Book VT. 



THE TURNIP. 



789 



soon as possible after, and the plants are left about nine inches distant ; the Swedish 

 kind somewhat closer. If the ground has been well prepared, and the plants are allowed 

 to get too large, three experienced hoers go over an acre a day. A few days after this, 

 a small swing plough, drawn by one horse, enters the interval between the rows, and, 

 taking a furrow-slice off each side, forms a smaller ridgelet in the middle. If the an- 

 nuals still rise in great abundance, the horse-hoe may be employed again, otherwise the 

 next operation is to go over them a second time with the hand-hoe, when the intermediate 

 ridgelet is levelled. Sometimes a third hoeing must be given, but that is done very ex- 

 peditiously. When no more manual labor is required, a small plough with two mould- 

 boards is employed to lay up the earth to the sides of the plants, leaving the ridgelets of 

 the same form as when sown, which finishes the process. Large fields throughout their 

 whole extent, dressed in this manner, are left as clean and as pleasant to the eye as the 

 best cultivated garden. The horse and hand-hoeing, in ordinary cases, may cost about 

 fifteen shillings per acre. Where the soil is perfectly dry, and has been well prepared, 

 the small plough has of late been laid aside by many farmers, and the space between the 

 rows is kept clean by the horse and hand-hoe alone ; but if the soil be either wet from 

 springs, or so flat as not easily to part with surface water, it is still considered proper to 

 earth up the roots as the concluding part of the process ; and it is always useful to plough 

 between the ridges when couch-grass and other weeds have not been completely picked 

 out before the land was sown. The gathering of the weeds, the spreading of the dung, 

 and the hand-hoeing, are almost always performed by women and boys and girls. 



4894. A summary of turnip culture in drills, is given in Tlie Berwickshire Survey, by a 



567 



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copper-plate. In this {fig. 

 561^ ) is first shown the ridge- 

 lets with the dung spread be- 

 tween (a), then the dung 

 covered, and the drills form- 

 ed (6) ; rolled and the seed 

 sown fc) ; the young plants 

 with the earth hoed away 

 from them by a curved coul- 

 ter hoe (rf) ; the plants fur- 

 ther advanced, covering the 

 soil with their leaves, and en- 

 joying the dung with their 

 roots [e) ; and full grown, the 

 leaves being cut off in No- 

 vember, to be eaten green, 

 and the bulbs left for winter 

 use. (/) 



4895. T/ie turnip crop is 

 generally taken and consumed ^ 

 at the same time. Ihey are 

 consumed either on the spot 

 where they grow ; on grass- 

 fields ; in fold-yards ; or in 

 feeding-houses ; but the far 

 greater part, wherever they 

 are extensively cultivated, by sheep. The price per acre when sold depends not only 

 upon the weight of the crop, but also on the mode of its consumption. 



4896. When eaten by sheep in the place of their growth, turnips are lotted off, by means 

 of hurdles or nets, that they may be regularly consumed. When the first allowance is- 

 nearly eaten up, the bottoms or shells are picked out of the ground, by means of a two- 

 pronged blunt hook adapted to the purpose ; and then another portion of the field is taken 

 in, by shifting the hurdles or nets, and so on regularly until the wlwle are finished ; the 

 cleared part of the field being usually left accessible as a drier bed for the sheep, and 

 that they may pick up what shells remained when a new portion of the field was taker* 

 in. 



4897. The turnips required for other modes of consumption are usually drawn out, at 

 regular intervals, before the sheep are put upon the field ; unless the soil be so poor as to 

 need all the benefit of their dung and treading, in which case, the whole are consumed 

 where they grow ; or so rich as to endanger the succeeding crops, by eating any part of 

 the turnips on the ground. In the latter very rare instance, the whole crop is carried to 

 be consumed elsewhere, as mus^ always be done, if the soil be naturally too wet for 

 sheep feeding. In wet weather, when sheep ought not to be allowed to lie on the tur- 

 nip field, it becomes necessary to carry the turnips to a grass field; and store sheep, not 

 requiring to be so highly fed, frequently cat their turnips on such fields, as well as reav- 



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