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The Coimtry Gentleman! s Magazine 



given to them, I have seen hundreds of in- 

 stances to shew. The strongest proof was 

 in a field of turnips in a farm on the estate 

 of Troup. The tenant improved some 

 heather muir, dry, hard, chaddy soil, that 

 had never been cultivated before. After 

 one or two grain crops he sowed turnips in 

 it ; half of the field was manured with farm- 

 yard manure formed from diseased turnips 

 given to the cattle, and the other half 

 manured with bone-dust and guano. The 

 same seed was sown and at the same time. 

 The turnips raised after the farm-yard dung 

 were all diseased, and those after bones and 

 guano were all sound. 



James Bruce, Esq. of Longside, applied 

 the scrapings of his turnip sheds, where 

 diseased turnips were used, to top-dress some 

 thin parts of a grass park. Subsequently, 

 when that field was in turnips, those j^laces 

 that were top-dressed had the bulbs diseased, 

 and in the rest of the field they were sound. 

 I have seen instances where the turnips 

 were only very partially diseased after 

 poisoned manure, especially in red clay land, 

 but it is the exception, and may be accounted 

 for in several ways. 



I find also that seed raised from diseased 

 turnips contains the poison, and hence, 

 where it is sown, it will develop itself. Nay, 

 more, let sound turnips be planted in 

 diseased soil, and the seed will be more or 

 less smitten. 



In proof of the seed conveying the disease, 

 of many instances I have observed, one 

 case was on the farm of Bridgend, in the 

 parish of Cruden — Mr Snell, tenant. He 

 got a few lbs. of a highly recommended 

 variety of Swedes, when put into one of the 

 boxes of the turnip-sowing barrow, and put 

 sound seed of his own raising in the other 

 box, so that every alternate two drills of tur- 

 nips were of each variety of turnip. Those 

 raised from his own seed were all sound 

 bulbs, but the turnips from the new seed 

 were all much diseased. 



Some varieties of turnips are less liable to 

 be smitten with finger-and-toe than others. 

 Swedes are not smitten to the same extent as 

 yellow turnips. Some soil is more or less 



able to resist the poison than others, as red 

 clay land suffers little, and light gravelly or 

 damp haugh or moss land is very subject to it. 



I have observed many causes that tend to 

 induce the disease to destroy the crop, as 

 cold wet spring while sowing the turnips, too 

 rapidly preparing and sowing the land. 



For the last thirty years I have directed 

 my attention to this disease, over a large ex- 

 tent of the country, while engaged valuing 

 land and as a Government inspector of drains, 

 &c., with a view of finding a remedy, and I 

 have succeeded to a certain extent. The ap- 

 plication of lime I have not verified, but I 

 have good evidence of its efficiency in some 

 reported instances in the south of Scotland, 

 and it is worthy of experiment where lime 

 will not injure the grain crop. 



The plan that I find succeeds best on vari- 

 ous farms, is to turn up and expose the soil 

 to the frost, drought, and sunshine. The 

 usual plan of opening the drills, manuring, 

 covering up the drills, and sowing them im- 

 mediately, if done in diseased land, is the 

 surest plan to destroy the turnips. Whereas, 

 if the land be drilled for two or three weeks 

 before the manuring and sowing, they may 

 be sound turnips. Of course, if the weather 

 be wet, the opening of the drills for a time 

 will not do so much good, as weathering aud 

 exposing the soil appears to be necessary. 



In proof of this theory, I saw a field of 

 turnips where half of the land had the drills 

 left open for two or three weeks previous to 

 being manured and sown. The first half of 

 the field had the drills opened, manured, and 

 sown at once. Upon this part the turnips 

 were all diseased ; but in the former part 

 they were nearly all sound. The same 

 manure and seed were used. I observed a 

 field in this farm where the plan of opening 

 the drills for three weeks was adopted with 

 success, for three years. The head and end 

 rigs had the turnips very much rotten, but 

 the rest of the field had the turnips, with very 

 few exceptions, sound. 



Again, I was engaged on a farm on the 

 estate of Boyndlie, in the parish of Tyrie, of 

 poor muiry soil, where finger-and-toe used to 

 prevail. I noticed that the farmer had all 



