184 



BRA 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



BRA 



of seed on an acre, all upon the same surface ; for perhaps 

 the nearer the plants come up, the less danger there is of 

 their being wholly cut off by insects ; but if these are known 

 to be in force, or if any doubt arise, either as to the quality 

 of the seed or the season, sow at least three pounds of seed 

 to an acre ; if the soil lie in broad rough lands, plough one, 

 two, or even' three bouts in each interfurrow, according to 

 the width, height, and wetness of the lands, as soon as tin 1 

 seed-weeds have done vegetating; and if any root-weeds ap- 

 pear to be alive on the surface, or Ibeing dead, if any are 

 likely to impede the hoe, pick them off, and cast them upon 

 the intervals. If the first sowing miscarry, and the failure 

 be fully ascertained, before the weeds have got too strong 

 to be got out with rough harrows, harrow only before re- 

 sowing ; but if the weeds have got fast hold of the soil, or 

 if the season be too moist to obtain the intention by harrow- 

 ing alone, plough a mean depth, and harrow, sow, and cover 

 as before. On. such soils the Turnips cannot be fed off the 

 lands without injury, even by sheep; nor can they well be 

 carted off, except in light broad wheeled carts, or on sledges : 

 they may, however, be useful in stall-feeding bullocks, or 

 given to sheep on a sound piece of pasture. Another me- 

 thod has been practised lately in cultivating Turnips ; which 

 is, by sowing the seed in rows, with the drilled plough. In 

 some places the rows have been sown three feet asunder, in 

 others four, in some five, and some six. The latter has been 

 commended by skilful persons as the most proper distance, 

 for although the intervals are so large, yet the crop produced 

 on an acre has been much greater than upon the same quan- 

 tity of land where the rows have been but half this distance; 

 and upon all the fields which have been cultivated for Tur- 

 nips, the crops have greatly exceeded those which have been 

 hand-hoed. In a trial which was made of these two methods 

 of husbandry, the same field was divided into different lands, 

 which were alternately sown in broadcast ; the latter were 

 hoed by hand in the common method, and the other culti- 

 vated by the hoeing plough ; and when the roots were fully 

 grown, an equal quantity of land, which had been sown in 

 different methods, was measured, and their roots drawn up 

 and weighed ; and those roots which had been cultivated by 

 the plough, were so much larger than the other, that the 

 croj) of one acre weighed a ton and a half more than that of 

 an acre in the other husbandry. M'hen theTurnips.are sown 

 in drills, they will require to be hoed by hand, to sepa- 

 rate and cut out the plants when they are too near together 

 in the rows, as also to cut up the weeds between the plants, 

 where the plough cannot reach them. If this is carefully 

 performed, the ploughing of the intervals will encourage the 

 growth of the roots, by thus stirring the ground, and prepare 

 it much better for the crop of Barley, or whatever else is 

 sown the following spring. This method of culture may 

 be supposed to be more expensive than that commonly prac- 

 tised by those unacquainted with it ; but those who have 

 made trial of both, find the horse-hoeing to be much the cheap- 

 est, and by far the best, for the labourers who are employed 

 in haiul-hoeinir Turnips, are very apt to hurry over their work, 

 so that half the weeds are left growing, and the plants are 

 seldom singled out so well as they should be ; nor are they 

 curious enough to distinguish the Charlock (which is one of 

 the most common weeds in arable land) from the Turnips ; 

 so that about the middle of September, it is very common to 

 see the fields of Turnips full of the yellow flowers of the Chnr- 

 loi-k. Now, in the horse-hoeing, all the weeds in the inter- 

 vals will be entirely destroyed, or if a few plants of Charlock 

 in the rows should be overlooked, they may be easily drawn 

 out afterwards, and by this method the land will be sooner 



and better cleared from weeds. The above advantages of 

 drillingTurnips have been confirmed from subsequent obser- 

 vations and experiments : the spaces between the rows will 

 be hoed in half the time that would be required if sown in 

 the common way ; and when they come to be set out at 

 proper distances in the rows, the superfluous plants may be 

 cut out in one-third of the time usually required, and that 

 by women and children, which is a considerable advantage, 

 when the hoeing is to be done in the busy time of harvest. 

 It is not the practice, nor does it seem to be any advantage, 

 to set out the rows at a greater distance than from seven to 

 eight, or ten to twelve inches. The difference in weight, on 

 a given quantity of land, appears also to be considerably to 

 the advantage of the drill culture, to the amount of one ton, 

 three, four, or twelve hundreds ; two tons, five hundred ; 

 and even three tons. The principal advantage seems to con- 

 sist in depositing the seed at a proper depth in the soil, 

 namely^ about two inches, where there is moisture, which in 

 a dry season will send the plants up in a few days ; whereas, 

 when they are sown broadcast in a time of drought, the seed 

 may remain for several weeks waiting for rain to make them 

 vegetate; but the seed being all deposited at the same depth, 

 will vegetate at the same time, and by getting into the rough 

 leaf sooner, will stand a better chance of escaping the fly. 

 No Turnips, and consequently no Barley after them, can be 

 had without dung, and the crop in a great measure depends 

 upon the quantity of it. The dependence for manure is 

 chiefly on the fold or farm-yard, usually both. Of farm-yard 

 dung, or else muck, that is, dung mixed with mould, marl, 

 &e. not less than twelve loads should be spread on an acre, 

 such as was made the preceding winter, and once turned 

 over. The dung should neither be long nor quite rotten ; the 

 best condition is, when it is in such a state, that the labourers 

 say it will neither spit nor fork. When the dung is rather 

 long, and ploughed in with the seed- earth, the seed should 

 be only rolled in. It is the custom with some farmers, to 

 turn in the dung very shallow at the last ploughing but one, 

 harrowing well to mix it with the soil, and they think it will 

 ferment by the time the seed-eartli is given to the land. It 

 seems, however, to be the better method, to turn in the dung 

 by the last ploughing or seed-earth, because it is then turned 

 down, not by a shallow furrow, but covered as soon as pos- 

 sible from the sun, and deposited where the roots will be sure 

 to find it, and where the immediate action of the sun and 

 wind is excluded ; whereas, in mixing the manure with the 

 soil by the harrow, much of it is pulled out and exposed on 

 the surface. Rough dung is in general preferred before 

 such as is rotten; a better crop, however, has been obtained, 

 by mixing dung with earth or other manure in the winter, 

 and getting it rotten enough to lay at top, and harrow it in 

 witli the seed, than by ploughing in long dung. l!ape-( 

 in a pulverized state, is also recommended forTurnip manure : 

 being reduced to powder by two mills, it is put into the 

 drills. The quantity used to an acre, is a quarter of a 

 ton, which has never exceeded 2"is. in price. Others use 

 malt-coombs, soot, soaper's ashes, lime, crag, &c. but none 

 of these manures are very general, or so effectual as farm- 

 yard dung. The quantity of seed to be sown depends much 

 on the soil ; upon a naturally good Turnip sand, a pint an 

 acre, evenly delivered by a rood hand or sow ing engine, \\ ill 

 be enough ; but in general two pints are allowed. No soil 

 requires so much seed as chalky lands, when the chalk comrs 

 quite to the surface : upon such soil a quarter of a peck will 

 >eldom he too much for an acre, bt-cau.-" lire to 



attack the plants more voraciously, and rater cer- 



tainty, on this soil than on any other. T i.'_: engirt 



