248 EXPERIMENTS ON THE QUALITY OF TURNIPS, 



The quantities of the several substances which ought to be 

 applied may be left very much to the discretion of the experi- 

 menter/ The dose of lime ought not to be small, and the 

 application of bones should not be less than twenty bushels an 

 acre if they are used in the state of dust. If they are dissolved 

 by means of acid, half this quantity may be tried. The whole 

 of the upper half of the field should be limed in the preceding 

 autumn, or in the early spring ; the farm-yard manure should 

 be applied at the usual time when preparing the land for the 

 turnip crop; and the bones and other substances should be 

 afterwards drilled in with the seed. 



The things to be observed are, 



1. The effects of each application on the general appearance 

 and quantity of the crop. 



2. Their effects on the quality as indicated 



a By the appearance, taste, and other sensible qualities of 

 the turnips raised, from which practical men can in many cases 

 draw very trustworthy conclusions. 



b By their effects in an actual trial made with them in the 

 feeding of stock. 



c By the results of a carefully executed chemical analysis, 

 when such can be obtained. 



The result of such an inquiry to the practical farmer will be, 

 that he will obtain information whether the quality of his tur- 

 nips is likely to be improved by the use of lime alone without 

 any other change of his ordinary practice ; whether he must 

 apply bones, or rape-cake, or salts of ammonia ; and whether 

 these will give him most profit when they are used with or 

 without the previous addition of lime. 



7. Suggestions for experiments with lime in the diseases called 

 fingers-and-toes in turnips, and sedge or tulip-root in 

 oats. 



These two diseases are well known to practical men 5 the 

 former, I believe, on all varieties of turnips on certain soils, the 

 latter chiefly in a variety of oat known in Scotland as the 

 Hopeton oat. (P. 14.) 





