78 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



1 



much cattle during winter and early spring, 

 witli so little exhaustion of soil, as turnips. The 

 manure abundantly put on the laud to raise the 

 turnips is a fund laid out at great interest for the 

 benefit of tlie future crops : for the whole course 

 is benefited by them, especially if they are fed 

 oft" by folding sheep on them. Whether wheat 

 or barley is sown after turnips, clover and grass- 

 seeds are usually sown amongst it. The hind 

 beiug clean and in good heart, the grasses grow 

 thickly and cover tlie gi'ound well the year after. 

 In the heavier loams, after the grasses have been 

 once mown for hay, the land is depastured for 

 two or three j-ears, and then it is plowed once 

 and sown with oats. After oats come beans, 

 witli some manure, and wheat ends the rotation. 

 This is considered tlie best cour.se for keeping 

 the land in a state of progressive improvement. 

 On very rich soils another crop of beans or peas 

 may be taken after the wheat, and then wheat 

 or oats again. "Few .soils, however, except the 

 richest and deepest, will bear this exhausting 

 course ; and it is more prudent in general to re- 

 turn to the turnips after the first crop of wheat. 

 On light gra^ elly soils, -where the clover and 

 grasses soon fall off, the Norfolk system answers 

 best. The tm-nips are fed off with sheep, or, 

 where the crop is heavy, half the turnips are 

 drawn for oxen and cows and the otlier half fed 

 off; or, which is a late improvement, tliey are 

 out into slices or strips by a machine, and given 

 to the sheep ^vith cut clover hay iu shallow 

 troughs on the ground from which turnips were 

 drawn. In this way the turnips aro much farther ; 

 and the lambs and old ewes will tlirive and fat- 

 ten on them, which they could not have done in 

 the old way for -want of teeth to bite them. 

 After turnips come barley and broad clover, 

 with a small portion of annual rye-gras.s, mown 

 once for hay and plowed up for •w'heat. The 

 next course is the same, witli the variation of 



some snb.stitute for the broad clover which 

 should not be sown ou the same land oftener 

 tlian once in eight years to ensure good crops. 

 Pai-t of the land may be in peas or tares to cut 

 green, and part in gras-s-seeds without clover, 

 according to the judgment of the farmer. There 

 are some very heavy and wet soils in the county, 

 ^vhich will not readily bear turnips, and where 

 the sheep cannot be folded in winter, nor the 

 turnips carted off without greatly injuring the 

 laud. There a fallow is unavoidable at least 

 once iu six or seven years. In other respects 

 they are cultivated in a similar manner with 

 good loams. The practice of thorough-draining, 

 ^vhich is spreading rapidly, ^vill probably soon 

 banish clean fallows, and substitute turnips in 

 their place, even iu tlie most retentive soils, 

 which will in time be converted into rich loams 

 by the efi'ect of cultivation, loaming, manuring, 

 &c., as may be seen in many old gardens, of 

 which the natm-al soil was once a retentive 

 clay. 



In due time we shall revert to tlie culture of 

 this root, being satisfied that not\\'ithstanding 

 certain and serious impediments, tending to 

 frustrate tlie best directed attempts to cultivate 

 Turnips, especially in the Southern low lands of 

 this countrj', on any thing at all approachmg the 

 scale on which it is practised in England, the 

 Swedish Turnip might, still be made to contri- 

 bute largely and profitably to the siistenance of 

 beasts, and so to the accumulation of manure — 

 the fertility of the land, and the increase of all 

 other crops. For this impres.sion we might 

 rely for strong support, on the heavy crops w^e 

 sa-w, near maturity, last Autumn at Marshfield, 

 and at Hereford Hall. 



UNDER-DRAINING. 



ONE OF THE GR.A:ND IMPROVEMENTS IN PROGRESS TO SUPPLY BREAD TO THE INCREASING 

 POPUL.4TION OF ENGL.\ND. 



There are now in progress, in Great Britain, 

 two great and fruitful means of adding to the 

 Agricultural products of tlie countiy, so much 

 needed by the growth of her population, to wit : 

 U.vder-Draisisg asd Irrigatio.v. Of these 

 two great modes of fertilizing land, the one the 

 most expensive, tlie other the most beautiful of 

 all agricultural operations; the latter onlj-, in the 

 opinion of an American citizen of profound 

 judgment, who looks at such things with the 

 eyes of a Bacon or a Brindley, is applicable to 

 our coimtry to anj- great extent. 



Under-draining, which answers its purpose 

 only ^vhere it is thoroughly performed, is, per- 

 haps, too expensive for extensive use in America. 

 Like Iron works, the e.stabli.«hment of which 

 costs so much moiicv, few have capital caual 



to the enterprise, but those who have, get 

 the better paid for their investment We have, 

 however, seen under-draining practised with 

 eminent skill and success, bj- a very plain, un- 

 pretending, worthy farmer, in Prince Georges 

 county, Mar>-land, with results that do high honor 

 to his sagacity and forecast ; and the more so as, 

 probably, he had never read any description, or 

 seen any specimens of the manner of conduct- 

 ing it. He, Mr. Somers, residing .some miles 

 below Nottingham, in Prince George.s county, 

 has successfiilly under-drained boggy meadows 

 and adjacent upland, by means of large poles 

 laid along side of each other, ani covered in a 

 peculiar and careful mamier with cedar brusli, 

 and then with sods and dirt. His example is 

 well worthy of beimr imitated, and might be. at 



