CROPS. 267 



thing, differ from each other the cole growing stronger, and 

 ripening its seed much later. When grown for seed, they are 

 cultivated in the same manner, being sown in drills, and the 

 plants thinned to five or six inches apart, and carefully weeded 

 and hoed. The production of seed from cole is more than from 

 rape. When fed upon the land by sheep folded upon them, they 

 enrich the land ; but in leases a clause is often inserted forbidding 

 their cultivation for seed, because of their exhaustion of the soil. 

 In passing through Lincolnshire, I could not help admiring the 

 sagacity of a dog whose business it was, in the character of a 

 rural police-officer, to keep a flock of sheep upon a field of rape, 

 and away from an adjoining field of turnips. 1 do not know 

 that this sagacity would have been increased had he been with 

 out his posterior appendage, and stood upon two legs instead of 

 four. The learned author of the &quot; Vestiges of Creation &quot; 

 would probably have pronounced him far advanced in the trans 

 ition state. 



12. MUSTARD. I found mustard cultivated in some parts of 

 the country, but not to a large extent for the seed. It may be 

 sown either broadcast or in drills, and is gathered by being 

 shaken by hand into a sheet in the field. A good crop is esti 

 mated at twenty-eight bushels per acre. A strong prejudice 

 exists against the black mustard, as the seeds remain a long time 

 in the ground, and are with difficulty eradicated. In many 

 leases the cultivation of it is forbidden. 



The white mustard is not liable to the same objection ; and 

 this is often cultivated for the purpose of folding sheep upon it, 

 and is said to yield a better crop than rape for this purpose. It 

 has been sown in May, and eaten off in July ; it has been sown 

 after a crop of oats, and eaten off in October. In all these cases, 

 when fed on the ground or ploughed in, it has proved a great 

 enricher of the land. The amount of seed sown has varied from 

 seven pounds to sixteen pounds per acre. It is recommended by 

 some farmers for folding ewe sheep upon, in autumn, as indirectly 

 assisting the increase of the flock. Neither of these crops requires 

 very high manuring ; and they are often grown, with tolerable suc 

 cess, upon land of moderate fertility, never contravening, however, 

 the inviolable rule, that fire is not to be made without fuel, and 

 that good land, good cultivation, and good manuring, are the only 

 certain foundation for expecting good crops of any kind. 



