84 AGRICULTURE. 



seed is sown after the harrow, and too frequently 

 left to its own protection. In the other case, the 

 plough is first used, and after it the harrow ; a 

 method much to be preferred, as the difference of 

 crops will more than pay the difference of labour, 

 the only advantage claimed by those who advocate 

 and adopt the first method. 



Our own practice is to plough in the stubble, har- 

 row the ground lightly, and sow the turnip-seed in 

 the quantity of two pounds to the acre. This al- 

 lows something for insects and something for waste. 

 When the plants are generally above ground, give 

 them a light covering of ashes, which, by quicken- 

 ing the growth of the plants and leaching on their 

 leaves at the same time, better protects them against 

 the fly than any other means practicable on a large 

 scale with which we are acquainted.* When the 

 plants attain the height of four inches, we set the 

 horse-hoe to work, running a furrow the whole 

 length or breadth of the field, and returning with 

 another at the distance of three feet from the for- 

 mer, and so continuing the work till the whole is 

 laid off into beds of that width. What we lose by 

 this method is only the seed buried by the horse- 

 hoe ; what we gain is the manure created by the 

 young plants ploughed in between the beds, and 

 the advantage of being able to weed and work those 

 left standing for the crop. This part of the labour, 

 which immediately follows the horse-hoeing, is ex- 

 peditiously performed by two men travelling in the 

 furrows, one on each side of a bed, and employing 

 themselves in thinning and hand-hoeing the surplus 

 plants. These operations of ploughing and weeding 

 may be performed a second, and even a third time, 

 with advantage. 



* On a small scale, water in which potatoes have been boiled 

 is believed to be very useful in protecting cabbage, turnips, and 

 other plants from the attacks of the fly. We are in a course 

 of experiments which will determine how far this remedy may 

 be relied on. 



