VII.] SWEDISH TURNIP. 121 



SOWING SWEDISH TURNIP SEED. 



207. IT is necessary to be a little more full than I 

 have been before as to the manner of sowing" this 

 seed ; and I shall make my directions such as to be 

 applied on a small or a large scale. Those that want 

 to transplant on a large scale will, of course, as to 

 the other parts of the business, refer to my larger 

 work. It is to get plants for transplanting" that I 

 mean to sow the Swedish Turnip Seed. The time 

 for sowing must depend a little upon the nature of 

 the situation and soil. In the north of England, 

 perhaps early in April may be best ; but, in any of 

 these southern counties, any time after the middle of 

 April and before the 10th of May, is quite early 

 enough. The ground which is to receive the seed 

 should be made very fine, and manured with wood- 

 ashes, or with good compost well mixed with the 

 earth. Dung is not so good ; for it breeds the fly more ; 

 or, at least, I think so. The seed should be sown 

 in drills an inch deep, made as pointed out under the 

 head of Sowing in my book on Gardening. When 

 deposited in the drills evenly but not thickly, the 

 ground should be raked across the drills, so as to fill 

 them up; and then the whole of the ground should be 

 trodden hard, with shoes not nailed, and not very 

 thick in the sole. The ground should be laid out in 

 four -feet beds for the reasons mentioned in the "Gar- 

 dener" When the seeds come up, thin the plants 

 to two inches apart as soon as you think them clear 

 from the fly; for, if left thicker, they injure each 

 other even in this infant state. Hoe frequently be- 

 tween the rows even before thinning the plants ; and 

 when they are thinned, hoe well and frequently be- 

 tween them ; for this has a tendency to make them 

 strong; and the hoeing before thinning helps to keep 

 off the fly. A rod of ground, the rows being eight 

 inches apart, and plants two inches apart in the 'row, 

 will contain about two thousand two hundred plants. 

 An acre in rows four feet apart and the plants a foot 

 apart in the row. will take about ten thousand four 

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