BRA 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



BRA 



187 



nearly close at the bottom ; the Turnips are usually put in 

 whole, being first tailed, that is, having their taproot cut off 

 in the field, and also topped, unless the tops be fresh and 

 palatable ; these, if eatable, being given to store cattle. This 

 method is somewhat more troublesome than that of throwing 

 the Turnips abroad ; which, if the soil be dry enough to bear 

 stock, and so light as to be benefited by treading, is, upon 

 the whole, the most eligible management. But in deep land, 

 and in a wet or severe season, the yard, if it be kept dry 

 and well littered, is the most comfortable place, especially if 

 it be provided with open sheds for the cattle to take shelter 

 under in inclement seasons. By this method the dung is 

 lost abroad, which is highly serviceable to light land ; but then 

 a great quantity of manure is made in a yard well littered. 

 A third method of fatting beasts on Turnips is, to keep them 

 tied up in hovels, or under open sheds, with troughs or 

 mangers to receive the Turnips, which are frequently chopped 

 into slices, or else quartered, which is not so eligible. The 

 top, with the crown of the root, is thrown aside for the store- 

 cattle, and the taproot with the bottom rind is suffered to drop 

 on one side of the basket, so that the fatting cattle have only 

 the prime part of the bulb. This accounts for the quick 

 progresswhich shedding-bullocks sometimes make, especially 

 in cold weather: but on account of the extraordinary attend- 

 ance they require, not only in cutting the Turnips, but in 

 littering and cleaning out the stalls, besides the check they 

 are liable to receive in close weather, this practice is seldom 

 followed by large farmers, unless to push forward a particular 

 beast : much depending on care and management in this 

 method, little farmers, who have leisure and inclination to 

 tend their own sheds, may find their account in it. The 

 cattle have a little Barley straw given them from time to 

 time, to clean their mouths, and dry up the superfluous juice 

 of the Turnips. If the Turnips could be boiled or baked at 

 a moderate expense, a much smaller quantity would suffice 

 to fatten the bullocks. In some places good hay is given 

 with the Turnips; and in others, pollard or Barley meal.- 



The second great application of Turnips is, to feeding sheep. 

 On the best Turnip land, that is sufficiently dry, there is no 

 better preparation for Barley than feeding sheep with Turnips 

 upon the land. Those however which are eaten early in the 

 winter will not give Barley so good as those which are eaten 

 later, provided they do not run to flower; for then they are 

 supposed to exhaust the land, and injure the succeeding crop. 

 Carting off from such land, besides the expense, is not ad- 

 visable, the crop of Barley depending on the manure and 

 treading of the sheep. When the Turnips are fed off the 

 ground, the sheep should not be suffered to run over too 

 much of it at one time ; for if they are not confined by 

 hurdles to as much as is sufficient for them one day, the 

 sheep will spoil three times the quantity of Turnips they can 

 eat, so that it is very bad husbandry to give them too much 

 room ; therefore the hurdles should be once or twice every 

 day removed forward ; and if the Turnips be drawn out of 

 the ground before the sheep are turned into the new enclo- 

 sure, there will be less waste made, for they will then eat up 

 the whole roots : whereas if they are turned upon the Turnips 

 growing, they will scoop the roots and leave the rinds, which 

 being hollow, the urine of the sheep will lodge in them ; so 

 that when they are forked out of the ground, the sheep will 

 not eat any of those roots which are thus tainted. When a 

 flock of sheep are turned into a piece of standing Turnips, 

 the first thing they do is to run over the whole, and then 

 to eat such of the tops as they have not trampled down. 

 Whilst they are doing this, they stand upon the roots, which 

 being firm in the ground, and flat in the top, are not incon- 



venient to stand upon ; and if one of their feet happen to 

 fall near the edge of the Turnip, it frequently barks and fouls 

 the root. Whereas, if sheep be put upon drawn Turnips, 

 their tops may be injured, but their roots cannot ; for being 

 round, and lying loose on the ground, they afford no foot- 

 hold, but become stumbling-blocks to the sheep, which 

 therefore carefully avoid them, and stand upon the ground. 

 But the better to avoid waste, it is frequently the practice, 

 instead of hurdling the sheep upon the crop, to keep them 

 back upon the cleared ground, and to throw the Turnips 

 upon it. But in this case the Turnips must either be thrown 

 in part over the ground already fouled by the sheep, or must 

 be confined to the space from which they are drawn, by 

 which means the principal intention of drawing is frustrated. 

 Some farmers therefore, who fat large quantities both of neat 

 cattle and sheep, pursue the following method in the con- 

 sumption of their crop. The head-lands and side-lands 

 being cleared, the area is drawn, and carried in alternate 

 stripes about ten paces wide. The first drawing is expended 

 on the bullocks in one or other of the ways already described ; 

 whilst the remaining stripes are drawn, and scattered over 

 the whole ground for the sheep. The principal intention of 

 drawing, which is, to distribute the Turnips evenly and thinly, 

 so that whilst one is eaten another may not be soiled,) is thus 

 obtained. It is a common error, that has generally prevailed 

 among most persons, who are ill informed upon the subject, 

 that the mutton fattened upon Turnips is rank and ill-tasted ; 

 whereas it is a known fact, that the best mutton this country 

 affords is all fattened on Turnips ; and that rank mutton, the fat 

 of which is yellow, is what the low marshy lands of Lincoln- 

 shire, and other rank pastures, produce. Turnips are some- 

 times used for feeding milch cows ; but this is a bad practice 

 when the milk is used for making butter, which acquires 

 a disagreeable taste from this root ; but it answers very well 

 in suckling, as it keeps the cow in heart, and furnishes 

 abundance of milk. Field Turnips are sometimes sold, but 

 it is not the general practice to raise Turnips for this purpose; 

 nevertheless every year some are sold. Little farmers who 

 want conveniency or skill, and larger ones who want money 

 to lay in a proper stock, or who from the comparative prices 

 of stock and Turnips judge it more eligible to sell them to 

 feed, sell their Turnips to those who have judgment, money, 

 and spirit, to buy stocks. Sale Turnips are usually con- 

 sumed on the premises. Sometimes the buyer and some- 

 times the seller draws the crop and tends the cattle, for 

 which sometimes the one and sometimes the other finds 

 straw. The medium price of a middling crop of Turnips, 

 is about fifty shillings an acre ; but the price is subject to 



great and sudden fluctuations. Raising of seed, is the 



third purpose to which Turnips are applied. In order to 

 sow good Turnip-seed, transplant some of the fairest roots 

 in February, place them at least two feet asunder each way, 

 observing to keep the ground clear from weeds, until the 

 Turnips have spread so as to cover the ground, when they 

 will prevent the weeds from growing ; and when the seed- 

 pods are formed, you should carefully guard them against 

 birds, otherwise they will devour them, especially when they 

 are nearly ripe. When the seed is ripe, it should be cut 

 up, and spread to dry in the sun : after which it may be 

 threshed out, and preserved for use. It is generally under- 

 stood that no Turnip-seed is fit to be sown that has not 

 been raised from transplanted roots ; but in Norfolk it is 

 thought that if the seed be gathered from untransplanted 

 roots, the Turnips will become coarse-necked and foul-rooted, 

 and the flesh of the root rigid and unpalatable ; and that if 

 they be gathered year after year from transplanted roots. 



