FARMERS' REGISTER 



199 



then sown for ihe last of the crop of turnips — all 

 the remainder forming the principal turnip crop ; 

 and thus the course begins again. 



The last crop olthis course, it may be supposed, 

 ought not to have been taken ; but having had 

 clover ibr two successive years belbre the crop of 

 wheat, the farmer not only thinks himself entitled 

 to a crop of corn after the wheat, but believes he 

 gels better crops by this rotation, upon such poor 

 thin land, than he could get by having the crop of 

 wheat afier the first year's clover, or by putlmg a 

 green crop, of any description, between the wheat 

 and the oats or barley. Sometimes, however, the 

 crop of wheat is taken aOer one year's clover ; and 

 if the land is firm enough (or wheat, it succeeds 

 very well ; indeed, we have seen it succeed much 

 better than alter the second year's clover, upon 

 land given te land-grass. 



This |)lan is not generally adopted in the neigh- 

 borhood, and when it is adopted, it is on land of 

 better qualitj' than the greater part ol the farm of 

 Beverston ; but even when wheat is sown afier 

 one crop of clover, the farmer never fails to lake 

 a crop of barley or oats alter the wheat ; — a mode 

 which would not be an improvement in a general 

 system. 



Some of the poorest land in the farm of Bever- 

 ston is allowed to lie three years in pasture before 

 it is broken up Ibr wheat. On the forty arable 

 acres of the tliird and best sort of land in this farm 

 another rotation is adopted: — The first year, wheat; 

 the second, beans; the third, barley; the fourth 

 Swedish turnips; and the fifth, potatoes. The 

 Swedish turnips, of the fourth year, aie used Ihe 

 last in the season ; and as it li-equenily happens 

 that the land is too hard and dry to be ploughed 

 up, and reduced in time Ibr barley, potatoes, being 

 an excellent preparation Ibr wheat, have been in- 

 troduced as the filth crop in the course. 



A seventh part of the arable land of the farm is 

 always in saintfoin, which, when it is worn out, is 

 broken up, and aq equal quantity laid down in its 

 stead. 



1. Turnips. — We will begin with turnips, as 

 being the foundation of all good farming on the 

 Colswold hills. If we succeed in geiiing a good 

 crop of them, we may calculate on all the other 

 crops of the course being good also. Nothing 

 puts land in better order than a large crop of tur- 

 nips; and on (his crop depend entirely our pros- 

 pects of future profit. We are, therefore, very 

 anxious to prepare for this crop, get all the dung 

 for it we can, and spare no expense in cleansing, 

 hoeing, and doing it well. 



With this root we can now cultivate with ad- 

 vantage those thin, light dry soils, which, before 

 its introduction, lay in a state of nature. The food 

 which it produces for sheep enables the farmer to 

 keep a much greater number of them ; and the 

 additional quantity of manure which is thus pro- 

 duced on a farm, where such an article cannot be 

 purchased, is incalculable. The sheep a.'-e now 

 kept on turnips during the winter and spring 

 months, as well as, if not better than they are in 

 the summer ; and are fattened throush that period 

 ofthe year in which it used to be difficult to keep 

 them alive. 



The additional quantity of stock which the tur- 

 nip Bj'stem enables the farmer to keep is great. 

 It is of the greatest value, therefore, in every 

 course of husbandry, producing abundance of food 



Ibr beasts, in the course of the production of abun- 

 dance of food for n)an ; and the soil being turned, 

 by means of it, to the uses Ibr which it is best 

 adapted. 



The whole of the arable land on the farm of 

 Beverston is sown lo turnips once in the course or 

 rotation; about one-lhird of the whole crop con- 

 sists of Swedish turnips, (the best of the land 

 being selected for them,) the remainder of the 

 white Norfolk and the red-lops. 



Preparation for turnips. — The land intended 

 Ibr turnips gets the first furrow, as soon as it can be 

 accomplished, after the harvest is over. The first 

 furrow is always ploughed as deep as the plough 

 can go on this sort of land; and, it must be re- 

 membered, the soil on this formation is very shal- 

 low: for, in very lew instances, and these of very 

 limited extent, is it six inches deep, the generality 

 of it being not more than four inches ; so that if it 

 can be ploughed four inches, it is thought a good 

 depth. Before the first ploughing is given, all 

 the spots on which ihere is any land-grass or black 

 couch, are first breast-ploughed. The reason Ibr 

 breast ploughing these is, ihat the roots of the 

 black couch not going deep into the ground, but 

 spreading over the surface and striking at every 

 joint of the plant, the portion shaved off by the 

 breast-plough containing both root and branch 

 of the weed, is much more easily dragged out 

 after the second ploughing, and shaken out the 

 first fine weather thereafter in spring. 



The second ploughing is given to the land in- 

 tended lor turnips as early in the spring as the 

 weather will allow, and across the ridges, as deep 

 as the first. In January or February, it is generally 

 completed ; and, as soon as the land is dry enough 

 it is gone over (' twice in a place' where the land 

 is foul) with the drag- harrows, and afterwards 

 with the com.mon harrows, to shake out the black 

 couch, which is raked up and burned. The land 

 is thus made as fine as is necessary for the crop ; 

 and all these operations are completed as early in 

 the spring as possible. If the land requires an- 

 other ploughing belbre the seed-furrow, no lime ia 

 to be lost in accomplishing it. It is given for 

 Swedish turnips in April, and in May for the 

 common, that the land may lie some time before 

 it gels the seed-furrow. The greater part of the 

 common, and the whole of the Swedes, are 

 drilled. 



The middle of May is the best lime for sowing 

 Swedish turnips. In this climate they run lo 

 seed if sown sooner; and, if sown later than the 

 end of this month, they do not do so well. The 

 operation is performed in the following manner: — 

 Some of the teams are eniployed in forming one- 

 bout ridges, othersare hauling dung anddepofiiing 

 it in the hollows between these one-bont ridses, 

 at the rate of fifteen cart-loads per acre. The 

 greatest care is taken to spread the dung regularly 

 over all the hollows between the ridges, so that 

 there may be a continued line of it from one end 

 of the ridse to the other. When this is accom- 

 plished, some of the other teams follow, split the 

 ridges wiih a double-mould-board plough, and 

 cover the dung by turning them over. Then 

 follows the drilling in of the seed, which is per- 

 Ibrmed thus : — A light roller, which is made to roll 

 two of these ridges at once, the first lime it goes 

 along the field, lakes but one ridge with one of its 

 ends; and, in returning, while it rolls this a second 



