surface a waved appearance, such as is repre- 

 sented in the annexed cut, the depressions are 



ahout 6 inches below the former surface, and 

 the ridges as much above. This at once doubles 

 the depth of the cultivated soil in the ridges. — 

 The manure is no'w brought on the land in small 

 one-horse carts, the wheels of which are about 

 54 inches apart, so that the horse walks in one 

 furrow while the wheels move in the Uvo ad- 

 joining. The manure, vi'hich is chiefly conimon 

 farm-yard dung, not too much decomposed, es- 

 pecially if the soil is inclined to clay, is laid in 

 small heaps, drawn out of the cart bj' a dung- 

 hook, or, which is better, by a boy standing on 

 the load in the cart, who forks it out more regu- 

 larly as the horse goes slowly on. It is then laid 

 equally in the fun-ows by women and boys. — 

 The quantity thus laid on depends on the sup- 

 jily of the yard compared with the breadth of 

 turnips intended to be sown, for the whole is 

 expended on this crop. In general, not less 

 than 15 or 20 single-horse loads per acre are 

 thought necessary to produce a good crop. — 

 Twice diat quantity is often put on. This dung 

 is evenly distributed in the furrows to the right 

 and left of that in ^vhich it has been deposited 

 from the cart. The plowman now begins to co- 

 ver this dung by splitting the ridges in two, lay- 

 ing one half to the left and the other to the right, 

 and reversing the bouts, so that the ridges are 

 now directly over the dung, whicn is complete- 

 ly buried. The appearance of the Held after 

 tiiis is exactly similar to what it was after the 

 first bouting. A roller is now drav^ai over the 

 ridges, to flatten them at the top, in order that 

 they may better receive the seed, yihich is 

 drilled exactly on the middle of the ridge by a 

 machine attached to the frame of the roller and 

 dragged after it. The roller is usually sufficient- 

 ly large to roll two ridges at once ; and, in that 

 case, two drilling-machines, each guided by a 

 man, are fixed to it, and one horse, walking in 

 the middle furrow, draws the whole apparatus 

 forward. Thus, two men and a horse, with a 

 boy to lead the latter, can drill four or five acres 

 in one summer's day. The drill barrow has a 

 very slight coulter, hollowed out at the back 

 part to receive the tin tube through which the 

 seed is delivered. The simplest construction of 

 that part v\hich distributes the seed is a tin cyl- 

 inder, or, rather, double cone, with holes in the 

 circumference, through which the seed falls into 

 the tube. The seed-box revolves on an axis, 

 turned by means of a connection with the axis 

 of one of the wheels of the machine, which re- 

 volves with it ; the other wheel turns round this 

 axis. As long as the first -mentioned wheel goes 

 on tlie ground, the seed is delivered ; but as 

 soon as it is raised, so that the drill proceeds on 

 the other wheel alone, no seed falls through, be- 

 oause the axis no longer turns. Thus nozie is 

 lost in turning at the ends of the ridges. In verj' 

 light soils anotlier slight rolling is necessary to 

 press in the seed ; but, in stifter loams, a small 

 chain or piece of iron, dragged after the coulter, 

 is sufficient to cover the seed without rolling. — 

 By this method the seed has not only a greater 

 depth of mellow soil to strike in, but the fermen- 

 tation of the dung immediately under it acts as 

 a hot-bed, and soon brings it up ; by ^vhich 

 means it generally is so rapidly in the rough leaf 

 that it seldom suffers from tlie depredations of 

 tlie fly. Experience shows that in a mui.-l cli- 

 (185) 



mate the ridge system produces much more cer- 

 tain and heavier crops than could be expected 

 in general from the most careful broadcast cul- 

 ture. As soon as the turnip has four leaves out 

 of the ground, the rows may be thinned by the 

 hand or by tlie hoe, and the plants may be left 

 from eight to ten inches apart. The next pro- 

 cess is stirring the ground between the rows 

 with a light one-horse plow. This plow takea 

 a small sliallow fuiTow to the left of the raw, 

 within three or fonr inches of the young plants, 

 and lays it in the middle of the interval between 

 the ridges. When this has been done on both 

 sides all over the field, there will be small ridges 

 formed between the principal ridges on which 

 the turnips grow. All weeds are thus buried, 

 except between the plants in the rows, where 

 they are taken out by the hand or hoe. Some 

 time afterwards, a naiTow cultivator, like har- 

 rows with crooked lines, which are called cnts' 

 claws, from their shape, is drawn over the last- 

 made ridge, to pulverize the earth and clear it 

 from all remaining weeds ; this is repeated 

 more than once, if it should be thought neces- 

 sary. Before the Autumn rains set in, or the 

 turnips have too vi'ide spreading tops, a plow 

 with a double mould-board is drawn along the 

 middle of the intervals, and lays half of the pul- 

 verized soil on each side against the ridge on 

 which the turnips grow ; not to cover the roots 

 and protect them from frost, as some think, but 

 to supply fresh mellow earth for the extenduig 

 fibres of the root to strike into. In heavy, wet 

 loams, it may be necessary, in order to make a 

 clean, neat furrow between the rows, to let off 

 any surface water, in the latter end of the sea- 

 son, w'ith a double mould-board plow, and dig 

 out deeper water-farrows with the spade across 

 the ridges, where they may be required by the 

 nature of the surface. But tliis is not often ne- 

 cessaiy in common turnip soils. By following 

 the above system, Swedish turnips, and even 

 common white turnips, may be raised with suc- 

 cess on the heaviest .soils ; and if taken up early, 

 and stored for winter use, they will leave the 

 land in as good a state for wheat, with one or 

 t^^•o p^owings, as if it had been fallowed. The 

 carts which take off the turnips will not hurt the 

 land, for the hor.se walks in a deep furrow, and 

 the wheels move in similar ones, and thus the 

 mellow earth is not ti'od upon. In order that 

 the dung, which is not yet fully decomposed, 

 may be spread evenlj- for the next croji, the 

 ridges are often made in a diagonal line acrcss 

 the usual line of plowing. When the turnips 

 are off', one bout of the plow levels each of the 

 ridges, heavy harrows level the whole, and it 

 can be plowed in proper stitches for the sowing 

 of the next crop. Sometimes what is sown im- 

 mediately, but more frequently barley witli 

 clovei'-.seed in spring. In the latter case the 

 Swedish turnips maj' be left on the ground all 

 winter, and taken up or fed oft" early in spring. 



Though j-ou may traverse the whole of North- 

 umberland without meeting with a single field 

 of turnips sown broad-cast, the drilling of other 

 crops is by no means so common as in Norfolk 

 and Suffolk, where most of the turnip.s, on the 

 other hand, are still sown broad-cast. The ex- 

 pen.sc of tlie machines for drilling corn may be 

 one cause of this, but it seems not sufiicient to 

 account for it. 



It is well known to all good farmers that all 

 the subsequent crops depend on the snece.ss of 

 the turnips. These are the source from which 

 manure is provided, and no crop will keep so 



