BRA 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



BRA 



185 



though with care a good tool, yet is liable to have the holes 

 stopped by two seeds sticking in them, so that if the sower 

 is not very attentive, he may go some distance without a 

 regular delivery. The common season for sowing Turnips, 

 is any time from the beginning of June till the middle of 

 August, or a little later, though it is not advisable to sow 

 them much after, because if the autumn should not prove 

 very mild, they will not have time to apple of a proper size 

 before winter, nor will the roots of those which are sown 

 after the end of July grow very large, unless the frost keeps 

 off very long in autumn. But notwithstanding this is the gene- 

 ral season in which the greatest part of the Turnips are sown 

 in the country, yet about London they are sown successively 

 from March till August, by those who propagate them to 

 supply the markets with their roots ; but there is a great 

 hazard of losing those which are sown early in the year, if 

 the season should prove dry, by the fly, which will devour 

 whole fields of this plant while young, so that where a small 

 quantity for the supply of a family is wanted, it will be abso- 

 lutely necessary to water them in dry weather ; and where 

 a person sows those seeds in April or May, it should always 

 be upon a moist soil, otherwise they seldom come to good, 

 the heat of the weather being too great for them at that sea- 

 son upon a dry soil : but those which are intended for the 

 general crop, are sown towards the end of June, when they 

 commonly receive some refreshing showers to bring them 

 forward, without which it is very common to have them all 

 destroyed. The season for field-sowing extends from a week 

 before Midsummer, to the middle or end of July : this vari- 

 ation is necessary for two reasons ; first, because the land 

 cannot be all manured to sow early ; and secondly, because 

 the late-sown will last much longer than the early ones, 

 which are subject to the blight or mildew, and consequently 

 are more likely to be rotted by hard frosts afterwards, for 

 which reason all farmers should take care to have some late- 

 sown. Sometimes a crop sown the first week in August, has 

 proved the most profitable, this having escaped, whilst the 

 rest has been killed by the frost. An active farmer, there- 

 fore, will, in cases where it is necessary, as soon as he has 

 set up or shocked his wheat, plough up the intervals, and 

 sow them immediately with Turnips, for the chance of a late 

 crop, which will furnish spring-feed, although they should 

 fail of appleing well. Where a farmer has many Turnips, it 

 does not seem a bad plan to sow a fourth part at the end 

 of June, or the beginning of July, to come up early ; 

 half in the middle of July, for the main crop, and the 

 remainder at the end of the same month to come late : 

 this, however, must depend upon his business, the weather, 

 and other contingencies. At any rate, the main crop should 

 not be sown too soon, nor allowed too much room, because 

 large roots will not stand the frost near so well as smaller 

 ones. What is ploughed for the last earth should always be 

 sown the same day, else, unless rain fall, the ground will be 

 too dry for the seed to vegetate : the seed must be harrowed 

 in as soon as it is sown with a short-tined harrow, and the 

 ground rolled with a wooden roller to break the clods, and 

 make the surface even : the plants will come up in ten days 

 or a fortnight after sowing ; but this will vary very much 

 with the weather : and there will be a difference of three 

 days between the germinating of new and old seed. When 

 the plants have got four or five leaves, they should be hoed, 

 to destroy the weeds, and to cut up the plants where they 

 are too thick, leaving the remaining ones about six inches 

 asunder each way, which will be room enough for the plants 

 to stand for the first hoeing: and the sooner this is performed 

 when the plants have four leaves, the better they will thrive; 



VOL,, L 16 



but in the second hoeing, which must be performed about a 

 month after the first, they should be cut up so that the re- 

 maining plants may stand fourteen or sixteen inches distance 

 or more, especially if they are designed for feeding cattle, 

 for where the plants are allowed a good distance, the roots 

 will be proportionably large, provided the ground is good, 

 so that what is lost in number, will be overgained by their 

 bulk : but in places where they are sown for the use of the 

 kitchen, they need not be left at a greater distance than a 

 foot, because large roots are not so generally esteemed for 

 the table. The time for the first hoeing of field Turnips is 

 very uncertain, depending on the soil and the season, and 

 varying from three to eight and nine weeks from the time of 

 sowing : the size of the plants is the only guide, and the best 

 rule is, to begin hoeing as soon as they are about the size of 

 the palm of the hand, or spread upon the ground from three 

 to four inches : if the hoe be put in too soon, the plants 

 which are set out are liable to be buried, and their roots dis- 

 turbed in setting out others which are near them ; and if the 

 Turnips be suffered to grow too large, it is difficult to set out 

 the plants, and they are liable to be drawn up by weeds ; 

 if these be numerous or luxuriant, it will be necessary to 

 begin hoeing somewhat earlier, in order to check them in 

 time : some persons remove the ground with a light harrow 

 once in a place, as soon as the plants are stout enough, to 

 assist the hoeing ; and if any of the fields after the hoeing 

 begin to get too forward, which in a wet season is often the 

 case, they give them a second harrowing the contrary way. 

 Nothing but practice can teach the method of hoeingTurnips ; 

 to be performed well, it requires a quickness of eye and a 

 dexterity of hand which does not fall to the lot of very many. 

 The hoe is generally drawn round the plant with a long 

 sweeping stroke ; and when the plants are small, then only 

 that stroke ought to be used ; but when the plants are out 

 of danger of being buried, a short straight stroke is more 

 expeditious, and in some hands makes tolerably good work. 

 The general effect of hoeing ought to be, that the whole 

 ground should be stirred, all the weeds effectually cut up, 

 and the plants set out singly at proper distances : the com- 

 mon practice is, to set out the plants at fourteen or fifteen, 

 and sometimes at eighteen inches distance ; this, however, 

 is not always necessary, and is frequently injurious. The 

 proper distance depends upon the soil, and the time of sow- 

 ing ; the richest soil will admit of the greatest distance, be- 

 cause the plants in that will be more luxuriant than in a soil 

 of inferior quality ; and early-sown Turnips will come to a 

 greater size than such as are sown late, and therefore should 

 be allowed more room to spread themselves : the best gene- 

 ral rule in this case is, to give the plants room to keep them- 

 selves in a state of vigour and full growth, without leaving 

 any space unoccupied by, or even thinly filled with leaves. 

 Since Turnips, therefore, commonly run from four to eight 

 inches in diameter, twelve inches may be taken as a proper, 

 medium distance, except in land of an extraordinary good- 

 ness. The main purpose of the second hoeing is to loosen 

 the mould, and to draw it in some measure to the roots of 

 the plants ; to reduce the weeds effectually ; and to single 

 such plants as have been left double by the first hoeing, as 

 well as to remove such as have been missed, or having been 

 buried in the loose mould in moist weather, have struck root 

 again in improper places. With respect to the time of the 

 second hoeing, it ought to be given before the leaves become 

 too large to prevent the plants from being properly singled 

 and set out, or the weeds from being effectually cleared 

 away ; but the longer they stand before the last hoeing, the 

 more effectually will the weeds be overcome. If when the 

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