THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



381 



he tells us that within the few last years he has 

 abandoned the seed-bed, and drilled on ridges his 

 general crop, on the fallows in May, using about 

 2 lbs. of seed per acre, at 2/ inches apart, and 

 thinning to 16 inches; he finds the seed extremely 

 difficult to grow true, as it is apt to sport or be in- 

 oculated. Of the varieties generally sown he has 

 a predilection for the (;reen kind. In Scotland the 

 time of drilling the seed is in April ; and it would 

 be difficult perhaps to give in other words a better 

 digest of the chief facts relating to this valuable 

 root than that given by the Messrs. Lawson. At 

 the end of their valuable Essay {ibid., p. 527), 

 they observe : 



1. There are eleven varieties in cultivation, four 

 of which are supposed to be modifications of the 

 others. 



2. All soils are suited to its cultivation, but it 

 prefers heavy lands, even those approaching to stiff 

 clays, and it can be grown where turnips cannot. 



3. Soil should be in fine tilth, well worked, and 

 farmyard manure ploughed-in in the autumn. In 

 the spring it should be grubbed and thoroughly 

 pulverized. 



4. It requires heavy manuring : phosphatic ma- 

 nures, with common salt added, are most suitable 

 for it. Peruvian guano and other nitrogenous 

 manures should be avoided. 



5. Seed should be sown in beds at the end of 

 February or early in March, in drills 12 inches 

 apart. A bed 6 yards square will afford sufficient 

 plants for one acre of land, and 8 oz. of seed will 

 be necessary for the seed-bed. 



6. For successional crops, three sowings may 

 be made : the first, early in March ; the second, 

 during the second week of April ; and the third, 

 the first week of June. 



7. Transplanting to the drills should be com- 

 menced the first week of May ; but, as a general 

 rule, the plants should not be removed until they 

 are from 6 to 8 inches high. 



8. Plants for the main crop should be dibbled 

 in at 18 inches distance. If successional crops are 

 transplanted, the first (in May) should be ]8 

 inches, the second (in June) 16 inches, and the 

 third (end of July or first week in August) 14 

 inches apart. 



9. If sown at once in the field in the drills, the 

 operation should be performed about the middle of 

 April, but not later than the end. Of seed, 4 lbs. 

 are necessary for an acre. 



10. Drills should be 27 inches in width, and 

 plants should be singled to 18 inches. 



11. While growing, the horse-hoe must be kept 

 in continual requisition, until the spreading of the 

 leaves prevents the operation being performed. 



12. The average weight per acre is, in England, 

 from 26 to 30 tons ; in Scotland, from 20 to 25 

 tons ; and in Ireland, from 30 to 35 tons. 



13. Every description of stock will eat the kohl- 

 rabi with avidity. In consuming the crop, sheep 

 may be folded on the ground ; but, if given in the 

 yards to cattle, the bulbs should be sliced or 

 pulped. For pigs they should be steamed or 

 boiled. 



14. For- cattle and horses it affords true nourish- 

 ment when boiled with grain. 



15. For milch cows it is invaluable, giving to 

 milk or butter none of that disagreeable flavour 

 which results when they are fed on turnips. 



16. For ewes or lambs it is as fine food as they 

 can have in March or April ; and when the ewes 

 are lambing it is found greatly to increase the 

 supply of milk. 



17. Kohl-rabi is, so far as at present known, 

 subject to no diseases except "clubbing" and 

 " anbury." 



18. If hares or rabbits exist in the neighbour- 

 hood of the crop, they are sure to prove very de- 

 structive unless means of precaution are taken. 



19. The leaves are of equal value with the 

 bulbs in nutritive properties. 



20. The plant for feeding purposes is twice as 

 valuable as ordinary turnips, and materially sur- 

 passes the best swedes in point of composition and 

 feeding value. 



21. It bears transplanting better than any other 

 crop, and is invaluable, therefore, for filling up 

 blanks in turnips, swedes, or potatoes. 



22. The kohl-rabi can withstand any amount of 

 drought, if the operation of transplanting has been 

 successful. 



23. The most intense frost does not affect it; it 

 stands the winter well, and affords good feed even 

 to the end of spring. 



24. Its advantages over the swedes are, that 

 cattle, and especially horses, are fonder of it; the 

 leaves are better food ; it bears transplanting better 

 than any other root; insectsdonot injure it; drought 

 does not prevent its growth ; it stores quite as 

 well or better; it stands the winter better; and it 

 affords food later in the season, even in June. 



It is certain, however, that although the kohl-rabi 

 on a clay soil thrives with the greatest luxuriance, 

 yet it does well on the poorest gravels. It would per- 

 haps be needless to refer to a much poorer black gravel 

 than that of Spring Park, in Surrey, a farm once 

 held by Mr, Hewitt Davis; yet here I saw this root 

 for several seasons successfully grown ; its mode 

 of cultivation was described by him some time 

 since {Farmers' Almanac, vol. iv, p, 25), His 

 plan was to prepare a seed-bed by well digging 

 and dressing in the winter a corner of an early 

 piece of tares, sowing the seed in March thinly in 

 drills 12 inches apart, keeping it clean by hand- 

 weeding and hoeing, and then, as the tares were 

 cleared off in May and June, the ground was 

 deeply ploughed, dressed, ridged up, and planted. 

 He found httle or no advantage on the Spring 

 Park soils from watering the plants even with 

 dung-water; but this I take to be an exceptional 

 observation. It would be well, I take it, in all 

 cases, if the planting and watering could be per- 

 formed in moist dull weather, or when the sun is 

 about to set. 



We may see, from these experimental inquiries, 

 that the cultivation of our root crops has hardly 

 yet arrived at that degree of general success which 

 is yet attainable. Our knowledge of the manifold 

 mysteries of vegetation is indeed still but very 

 limited. The way in which certain root crops be- 

 come so extensively diseased— the equally unac- 

 countable manner in which the land refuses, after 

 a while, however well farmed, to produce the same 



