TURNIP CULTURE IN ENGLAND. 



THE NORTHUMBERLAND PLAN (CONSIDERED THE BEST IN ENGLAND) DESCRIBED. 



The introduction of Turnip culture, as a field 

 crop, seems to have been a providential inspi- 

 ration. It was introduced first, upon a large scale, 

 from Flanders into Norfolk, about two centuries 

 ago, and tlience passed into the South of Scotland 

 and the North of England, not until a century 

 after, so dilatorj' are Farmers in adopting new 

 objects and new processes, adapted to their pur- 

 poses of life. ] a Norfolk, we are informed the 

 cultivation of T umips as winter food for stock, 

 was for a long time confined to one or two indi- 

 viduals, and at last spread widely, and was 

 much accelerated and improved, by adopting 

 the row, or drill system, invented by that great 

 benefactor of English Agriculture — Jethro 

 TuLL. The broad cast system is still practiced 

 in Flanders, and to a certain extent, yet prevails 

 in England ; though in both countries the labor- 

 ers hoe them out, with a dexterity, which ob- 

 viates in a great measure, the ill consequei-ces of 

 the broadcast system, as practised in this country 

 — at least in our Southern States. There, how- 

 ever, Turnips fomi but an insignificant object of 

 regard. Most farmers looking to them, as for 

 centuries they did in England, only as a culinary 

 vegetable ; and for that purpose they ' cmcpen ' 

 a small piece of old land, and sow their Turnips 

 60 thick as to shade the ground, leaving them to 

 their fate, often without even thinning and hoe- 

 ing. Now, however, that every one is becom- 

 ing sensible how indispensable it is to increase 

 the quantity, and to improve the quality of his 

 home-made manure , it may be expected that 

 more attention will be given to this important 

 crop — important as compared with other root 

 or green crops, on account of the facility of 

 raising, and of presei-ving it. It is admitted that 

 Turnips in many parts of Europe, are at the 

 foundation of all the best systems of farming, 

 ina.smuch as they supply the requisite manure, 

 and at the same time dean the land, for subse- 

 quent crops, by the numerous plowings and 

 liarrowings which are indispensable in Turnip 

 culture — a tiling very much overlooked by 

 American fai'mcrs, who seem not to reflect, that 

 every spear of grass, and every noxious weed, 

 takes from the crops not only the food which it 

 finds in the soil, but its full share of that which 

 floats in the atmosphere. It is admitted that 

 such has been the effect of the introduction of 

 Turnips as a field crop, in England, that witiiout 

 (184) 



it, she could not have stood up under the load of 

 her national debt. 



In the preparation of the ground, and the 

 management of the crop, what is called the 

 Northrimberland plan is considered the best, 

 and that has been briefly described in the man- 

 ner that we shall presently see ; — the objection 

 that will be raised to it in our country, is the 

 labor it requires ; but much better would it be, 

 in most cases, to restrict the labor at command, 

 to dbe-fourth of the surface, to which it is usu- 

 ally applied, than to waste it as is done, over 

 fields barren by exhaustion, and ■want of ma- 

 nure ; and yet more so by the slovenly and ini- 

 pei'fect manner in which they have been tilled. 



Persuaded that it is too late in the season to 

 offer information which may be availed of now 

 to any great extent, (although we have seeu a 

 heavy crop of common Turnips from a sowing 

 on the 10th of September,) we proceed novs' to 

 give— 



TUE NORTHUMBERLAND PLAN. 



The County of Northumberland has been one 

 of the foremost of the English counties in adopt- 

 ing the improved system of Agriculture — the 

 chief feature of which is the cultivation of tur- 

 nips for the rearing and fattening of cattle. Tur- 

 nips accordingly occupy a large proportion of 

 every fann, the soil of which admits of this cul- 

 tivation. So great has been the advantage de- 

 rived from this change from the old triennial 

 system, that many fields now yield heavy crops 

 of this useful root which in most other {larts of 

 England would be considered as totally unfit 

 for its cultivation. This has arisen from the 

 early adoption of the culture in rows on elevated 

 ridges, wliich has received the general appella- 

 tion of the Noithuml)erland method, and which 

 we shall therefore describe with some minute- 



UCi.S. 



The ground having been prepared by as many 

 plowings and han-owings as may be thought 

 requisite to pulverize it and destroy the weeds, 

 and laid quite flat, an experienced plowman 

 draws as straight a fuiTow^ as possible, and, re- 

 turning, lays the next fun-ow slice upon the 

 first, thus completing what is usually called a 

 bout. The usual width of the furrow being 9 

 inches, the first ridge and fun-ow take up 13 

 inches; the next fun-ow slice being laid over 

 the first, the whole work takes a ^^■idtll of 27 

 inches. He then enters again at the distance of 

 27 inches from the land side of the fir.st-made 

 fuiTow, and completes a second bout parallel to 

 the first. When the whole field is thus laid in- 

 to narrow ridges, which, from the soil being 

 light and crumbling, gives the section of tlie 



