FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 0$ 



Mr. Heaton bought two lean Welch Bullocks, at Harlow- 

 bush tail, on the 9th of September, They cost together 

 thirty lour pounds, They were pastured on ^the Rowens 

 till the 20th of November following, when they were tied 

 up, and fed with beetroot and oat-straw till the 9th of Feb- 

 ruary following; when they were sold together, in Rom- 

 ford market, for the sum of fifty pounds; yielding, in 

 twenty-two weeks, a proiit of sixteen pounds, which is 

 equal to 7s. 3d. per week, for each Bullock. 



These two Bullocks were tied up twelve weeks each, in 

 which time they ate eight tons^ two hundred weight of 

 beetroot, the produce of only one- sixth part of an acre of 

 land, cultivated according to the method recommended ia 

 the following chapter. 



The method used in the cultivation of the improved Beet- 

 rooty ufion strong land) at Bedfords. 



It may be proper, in the first place, to state what is 

 meant by strong land. The surface-soil is loamy, and from 

 four to twelve inches deep, upon a bed of strong clay mixed 

 with gravel. It is too heavy, and generally too wet, in the 

 Winter, even for Sheep to eat a crop of turnips on the 

 ground ; and, although good turnips are grown upon it, it 

 is always necessary to draw them for the Sheep, stalifed 

 cattle, or for cattle in the yards. The ground is prepared 

 to receive the seed, and cleaned, in the same way as it 

 would have been for Swedish turnips. As that part of the 

 business is so well known to all Farmers, it is not necessa- 

 ry to enter into detail upon it. 



In the middle, or latter end, of the month of April, the 

 furrows are set out with the plough, two feet apart, and 

 double- ploughed; that is, the plough returns on the furrow 

 to the point whence it set out, forming a ridge between 

 the furrows. 



Double-ploughing with a common plough is prefered to 

 single-ploughing with a double-mouldboard plough, because 

 it affords a greater depth of loose earth than the double- 

 snouldboard plough would produce. 



In these furrows, the manure, which should be in a roten 

 state, is deposited, after the rate of six cubic yards to an 

 acre. 



The ridges are then split by the plough going and re- 

 turning the same way as before mentioned, leaving the ma- 

 nure immediately under the middle of the new ridges. A 

 light roller is then passed along the ridges, in the middle 

 of which the seed is dibbled, so that the plants may re- 

 ceive all the benefit which can be derived from the 

 manure. 



