PROCEEDINGS. 



large red variety, which is excellent for late use. It was stated, 

 that when grown against a north wall, and protected from birds, 

 rain, and frost, it will continue good till the latter end of December. 



Two large purple-topped Swedes, from the Rev. Mr. Smith, of 

 Lois Weedon, were exhibited. They were extremely solid, firm, 

 and good, and weighed respectively 9 lbs., and 9 lbs. 4 oz. They 

 were sent as examples of Mr. Smith's peculiar system of manage- 

 ment, which he has stated to be as follows: — The land, a heavy clay, 

 with a staple originally of five or six inches, has been gradually 

 brought, by trenching and horse-hoeing, to a pulverised state 

 eighteen or twenty inches deep. In the autumn I buried the 

 manure (made by cows and swine, fed on Swedes and bran, with 

 the other useful fodder) within two or three inches of the bottom 

 of the rows intended for my plant; and in April, over that manure, 

 and within five or six inches of the surface, I stii'red 1 cwt. of 

 guano. The first week in May I drilled my seed together with a 

 sprinkling of superphosphate, in single rows five feet apart. The 

 result was, as it always has been under the same system, pursued 

 for several years, that at the beginning of September, the leaves 

 of the plant met across the five feet intervals, and that I am 

 promised a yield equal, perhaps, to the measured produce of last 

 year, which amounted to twenty-seven tons. It will be understood, 

 by those who know the constituents and the properties of clay 

 made friable to the depth I have described, how the continuous 

 and inexhaustible supply of moisture in such a soil saves the 

 plant from mildew, the common result of early sowing in shallow 

 ground, but from which I have never suffered, even in the driest 

 season. Now for the peculiar point of my management, viz., — 

 disleafing the roots, which I find to increase in bulk in the absence 

 of leaves. Early in September, when the roots had reached theiv 

 state of complete organisation, when the tops had grown from two 

 and a half to three feet in height, the lower leaves generally ex- 

 tending five feet wide, I began to cut the tops as they were wanted, 

 about an inch from the crown ; and from that time to this (Nov. 6), 

 the bulbs have been proved, by measurement, to continue to 

 grow, and are throwing out, all round the crown, a fresh supply 

 of luxuriant leaves for another feed. From this source, the bulk 

 of keep for my cattle has been enormous ; and the importance of 

 such a supply at a time when, in common seasons, the Grass 

 begins to fail, is beyond a doubt, especially for growing stock, 

 since it has been proved that the leaves of the Turnip contain 

 more of the bone-making material than even the bulb itself. I 



