1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



680 



the sheep. IfJ under such circumstances, this 

 plan be not adopted, a third ol" the crop will be 

 wasted. 



The experiment of makinij tares into hay has 

 been tried on this tarm; but it caimot be recom- 

 mended as a general practice, Wei is very injuri- 

 ous to them durintr the [irocees, and, when made 

 in the best seasons, they are by no means a favor- 

 ite food with cattle. The sheep leed upon them 

 in this state with reluctance. 



11. Turnips. — The remainder of the ground 

 from which the wheat crop was taken, is sown in 

 the sprintj, and daring the succeedino; SfUmmer, 

 with turnips, of which a very considerable portion 

 are Swedes; ihe residue are the tankard, the globe, 

 and, towards the autumn, the green rounds. The 

 Swedes, except in very unfavorable seasons, suc- 

 ceed well on the hrst and second qualities of soil, 

 but on the third quality of soil, they rarely swell, 

 and grow with the (i-eedom which renders the inte- 

 rior oi" the bulb firm and mellow. They increase 

 slowly on this last soil; the rind is thick, the ex- 

 ternal flesh is tough and fibrous, and betrays the 

 same appearance of want of proper nourishment, 

 which all esculent vegetables exiiibit, when plant- 

 ed in soils which are dettictive in fertility, or not 

 congenial with the nature of the plant. 



Drill husbandry.. — The system of drilling tur- 

 nips has been tried on these soils, but the result 

 has not been encouraging, and upon an average 

 of years the broad-cast sown have the advantage. 

 Two methods were fbllovved — the one by deposit- 

 ing rotten manure in a furrow, covering it again 

 with earth, and drilling the seed on the ridge — 

 the common practice of the north; the other by 

 drilhng them in rows at two feet distance, when 

 the ground was levelled and prepared as for broad- 

 cast sowing. But both methods, on the first and 

 second qualities of soil, are liable to nearly the 

 same difficulties and objections. Notwithstanding 

 all attempts to subdue wholly the tenacity of the 

 hard gravelly clay by the means of chalking, it 

 breaks up under the plough and horse-hoe, in dry 

 or very wet weather, in large clods or masses, 

 which frequently bury the plants when small, or 

 leave their roots exposed to the air. The resist- 

 ance of the compact clay and stones in the first 

 quality of soil, and of the stones in the second 

 quality, disturbs both instruments m their opera- 

 tion to a degree sufficient to make it hazardous to 

 approach very near the rows, and the plant loses 

 the benefit of having the earth loosened about it — 

 a process which tends so essentially to promote its 

 growth. In a district, also, where the drill sys- 

 tem is not geneneraliy adopted, the laborer who 

 thins the plants with the hand-hoe interposes his 

 objections. He finds plants in rows more difficult 

 to thin than the broad-cast: it requires a change 

 in his mechanical exertion of limbs. 



The advantage mainly derived from the drill- 

 ing Swedes on ground levelled as for broad-cast 

 sowing, consists in the means the system afibrds of 

 covering them, before the approach of winter, with 

 mould by the assistance of a small plough. This 

 was usually effected in the middle of November, 

 in time to prevent the rooks, larks, wood pigeons, 

 and game, from attacking them when their other 

 accustomed food begins to fail. The larks, and 

 perhaps other small birds, bore small deep holes, 

 in which the water settles and rots the heart of 

 the plant. Hares consume a portion of the bulb. 



f'Ut the renii'.inder oflen continues sound. The 

 Swedes are by this method preserved fresh and 

 uninjured. They did not appear to sufier in any 

 respect fi'om the covering, and in the spring the 

 rows are turned out by a plough as they are 

 wanted for use. Upon land which permits the 

 drilling of Swedes to be practised with advantage, 

 this mode of preserving the bulb may be salt;!y 

 recommeded. !t probably has been adopted by 

 other farmers occasionally; but examples of this 

 plan, if is believed, rarely occur. 



It is the common custom to permit the Swedes 

 to sprout out in the spring for the fi?ed of the 

 lambs, but the bulb is thus materially injured. 

 Each shoot supplies its growth by a mass of roots 

 which strike into the bulb, and fill it with hard 

 fibres. Its juices are drained, and it becomes im- 

 penetrable to the tender teeth of lambs, and is 

 only destructible at the expense of (he stronger 

 teeth of the ewes. 



As soon as the shoot has begun to spring with 

 any luxuriance, the method has sometimes been 

 adopted of pulling up the bulb, and leaving them 

 spread about the ground for the use of the stock. 

 In this state they become mellow, but remain firm 

 and juicy often until the end of May, and begin- 

 ning of June. When the season arrives tor sow- 

 ing with barley the ground on which they had 

 grown, they were removed in carts to some grass 

 lay, and there again spread out for the sheep. 



After many years' experience, no crop has been 

 (bund more usefijl on this farm than Swedes, and 

 none which, on an average, affords, a more secure 

 and certain resource tor stock. They are the fa- 

 vorite food of sheep, horses, cows, and pigs ; by 

 care they can be preserved far in the summer ; 

 and it is hoped it will not be thought disrespectful 

 to the human species, when it is added that the 

 Swedes compose a considerable part of the nutri- 

 ment, from predilection and choice, of the young 

 laborers, the boys who work upon the farm. They 

 appear \o agree well with the constitutions of per- 

 sons blessed with such powerful and healthy di- 

 gestion. 



The other turnips are sown broad-cast, and 

 managed in the usual method. 



The period of goioing. — The value of all sys- 

 tems of farming must be determined by their ef- 

 fect on an average of a number of years. In 

 some seasons it answers well to sow the turnips 

 early ; the Swedes as early as March, and the be- 

 ginning of April, and the other turnips in April 

 and May ; but in this part of the country, the 

 practice is not to be recommended as a system. 

 During the cold weather of the early months, the 

 plant springs and grows slowly. It assumes a 

 stunted appearance, its tender leaves are long ex- 

 posed to insects; a thickness at the top of the 

 root, partaking of a premature disposition to form 

 a bulb, accompanied by a wrinkled rind, indicates 

 a state of disease, from which no fitvorable cir- 

 cumstances will allerwards wholly recover it. 



Towards the middle of June, the air and earth 

 have been considerably warmed; the plant then 

 springs and grows quick, escapes soon through its 

 tender stages, and will generally produce a more 

 abundant crop, and of far better quality, than 

 when it has been crippled and stunted by unfavor- 

 able weather in the earlier season. 



The turnips, in general, are consumed by the 

 sheep on the ground upon which they grow. No 



