REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURE OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 297 



estimated. In fact, it is difficult to understand how the Dum- 

 friesshire arable farmer could get on without this crop. 



There were, as remarked above, 20,300 imperial acres of turnips 

 grown in the county in 1866. It is difficult to arrive at a pro- 

 bable estimate what proportion of these may be swedes and 

 what proportion other varieties, as there is not only a difference 

 in this respect between the different parts of the county, but 

 farmers even in the same district vary in the proportions which 

 they sow of each. In the lower portion of the county about 

 one-half of the turnips sown are generally swedes, whereas in the 

 upper districts certainly not more than one-third, and probably 

 only one-fourth, are of this variety. It is generally observed that 

 the quantity of swedes grown in the higher districts is gradually 

 lessening. It is found that on farms 400 or 500 feet above 

 the level of the sea the temperature is too low to produce 

 a full crop of them. We believe we are not far wrong in esti- 

 mating the swedes at from one-third to one-fourth of the 

 whole grown. The other varieties are white, yellow, &c. The 

 white variety is generally grown for consumption in October and 

 November, and when early sown a very large crop is commonly 

 produced. The swedes are preferred for spring use, as being 

 hardy they keep better than the softer kinds. When early 

 sown as much weight of them can be produced as of almost any 

 other variety, and it is found that they feed further in proportion 

 to size and weight than the other sorts. 



The land which is intended for green crop is ploughed from 

 the stubble in October and November. Autumn cleaning of 

 land intended for green crop is not much practised in Dumfries- 

 shire. With regard to the process of cleaning, we may simply 

 remark that the grubber has of late years been more used than 

 was customary fifteen or twenty years ago. There is no depart- 

 ment of husbandry in which the Dumfriesshire arable farmers 

 have made so much progress as turnip cultivation. Take, for 

 example, the matter of manuring. The reporter has before him 

 a summary of answers to queries, which were addressed in 1842 

 to about a dozen of the leading agriculturists of the county in 

 regard to the cultivation of this crop by a gentleman, whom we 

 have had frequent occasion to refer to by name and otherwise in 

 this report, and who is universally admitted to have done more 

 in very many ways to promote the advancement of the agricul- 

 ture of Dumfriesshire than any other man, namely, Charles 

 Stewart, Esq., Hillside. From these answers it appears that in 

 the case of ordinary farms in 1842 not more than 14 or 15 

 yards of well-rotted farm-yard manure, or 20 bushels of bones, 

 were applied. These gentlemen all agree in opinion that the 

 average produce of good arable land rented at 30s. per acre, 

 and not over 300 feet above sea level, would not be more 



