure in each heap, and each 

 bushel weighs seventy-five pounds, you would put on a little 

 over twenty tons to the acre. If the manure is good, and 

 you apply three or four hundred pounds of superphos- 

 phate per acre in addition, this amount will be amply 

 sufficient to produce a grand crop of turnips. 



Spread the manure evenly on the land, and then go 

 over it with a smoothing harrow lengthwise, and cross- 

 wise of the furrows two or three times, until the manure 

 is thoroughly broken up and mixed with the soil. Not 

 a single lump should remain visible. This is an impor- 

 tant matter, and you should do the work very thoroughly. 

 If you are inclined to shrink from the labor and expense, 

 think of a thousand bushels of turnips to the acre, and 

 what they are likely to be worth in market, and go over 

 the land once more with a harrow. 



The next step depends on the nature of the soil. My 

 own soil varies greatly. I have in the same field a black 

 sand, with more or less muck in it, and a sandy knoll 

 with a stiff, tenacious loam between. It is not necessary 

 to plow the muck or the dry sand as much as the heavier 

 soil. And yet, as a matter of fact, the light soil is always 

 better plowed than the other, as the plow goes in deeper 

 than it does on the clay. I find it better to plow 

 the heavier soil by itself, even if it is necessary to turn 

 round every few rods. When thoroughly reduced by good 

 and repeated plowing, the heavier soil gives the best crops, 

 but if carelessly plowed, with a point good enough to go 



