1 84 Wealdeii Clay of Sussex. 



grown on it. The yellow globe and the long yellow seem to do 

 better than the long red, but of this I am not certain. It flourishes 

 on newly-cleared lands that have been well manured much more 

 than turnips do, bearing the hot, dry Aveather, and even thriving 

 in it, and it is an excellent first crop to be followed by wheat. 

 Like wheat, it is a deep-rooted plant, which never grows so well 

 as when the soil contains a large proportion of clay. 



The climate of the Weald is warm, but the soil is cold, and it 

 is best to lose no chance of putting in the seed in good order. 

 The safest rule is to soio ivhen you can. In some seasons this 

 may be as early as the beginning of April, and the whole crop 

 ought to be in the ground by the middle of May. The land 

 being all manured wdth the last ploughing, it may be either 

 drilled or dibbled, but it requires great care if the latter method 

 be used, as beet seed will not grow if buried more than half an 

 inch deep. A neighbour of mine grew an excellent crop of beet 

 last year by sowing the seed in the following manner. Having 

 mixed, in about the proportion of 1 bushel of wood-ashes, 1 cwt. 

 of superphosphate, and 4 lbs. of seed, for an acre, a man with a 

 hoe, having a blade of not more than 2 inches wide and about 

 the same depth, and a handle 18 inches in length, made a small 

 hole on the ridge, and dropped in about a dessert-spoonful of the 

 mixture, which he carried in a bag hung round his neck. The 

 handle of the hoe serves as a measure of the distance between 

 hole and hole, and, as soon as the sower has dropped the mixture 

 Avith his left hand, he covers it Avith a little earth by means of 

 the hoe. 



About 5 lbs. of beet-seed may be drilled or dibbled on one- 

 bout ridges, from 27 to 30 inclies apart. A cold, dry spring 

 may keep the seed from vegetating for even 5 or 6 Aveeks, or it 

 may show itself above-ground in a fortnight. The plants are 

 very small at first and grow sloAvly, but increase immensely 

 during the latter months of their groAvth ; so that wliat appears 

 at first a very thin plant may, in the end, prove to be a heaAy 

 crop. If, hoAvever, it fail in places, it is a good plan to dibble 

 in Swedish turnip-seed in the vacancies any time during May. 



In May, also, the principal crop of Swedish turnips may be 

 drilled on ridge-AVork similar to that above mentioned for beet. 

 This Avill alloAV the repeated use of the horsehoe, Avhich is of the 

 greatest service to all root-crops, and is equiA'alent to a summer's 

 falloAv for Avheat. Thus the horse-hoeing answers a double 

 purpose, and the root-crop, in many Avays, becomes, as it does 

 elscAvhere, the mother of all other crops ; for, to grow root-crops 

 successfully, any kind of land must be kept both in high con- 

 dition and clean at the same time, and these are essential points 

 to be observed in farming: on all soils. 



