SWEDISH TURNIPS 



done this, if I had been guzzling wine, or grog, or beer, or cider, 

 all the day. I hope the reader will excuse this digression ; and, 

 for my own part, I think nothing of the charge of egotism, if, by 

 indulging in it, I produce a proof of the excellent effects of sobriety. 

 It is not drunkenness that I cry out against : that is beastly, and 

 beneath my notice. It is drinking : for a man may be a great 

 drinker, and yet no drunkard. He may accustom himself to 

 swallow, till his belly is a sort of tub. The Spaniards, who are 

 a very sober people, call such a man &quot; a wine bag,&quot; it being the 

 custom in that country to put wine into bags, made of skins or 

 hides. And, indeed, wine bag or grog bag or beer bag is the suitable 

 appellation. 



231. To return to the Swedish Turnips, it was impossible for 

 me to attend to them in person at all : for, if I once got out, I 

 should have kept out. I was very anxious about them ; but much 

 more anxious about my duty to my countrymen, who have re 

 mained so firmly attached to me, and in whose feelings and view r s, 

 as to public matters, I so fully participate. I left my men to do 

 their best, and, considering the season, they did very well. I have 

 observed before, that I never saw my Savoys till two months after 

 they were planted out in the field, and I never saw some of my 

 Swedish Turnips till within these fifteen days. 



232. But, as I said before, some of my neighbours have made the 

 experiment with great success. I mentioned Mr. Dayrea s crop 

 before, at paragraph 197. Mr. HART, at South Hampstead, has 

 a fine piece, as my son informs me. His account is, that the field 

 looked, in October, as fine as any that he ever saw in England. 

 Mr. JUDGE MITCHELL has a small field that were, when I saw them, 

 as fine as any that I ever saw in my life. He had transplanted 

 some in the driest and hottest weather ; and they were exceedingly 

 fine, notv/ithstanding the singular untowardness of the season. 



233. Mr. JAMES BYRD of Flushing, has, however, done the thing 

 upon the largest scale. He sowed, in June, about two acres arid a 

 half upon ridges thirty inches apart. They were very fine ; and, 

 in September, their leaves met across the intervals. On the 2ist 

 of September I saw them for the second time. The field was one 

 body of beautiful green. The weather still very dry. I advised 

 Mr. Byrd to plough between them by all means ; for the roots had 

 met long before across the interval. He observed, that the horse 

 would trample on the leaves. I said, &quot; never mind : the good done 

 &quot; by the plough will be ten times greater than the injury done by 

 &quot; the breaking of leaves.&quot; He said, that, great as his fears were, 

 he would follow my advice. I saw the turnips again on the 8th 

 of October, when I found, that he had begun the ploughing ; 

 but, that the horse made such havock amongst the leaves, and his 

 workman made such clamorous remonstrances, that, after doing a 

 little piece, Mr. Byrd desisted. These were reasons wholly in 

 sufficient to satisfy me ; and at the latter, the remonstrances of a 

 workman, I should have ridiculed, without a grain of mercy ; only 



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