ROOT CROPS. 169 



With us the crop prefers a light warm loam, which has not 

 been too highly cultivated for other crops, and is not too heav- 

 ily manured. We have found a great disposition in the best 

 improved turnips of England, to run to necks and heavy, luxu- 

 riant tops, at the expense of the root, when sown on rich, heavy, 

 clayey soils, upon which root crops had been previously raised, 

 with excessive manuring. And while great care is taken 

 abroad in the preparation of the land for this crop, it seems as 

 if the rule was reversed here, and the less care the better. 

 There can be no doubt that on light gravelly soils, which have 

 been kept open by long-continued cultivation, a good supply of 

 well-rotted barn-yard manure is indispensable to turnips. 

 But such soil as this, upon which grass had been grown until a 

 strong sward has been created, may be ploughed late in June, 

 a light dressing of manure applied and harrowed in ; and by 

 using super-phosphate in the rows, a good crop maybe obtained. 

 In England it is very customary to sow turnips after a crop of 

 wheat. But in this country grass is the usual successor to our 

 grain crops. And we know of no rotation of crops into which 

 turnips can be introduced — unless it be as a first crop after 

 ploughing the grass land late in the spring. In this way tur- 

 nips can be raised without that exhaustion of the soil of which we 

 have spoken. And land thus treated will produce a good corn 

 crop the following season, besides being in excellent condition 

 to cultivate. We should not advise the cultivation of turnips 

 on land which is to be seeded down to grass as the next step in 

 the rotation. Grass does not set well, and it is a long time 

 before a luxuriant and compact sward is produced after such a 

 process. A piece of worn-out grass land, then, may be very 

 profitably used for turnips the year it is broken up. It may 

 then be used for other root crops if desired, or for corn, which 

 is by far the best crop known among us, to precede the laying 

 down of lands to grass, with some small grains. In preparing 

 land for turnips, as we have suggested, it should not be 

 ploughed until after the middle of June, and the seed should 

 be sown as soon after as possible — say about the 20th of that 

 month. 



There are two modes of applying manure to the land for 

 turnips, in the choice of which we should be governed by the 

 soil. Where the land is very light, and does not admit of deep 



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