300 REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURE OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 



yield a "better return than sheep, and to consume only as much 

 of the crop by the latter as would consolidate the land. Part 

 of the additional manure, by this system, would be supplied by 

 the increased number of cattle which could be kept ; and it is 

 alleged, moreover, that frequently a large proportion of the 

 droppings from the sheep are washed away and thereby lost. 

 The reporter does not mean to enter on a discussion of the merits 

 of this theory, merely remarking that it is deserving of careful 

 consideration, and that their indisposition to apply manure 

 liberally at the time of sowing would lead many to reject it. 



The sheep are penned upon the turnips in October and 

 November, the white and yellow varieties being generally con- 

 sumed first. After Christmas, the turnips, before being given to 

 the sheep, are almost universally cut into long thin pieces by a 

 machine, and eaten out of wooden troughs made for the purpose. 

 This method has the threefold advantage of supplying the turnips 

 in a form in which they are easily masticated, of causing them 

 all to be eaten, thereby preventing the waste which unavoidably 

 takes place when they are consumed in an uncut condition, and 

 of keeping them very clean. In fact, some farmers, whose land 

 is of a sandy description, are so particular as to have their turnips 

 washed before they are put into the cutting machine. 



The greater proportion of the turnips given to sheep after 

 Christmas, except those intended to be consumed by Highland 

 wethers and other old sheep, are stored in a variety of ways. 

 The simplest method adopted is to go through them with a 

 jDlough so as to get the bulbs well covered over with earth. 

 Another plan, which very commonly prevails, and which has 

 been found to answer well, is, after cutting off the shaws and 

 roots, to store the bulbs in pits, each containing between one 

 and two cart-loads, the pits being covered over with a little 

 straw and a thin coating of earth. The straw, however, is quite 

 unnecessary. Where this method is adopted the pits are 

 arranged in rows, so that the sheep bars may be placed alongside 

 of a row of pits. A third plan is, to draw a furrow with a single- 

 moulded plough, and having pulled the turnips to throw them 

 into the furrow as pulled, the plough being again used for the 

 purpose of covering them. The plough is once more called into 

 requisition to turn them up during winter as required. The 

 quantity stored in one way or another throughout the county 

 varies from year to year. The reporter has never failed to 

 observe that a short succession of open seasons has the effect 

 of inspiring many farmers with too great a confidence in the 

 mildness of the seasons, as evidenced in their leaving a large 

 portion of their turnips unstored. Just as in the commercial 

 world, it seems to require a crisis every few years (some say 

 seven) to check the spirit of reckless speculation which gets 



