558 [Assembly 



the next year, the yield of roots would be over 800 bushels to 

 the acre. There would be an advance in the annual value of the 

 corn crop of one fourth while the root crop would even exceed in 

 value the hay. To effect all this we lack only cheap and effect- 

 ive methods of culture; we lack only what steam has done for 

 transportation. The high price of labor is all that stands in the 

 way of these changes in farm policy, and that obstacle is daily 

 becoming less by the influx of foreign population. 



The root crop should be sown directly after the corn is plant- 

 ed. The carrots that I have sown before planting have been the 

 best. Tbe ground should be ploughed deep, subsoiled, not trench 

 ploughed, as the earth from below delays the germination of the 

 seed. The rows should be perfectly straight as this facilitates 

 culture. The surface should be finely pulverized; the drills 

 level and trodden, or otherwise marked, so that they may be 

 hoed between with the broad hoe, even before the young plants 

 can be clearly distinguished. The secret of success lies in the 

 first month. If the rows do not come up evenly water the poor 

 spots with sink slops, or other liquid manure. After preparing 

 ground for such crops it should not be allowed to lie before being 

 sown, as this gives the weeds the start of the drills. I have 

 never been able to get along with less than three hoeings, and 

 believe three pays best. After they are sufficiently grown, run- 

 ning the plough through them every two or three weeks for the 

 remainder of the season is of benefit. Turnips and beets must 

 be thinned in the rows or they will not bottom with turnips. 

 This operation ought not to be performed, nor, indeed, the weeds 

 removed from the rows until they get the third leaf, as they in 

 this way escape the bugs better. The rows should be two feet 

 apart for horse culture. Turnips in the row may be ten inches 

 or a foot ; beets not quite so far ; and as for carrots I believe the 

 yield has been greatest in the thickest rows; yet there must be 

 some limit to this. 



Of these roots, the carrot, and more particularly, the parsnip, 

 have naturalised themselves and become indigenous. It is a sig- 

 nificant fact, that in field margins, along highways, and in waste 

 places, they sow themselves and struggle with the stones for a 

 footing, and yet live and hand down life from generation to gene- 



