14 Agriculture of Shropshire. 



of swedes." Turnips may be sown up to the end of June. In 

 some few cases turnips and rape are mixed and sown early in 

 May, and thus come in for early autumn feed, and the land is 

 clean for corn sowing- before it becomes wet. The Skirvings 

 swede is most largely cultivated, and for this district is considered 

 the hardiest root and the best cropper. On some of the better 

 portions the Ashcroft swede comes more into favour. The red 

 and green rounds are much liked as hardy turnips, the former 

 more particularly. 



Mangold-wurtzel is grown, but only to a very small extent ; 

 neither do carrots nor parsnips receive much attention. They 

 can, however, be grown successfully on the better soil, and 

 in spring are very useful as a change of food for the stock. 

 One great cause of the small growth of mangold-wurtzel is 

 the difficulty of preparing the land for receiving the seed 

 in proper time. This may be obviated by another system, 

 which, although well known and extensively practised in other 

 parts, is not adopted here, and yet I know of no district 

 better adapted for it. The land having been cleaned after 

 harvest, as already described, should be ploughed and then 

 ridged up, say 27-inch ridges, the manure spread in the fuiTows ; 

 the ridges are then split, the ground left rough for the winter. 

 Thus the land lies in ridges all through the winter, and the dung 

 is in the centre of each ridge. No loss arises in this manner 

 from the washing of the manure, for the land is too retentive to 

 allow of it, and the advantage is that the winter frosts crumble 

 and mellow the soil on these ridges, so that we have a fine seed 

 bed earlier in the spring than we can have in any other way, and 

 if the mangold-wurtzel is drilled by hand, the seed can be sown 

 as early as is desirable, and we are comparatively independent of 

 the early spring weather, which is always exceedingly fickle and 

 tedious to the grower of these roots. If the weather is favourable, 

 the ridges may be shaped up by having a plough passed down 

 the furrow, but on no consideration should this be done so as to 

 bring up an uncongenial soil. This is easily corrected after the 

 mangolds are up and growing, for a little additional work with 

 the stirrers between the rows will loosen the soil and work it 

 into good condition. The globe mangold-wurtzel is best suited 

 for this district, and is generally selected. 



On the dry land the turnips are fed in the field, but in other 

 cases they have to be drawn home. A vast amount of labour is 

 thus involved, and considerable damasre done to the land. Few 

 manage to get the roots off the ground soon enough, and con- 

 sequently the land is sadly pressed by the horses and carts, 

 often destroying the advantages of the summer's tillage. This 

 has led many to lessen their breadth of roots, and to have 



