No. 151.] 529 



The average crop of the carrot is greater than that of turnep ; 600 

 bushels is a good crop, but by great cultivation, one thousand, and 

 even twelve hundred bushels have been raised on one acre. The seed 

 must be sowed in April, not later than the 1st of May. Carrots 

 must be dried carefully, and so put in cool, dry places, free of frost 

 and damp. It has been recommended to sow carrots with flax; pull- 

 ins: the flax loosens the soil, and then the carrots mature. The flax 

 and carrot seed are harrowed in together. 



I repeat, plant turneps on the moist alluvial grounds, on banks of 

 creeks, in valleys. When turneps, as with other vegetables, grow 

 luxuriantly, they are not hurt by insects. The turnep flea, or rather 

 fly, destroys thousands of acres sometimes, in a short period of 

 drought. This fly attacks only the leaf, some others and worms at- 

 tack the bottom. Some persons have followed the plan of feeding 

 these insects by means of bran or ship-stuff which have small por- 

 tions of their flour attacked. They sow this over a turnep field and 

 the fly feeds on this flour instead of the turnep leaf. One person ga- 

 thered the fine dry dust on the road, and sowed it while the dew was 

 on the leaf; the fly would not then touch the dusted leaves. This 

 dust remains on until the next shower, and if that does not come in 

 four or five days, the fly no longer assails the crop. Another person 

 sows dry unleached ashes thinly over the field; perhaps guano or 

 poudrette would be better still, giving offensive taste and smell to the 

 plants. 



When turneps do not thrive, worms are apt to assail them, but not 

 when the soil is rich and growth luxuriant. Turneps are a very valu- 

 able crop when the hay crop is bad. In Westchester last year we 

 supplied by turneps half the crop of hay which was lacking; and 

 this city requires much hay, which our farmers can spare and make 

 it up in turneps at home. And the culture of the root crops in a ro- 

 tation seems to favor those chemical principles indispensable to soil. 



The parsnep is a very valuable root. Some have objected to feed- 

 ing turneps to cows, because it gives a turnep taste to the milk; but 

 if you feed them to the cow either just before or after milking, there 

 will be no such taste to the milk. I should be disposed to try guano 

 or poudrette on the turnep crop, if the weather was moist, but in 

 drought they would be of no earthly use. I lost a crop, however, 

 last year, by giving it an over dose of guano. Perhaps we can hard- 

 ly use it as they do in moist England. The best way to plant them 

 is in drills, plough two or three times, harrow as often and you may 



[Assembly, No. 151.] 34 



