326 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



although no sign of a weed may have shown itself. In fact, 

 the more frequently the ground is disturbed, and the more thor- 

 oughly the growth of weeds is nipped in the bud, the cheaper and 

 more complete will be the season's cultivation. It will, indeed, 

 be found profitable, if so much as from five to ten acres of roots 

 are grown, to keep a horse-hoe going constantly whenever the 

 land is sufficiently dry. When the turnips have produced one or 

 two rough leaves, the sides of the rows should be lightly hoed by 

 hand immediately after the passage of the horse-hoe. This will 

 destroy all weeds except those starting directly in the line of the 

 turnips ; and when the leaves of these are three or four inches 

 long, the singling out should be carefully done, leaving the strong- 

 est plants at intervals of from ten to fourteen inches, and thor- 

 oughly cleaning all of the intervening ground. The eff'ect of this 

 thinning on the appearance of the field is always such as to leave 

 a very poor promise of a crop, but within a few days the plants, 

 which have been deprived of the support of their neighbors, will 

 gain strength, assume a more stocky form, and commence their 

 real growth. From this time on, until the roots have a diameter 

 of about an inch, the hoeing by both horse and hand power can- 

 not be too frequent or thorough for profit. The best of all horse 

 cultivators, so far as my experience goes, is the light one-horse 

 steel subsoil plow, which can be run in well-cultivated land to a 

 depth of six or eight inches, and which produces such a thorough 

 disturbance of the mass of soil as it is difficult to accomplish in 

 any other way, while it is easily drawn, and is not apt to throw 

 dirt on to the leaves of the crop. If I were obliged to discard all 

 but one of my horse-hoeing implements, I should retain this one 

 for all work, including the horse-hoeing of corn. After having 

 attained the diameter of an inch, and being by this time thoroughly 

 cleaned, the crop had better be left to itself, unless the land is 

 unusually weedy ; — for the development of the roots of the turnips 

 so completely fills the soil, that even its very surface is occupied 

 by fibers, whose destruction would be injurious. The crop may 

 now be safely " laid by," and left to take care of itself until har- 

 vest time. If it is not now doing well, no effort of the farmer 



