THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



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words, viz., cut up. It is well-known that even at the 

 present day the matter is no better understood than it 

 should be, and that many intelligent practical men, who 

 never give it a thought, seldom know there is in effect 

 any difference between cutting up and cutting down. 

 A moment's glance will suffice to show that an edged 

 tool in cleaving wood occupies space, and necessarily 

 exerts a pressure on one or both sides of the resisting 

 material. In cutting the stem of a bush, if the blow is 

 struck upwards the whole pressure falls on the stem 

 which is cut off, leaving the stub sound and smooth; but 

 if cut down the reverse is the case, the pressure is on 

 the stub, which it shatters to pieces, while the stem cut 

 is left sound. Supposing the axe descends vertically on 

 a stem laid horizontally, the stroke effects a pressure on 

 both sides, and both are injured; which is the precise 

 effect occasioned by the shears in clipping hedges. 



Therefore clipping is not to be much recommended. 

 When trees or hedges are cut down and the stubs left 

 shattered, as they necessarily will be, the rain descends 

 and lodges in the crown of the roots, and then generates 

 canker and premature decay. The shoots which spring 

 from such stubs may be numerous, but they will be 

 feeble and puny, and liable to break with the first 

 strong wind or fall of snow. The reverse is the case 

 when the hedge is cut up : the stub is left sound and im- 

 pervious to wet and canker, the shoots come strong and 

 healthy, and are able to contend against thp vicissitudes 

 of the weather. Therefore, in hedge culture, in which 

 the cutting forms no unimportant part, it will amply re- 

 pay the cultivator any little trouble he may meet with, if 

 finally he can establish and enforce the rule, cut up. 



W. J. MoSCROP. 



Forest Farm, Great Ribsion, Wetherby. 



THE HADLEIGH FARMERS' CLUB. 



The late meeting of this Club closed with a solid dis- 

 cussion on the roots shown, and the means adopted for their 

 successful cultivation. Mr. Gurdon, judge of the Essex 

 County Court, was a prizeman for the best two acres of 

 mangold; and Mr. Garnhara, his bailiff, stated that, in 

 the first place, the land was ploughed in December, across, 

 as it was called. It was ridged, and in January backed ; 

 after that, about seventy loads of grass were taken off the 

 nine acres, and then it was subsoiled between the ridges. 

 In February, about 30O bushels of lime wpre added to the 

 70 loads of grass ; the land was then ploughed back again, 

 and subsoiled with one of Bentall's subsoilers between each 

 ridge. The lime with the grass was next added, and about 

 eight loada per acre of farmyard manure. After that it was 

 sown, and two cwt. of guano, two cwt. of superphosphate, 

 and four cwt. of salt used ; making about twelve loads per 

 per acre of grass, lime, and manure. The plough was after- 

 wards used again, and the drill about the 10th of May, 

 which Mr. Gurdon considered too late. The ridges were 

 thirty inches apart, and the plants were set out thirteen 

 inches apart. — Mr. Joseph Rand, who had the best two 

 acres of swedes, said he scarified his lands early after har- 

 vest, which was his general system when he wanted early 

 roots ; in the early part of the spring he adopted the usual 

 treatment, and he applied farmyard manure principally made 

 from beasts and sheep well fed with oilcake and roots. He 

 put on ten loads per acre, and nothing else, for he found it 

 acted much longer in the land than artificial manure, and a 

 root crop did not exhaust it so much. He had found salt, 

 however,very beneficial for mangolds. He put his swedes 

 in in the second week in June ; it was a four-yards stetch, 

 and he had six rows in a stetch. He hoed them out gene- 

 rally about six inches apart. Although the weather had 

 been hotter than in two previous seasons, there had been 

 more frequent showers and heavy dews. Drought caused 

 mildew, and mildew rot; and then there was a woody fibre, 

 and an inferior quality of swedes. Many persons thought 

 diminution in weight was attributable to the exhaustion of 

 the soil ; but he thought that if the seasons changed again, 

 as good turnips and aa good swedes would be grown as be- 

 fore. Bringing the crop forward very early was likely to 

 induce mildew, particularly in very hot seasons ; on the 



other hand, by the early sowing of swedes on heavy land, 

 it would be found that they produced most weight. Heavy 

 land required to be sown a mouth sooner than a light soil ; 

 if not, the plants growing on it so much slower than on 

 turnip land, there would be a falling off in weight. — Mr. 

 Robert Rand, in explaining his treatment of white turnips, 

 said he farmed on much the same system as his brother. 

 He generally made his furrows at Michaelmas ; and if the 

 weather was suitable, scarified or ploughed his laud, whether 

 he intended it for a turuip or a beet crop. He crossed the 

 land in November, stetched, turned it back, pl.ughed it 

 three times, and cleaned it well. The manure, ten loads an 

 acre, was made entirely from sheep fed on mangold, oilcake, 

 malt coombs, and corn, and it was very rich aud good. He 

 had had an opportunity of hoeing but once. The turnips 

 which had obtained the prize were drilled seven rows on 

 ten and a-half feet, and were thicker than his brother's. He 

 did not approve of their seeding, but liked a full plant for 

 everything. — Mr. R. Parlridf^e, on the part of the judges, 

 stated that they had calculated the weight of the 

 roots sepai'ately from that of the blades, giving 

 the prizes to the greatest weight of roots with 

 the smallest weight of blade. They first went to Mr. 

 Robert Rand's, Ivy Tree Farm, and saw a beautiful piece of 

 yellow globe, There were 74 roots to each rod, and the 

 weight, without tops or blades, was 40 tons 6 cwt. 1 qr. 201b8.; 

 the weight of the blades 6 tons 9 cwt. 1 qr. 41b3. — total 46 

 tons 15 cwt. 2 qrs, 241bs. They were very fine, clean and 

 regular, and grown on the stetch. Mr, Joseph Rand's was 

 the next piece they looked over : the roots were grown on an 

 old pasture broken up, peaty hollow-bottomed land. The 

 weight there without the tops was 39 tons 17 cwt. 3 qrs. 121ba., 

 and the extraordinary weight of 12 tons of tops, makinsr a 

 total of 51 tons 17 cwts. 3 qrs, 12lbs. The average number 

 of roots to a rod was 79. They next went to Mr. Gurdon's, 

 and there they found a splendid piece of beet, rather wide in 

 the furrows they thought, and thick on the ridge. They were 

 of beautiful quality, grown oa a sandy piece of land liigh 

 farmed for roots. The avarege of roots to the rod was 100^. 

 The weight per acre was 40 tons 17 cwt. qrs. IGlbs., the 

 blades 5 tons 11 cwt. 1 qr, 201b8., making altogether 46 tons 

 8 cwt, 2 qrs, Slbs, Thus Mr, Gurdon's blades had the least 



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