10 Farming of Bedfordshire. 



of October, has to be attended to, and when completed, our 

 farmers again turn to these fallows. Some simply plough them, 

 deeper than before, making in all about 6 or 7 inches deep, and 

 so leave them. Others, with far more practical science, plough 

 the first furrow about 6 inches, with two horses, and then, with a 

 second plough, without the breast, and with three horses, will 

 subsoil the land from 5 to 6 inches deeper still, by which means 

 they get nearly a foot deep thoroughly pulverized, and in a fine 

 state for a root-crop. The horses following the subsoil plough 

 should walk on the unploughed land and not in the furrow. 



For mangold the best practice is thought to be, to lay on the 

 manure after the early autumnal ploughing or broadsharing ; 

 the first plough covers it in, and the other breaks the soil below ; 

 thus the manure is very properly deposited about the middle of 

 the staple. Where salt is used, about 5 cwt. per acre is ploughed 

 in, a plan which has of late been found highly beneficial for 

 mangold. The other artificial dressing, whether of guano or other 

 manure, is deposited, just previous to dibbling or drilling the 

 mangold seed. Some put in this crop on the flat surface, about 

 2 feet apart ; others push the soil into Northumberland ridges at 

 a distance of 27 inches. The WTiter much prefers the latter 

 method, because the hoeing is always done best and most expedi- 

 tiously on the ridge. In either way, however, if the farmer be 

 at all liberal with the dressings, and the land be of moderate 

 fertility, and sown about the last week in April, or the first in 

 May, he can hardly fail having a good crop. 



Of late, it is certain, that mangold in Bedfordshire is greatly 

 taking the lead of turnips as regards certainty of the crop, and 

 when its properties are fully known it cannot fail to be appre- 

 ciated. 



As far as practicable some of our first-class men follow nearly 

 the same system in preparation for their earliest planted Swedish 

 turnips, more especially where they wish to draw a portion from 

 the land. With the ordinary number of farm-horses, however, 

 everything cannot be done in the autumn. Where nothing is 

 done to the fallows till after the wheat seeding, the land is 

 usually once ploughed in the ordinary way, from 6 to 8 inches 

 deep, and so left for the winter ; subsoiling not being at present 

 at all general. Real improvements are always a work of time. 



In the spring the regular cultivations ensue ; some, and I 

 think the best farmers, put in their Swedish turnips on the ridge. 

 Others still drill on the flat, generally manuring before the last 

 ploughing, and simply roll the land for drilling. 



Rows are generally 18 inches apart, and are done in this 

 county remarkaljly well, for, after seeing something of many 

 counties, I may say without hesitation that the Bedfordshire 



