Report on the Trials of Implements at Bedford. 671 



Class XVII. Horse-Hoes for thinning Turnips. — On referring 

 to the reports on the Plymouth trials it will be found that only 

 one machine in this class was entered for trial there, while at 

 Bedford there were twenty-four entries, and eleven machines were 

 tried. This indicates that implement-makers are beginning to 

 turn their attention to a class of implements which are likely 

 to prove very useful to farmers growing a large acreage of turnips, 

 hand labour being not only considerably increased in price, but 

 sometimes also unobtainable at a time when it is specially re- 

 quired. The implements tried simply bunched the plants ; 

 this would of course be a direct saving of hand labour, where it 

 is the practice first to bunch by hand-hoe, and afterwards thin- 

 out by hand ; but in the Northern counties of England, where 

 turnips are extensively cultivated, the workpeople are expert 

 in thinning by hand-hoe, and would find no more, if not less, 

 difficulty in thinning an entire row than a bunched one. There 

 the only use of such implements would be in a difficult season, 

 when it is frequently found impossible, with the ordinary staff of 

 workpeople, to thin the turnips at their proper stage of growth. 

 Turnips should be thinned when they reach a height of from 

 3 to 4 inches, for when they exceed this and reach to 6 or 

 7 inches, their leaves, and frequently also their stems become 

 entwined, thus rendering the hand-hoeing more difficult and 

 expensive ; the plants are then also more liable to injury. Had 

 these plants been bunched by a turnip-thinning machine when 

 3 inches high, the plants constituting the bunches would have 

 become separated and allowed a freer development. 



Where the rows of plants are irregular, these implements 

 would be useless, for, as was noticed in the trial, the single 

 plants which would have completed the row, were frequently 

 cut up. 



The field originally intended for the trial had been ridged up 

 and sown with turnips ; but, owing to the continued dry weather, 

 these were a complete failure. However, a field of swedes was 

 obtained from Mr. Prolle of Elstowe, within a quarter of a mile 

 of the former field. These swedes were sown on the flat, 27 

 inches apart. The soil was loose and the plants were irregular. 

 Here ten implements were tried ; but the trial was considered 

 by the Judges as insufficient, especially as Messrs. Kennan's 

 implement was constructed to thin turnips on the ridge only. 

 Accordingly, a field of swedes on Mr. Horrel's farm at Oakley, 

 about eight miles from the show-ground, was procured. This 

 soil was a brashy clay loam, which had become indurated by 

 the dry weather, and was therefore admirably adapted for testing 

 the weak points of the implements. 



The distance of the run was about 200 yards. 



