during the last Four Years. 201 



very good for ewes suckling in February ; the turnip is better, 

 but does not keep well until that time, unless it be small ; so 

 that many farmers sow very late turnips for their ewes, which 

 stand the frost, indeed, but give a very small bulk. The mangold 

 is known to be good for all animals giving milk. But it also appears, 

 from a remarkable experiment of Lord Spencer's,'^' that this root is 

 good for fatting also. The two beasts put up by him made even 

 more progress when fed alternately upon mangold than upon tur- 

 nips, and he considers the result to have been decisive. Mr. Hill- 

 yard, however, has undertaken to renew the experiment with regard 

 to horned cattle ; and it might be desirable to try it respecting 

 the fattening of sheep. Still enough is known to encourage the 

 growth of mangold; and Mr. Miles has given | us some good 

 rules for its cultivation. The only difficulty is in the sowing ; be- 

 cause, unless the seeds are put in very shallow they will not grow. 

 But the dibbling- wheel J removes this objection. After the 

 young shoot is come up, ail anxiety is at an end. It is attacked 

 neither by fly, slug, nor wireworm. Unlike the swede, it can be 

 sown early in April. It can be grown, too, on heavier lands than 

 even the swede. The common long red beet exhausts the land 

 rather more, in Mr. Miles's opinion, and requires rather a better 

 soil ; but the orange globe will flourish wherever the swede will 

 succeed. I find in Count de Gourcy's Travels § that Mr. Fisher 

 Hobbs, who has grown beet for many years, and has tried twenty- 

 eight kinds, regards the red and the yellow globes as the most pro- 

 ductive varieties. It appears also certain that in our four-course 

 system the turnip-crop returns too often. All the manure we 

 bestow on the turnip does not produce such fine roots as were seen 

 forty years since, when it was new to the land, and the site of 

 a freshly grubbed hedge puts our best cultivation to shame. || For 

 these reasons, and because the beets keep longer in spring than 

 any turnip, I think they should be allowed a share of the root-fields 

 on every farm to which they are suited. The merits of the four- 

 course system are great, but a great defect too is its monotonous 

 circle of wheat, turnips, barley, and clover. 



* Journal, vol. ii. p. 200. t Ibid., p. 298. 



X It is stated that a double wheel answers still better. Journal, vol. iii. 

 p. 164. A small frame with a short row of dibbles, held in the hand, may 

 also be used. 



§ A translation of this very interesting agricultural tour is now appearing 

 in the " Farmer's Magazine." 



II It is well known that all varieties of beet require to be stored before the 

 setting in of severe frost. This is now frequently done with swedes also. 

 They are either earthed up in the field, or carried home to the yard, where 

 care should be taken that they have a free circulation of air. It is one of the 

 advantages of this extending practice, that it affords a busy month of em- 

 ployment for women at a time when other labour is scarce. 



VOL. III. P 



