FARMERS' REGISTER. 



211 



find the soil answerp; hut in doinjr this, we al- 

 ways harrow hikI roll every nijihlin dry wea'her 

 hetore we leave ii, merely to keep the moisture 

 in the trrouml ; then in the mornirio; we have our 

 land re;idy liir ilrilliniT. We make our drilU (rom 

 kIx to eiiihi inches deep, nnd liom twenly-six to 

 twenty-seven inches apart. Then we put in our 

 bones or dung, or whatever manure we intend to 

 give; ifhonep, we cover it as light as possible, 

 not above three inches deep ; if dung, we gene- 

 rally cover it deeper, so that we may Have about 

 three inches of earth above the dunir after the 

 peed is sown. Wc always sow as soon as possible 

 after the land is drilled up. IT we are drillmg and 

 manuring lor a whole day, we always sow in 

 mid-day and at night, so as to preserve the mois- 

 ture in the ground lor our seeds. In sowing the 

 Swedish turnips we always give nearly 5 lbs. per 

 acre, and put the seeds as deep m the ground as 

 the manure will admit o\', not lo bring it above 

 ground by the coulters of the machine. We al- 

 ways study to have the seed from two to three 

 inches below ground, and amongst the manure if 

 possible. This being done, and by the time the 

 seeds get above ground, ihey have a strong hold 

 oftiie manure; and by (he time the fly gels hold 

 of them they are nursed at the root by the manure, 

 that the. fiy and drought has no chance of huriinL' 

 them. I have always found this plan successful 

 in the very worst of idl, alter beintr drained. By 

 care being taken 10 harrow and roil as soon as the 

 land is piouL'hed, lo procure a fine mould, and 

 there is no doubt of procurinixa crop every year 

 with the first sowing. There has been great dif- 

 ficulty in ihis case in ihis country lor a number of 

 years past, the turnips being sown as often as I 

 three and lour limes in one season, and as olien j 

 carried of}' by the fly. I believe, in most cases, the 

 evil is occasioned by sowing the seeds loo near the 

 surface, and not down to the manure ; and by 

 sowing so shallow the seeds u'ill braird, perhaps 

 in two or three days ; and if it is a dry scorching 

 sun, they are sure to go off by the fly — ihey have 

 no hold oftiie manure lo carry them on. But in 

 a damp time there is less to fear of their being 

 carried off. By the seeds being sown as belbre 

 mentioned, they will be from sixlo ten days before 

 they braird, and they will be observed coming up 

 quite stionsr, making a crack in the top of the drill 

 and having a sirong hold of the manure, they 

 come on so rapidly that the fiy is not fit to hurl 

 thetn. But by sowintr them shallow, though 

 successful, and not carried off by the fly and 

 drouijht, the plants are liir longer sickly and do not 

 come away so fisi, nor to the same maturity, as if 

 sown as before mentioned. When we sow any 

 other kinds of turnips, — say hybrid, or red-top 

 Aberdeen, — we do not give more seed than 4 

 lbs. to the acre, as the seed is smaller, and sows 

 farther; but we sow them on t>ie same, plan as 

 before mentioned. We generally sow Dale's 

 hybrid, and ihe Aberdeen red-top yellow. We 

 find them the best sorts. We have made it our 

 practice, for a number of years past, lo try all sorts 

 that we heard of, and we consider these iwo sorts 

 the best. In sowing our turnips, we generally sow 

 Swedish in the first part of the soil. If there is 

 a more stifRsh part in the field than another, we 

 fiow red-top Aberdeen, or Dale's hybrid, as we 

 find either of these sorts answer a etiffish soil bet- 

 ter than the Swedish turnip. 



In preparing our dung for turnips, we generally 

 collect it inio large heaps in the fields during the 

 winter ; and we generally give it two turnings be- 

 lbre we put it into ihe drills. We siudy to have it 

 well rotted before it is used, and «:ive it the first 

 turning about the middle of April or the end of 

 March, and the last about eighteen days belbre 

 put on. We study to have it with as much mois- 

 ture as possible. We make it our study lo collect, 

 all Ihe urine that coines from the stall-fed cattle, 

 and drive it lo the dunghills in the field; and 

 when we are putting the dung out, ifwe find it haa 

 not enough of moisture, we drive water from the 

 nearest part to the dunghill. We consider the 

 dung being put into the drills with plenty of mois- 

 ture, is a great benefit to the crop in dry spring, 

 both for turnips and potatoes. 



['S'tV,— Above I send you a copy of an essay, 

 which, I think, should be inleresiing to your agri- 

 cultural readers. A premium of £1 was awarded 

 to it by the Ayrshire General Agricultural Associ- 

 ation : it is from a very intellisJTpnl practical man. 

 Archibald Hamilton, esq., of Caroline, his master 

 has spared no necessary expense on the lands at 

 Roselle ; they are completely drained, subsoil 

 plouirhed, and levelled, and so clear of weedd that 

 the whole estate has more the appearance of gar- 

 den than farm ground; and as it lias been frequent- 

 ly asserted that such high keeping does not yield a 

 remuneration corresponding to the outlay, 1 took 

 the liberty of inquiring as lo this point, of the wri- 

 ter of this essay last summer, when he inlbrme<I 

 me his opinion was, that when judiciously manage«J, 

 the outlay in such cases yielded a fiir greater re- 

 turn than could be obtained from more siinied man- 

 agement ; and he stated, as corroborative of thi.<? 

 opinion, that the preceding season, viz : 1838, their 

 crop of turnips was 35 tons per acre, which sold 

 at 24s. per ton, and other crops in proportion. 



R.I. 

 Kilmarnock, Feb. 18, 1840.] 



TO DESTROY TICKS IN SHKEP. 



From tlie English Farmers' Magazine. 

 Sir, — In reply to a lelter in the JVIark Lane 

 Express of the 20ih of January, inquiring for the 

 best application lor destroying the tick in sheep, I 

 have to recommend animal oil, usually produced 

 from tlie distillation of bones, and which can b« 

 purchased lor a mere trifle in most large towns. 

 A very small quaniity applied to each s^heep will 

 be found compleiely efficacious, as in addition lo the 

 repugnance which insects have lor oil, this oil pos- 

 sesses a most disagreeable and pov\erlul odor. 



If a small quantity of ihis oil were mixed wilh 

 a large quantity of manure, and spread over 

 ground sown lor turnips, it would cffeciually keep 

 oH the fly, that determined enemy to the young 

 turnip plant. 



I wish lo plant some waste land, in an exposed 

 situation near the sea, with young trees ; can any 

 of your correspondents inlbrm me uhat is the most 

 profitable plant, and how many years ihey will 

 take in coming lo perleclion. It is riirht to add 

 ihal the ground is very steep, and ihe climate raild, 

 but damp, lam informed that pear trees, mul- 

 berry trees, and larch are the most suitable. 



1 remain, sir, vour n>t<»dient servant, W. S, 



Jersey. Jan.. 24, 1840. 



