Ch. XVIII.] ON TURNIPS. 237 



ground will liave all tlie benefit of the frosts, wliicli will tend to make it 

 work kindly ill the following sprinn; : though on drier soils, broader work 

 may be used with safety. It may lie in this state until the close of the oat- 

 seeding, when a second ploughing is given, usually in an opposite direction 

 to the first ; but if the weather prove dry, and the teams should be at leisure 

 at any interval between those periods, another stirring may be given with 

 good effect. After these ploughings, the land should be repeatedly cross- 

 harrowed with the heavy break and common harrow, and rolled, in order to 

 free it from every species of rubbish, and to bring it into a com])lete state 

 of pulverization ; the root- weeds should be carefully raked up, and either 

 carried to the dung-hill, or burned upon the land, and nothing should be 

 left undone to bring the ground into a state of perfect tilth, — that is to say, 

 clean, dry, free from clods, finely reduced, and wearing the aj)pearance, to 

 both the eye and touch, of kindly mellowness. If the land be very clean, 

 three earths may be sufficient to bring it into condition ; but four are more 

 frequent, — the second and third not quite so deep as the first and fourth, — 

 and if foul, a fifth ploughing is sometimes necessary : after which the seed 

 process usually commences. 



Irt the application of Manure, if lime be used, it will of course have 

 been mixed with the soil during these operations; and if the land be 

 intended to be sown broad-cast, the dung must also be previously laid on. 

 Many farmers, indeed, who adopt the drill, yet lay it on before givino- the 

 winter furrow, both from conceiving that the soil is thus more equally 

 meliorated for the cultivation of the subsequent crops during the course, 

 and from its also saving much time and trouble during the hurry of the 

 turnip season : considerations which certainly merit attention, and which 

 may not be found unadvisable where there is an abundance of manure. 

 Most men have however to wait for its production in their yards during 

 the winter ; and, as the growth of a good crop of turnips is the main point 

 in the commencement of the course, the most generally approved method 

 of applying the muck is in drills, immediately before sowing, in the follow- 

 ing manner. 



The land, being levelled by the former plougliings, is divided into straight 

 lined ridgelets, either by the operation of the double mould-board plough, 

 or by that of the common swing plough: the most usual distance being 

 twenty-seven inches ; and a considerable advantage arises from preserving 

 this distance, as it admits of the horse walking in the centre furrow whilst 

 the wheels run in those on each side, consequently the land is not poached 

 by putting on the manure, or in drawing off the turnips. However, much 

 difference of opinion prevails, for many intelligent farmers use drills of only 

 half that breadth : assigning as reasons — that although turnips grown in 

 wider rows, reach to a larger size, yet the crops are not superior in weight ; 

 that they are more liable to injury from frost ; and likewise, after Christmas, 

 less nutritive than those of moderate size*. 



Be this as it may, and still adverting to the wide drills generally adopted 

 throughout the north, the manure is then carted on, and turned in, after the 

 last ploughing ; the quality being always duly fermented spit-dung of the 

 richest kind, and the quantity as large as can be afforded, — say, from twelve 

 to twenty tons per acre, according to the state of the land and species of 

 turnips : Swedes requiring more than any other. The loaded dung-cart 

 goes between the rows, so that the wheels run in each of the furrows of the 



* See Letters and Remarks on the Subject in the Fanners* Magazine, vol. iv. 



