188 THE PRINCIPLES OF 



be considered fine enough for turnip cultivation, and it resists 

 the turnip-fly. It is a capital crop for strong land. Rape 

 also is fed off at a period of the year when clay land will hear 

 sheep. It is not entirely for winter feeding. Rape may be 

 sown so as to be ready for feeding in July, August, Sep- 

 tember, and October, and during all those months the land 

 would not suffer from the treading of sheep. It is a capital 

 preparation for wheat. I do not know any crop that wheat 

 is so likely to thrive well after as rape. Again, some of these 

 crops are best raised in seed-beds and transplanted out into 

 their positions in the fields, and this is a great relief to clay 

 land farmers, as may be shown by illustration. You have 

 already heard that clay land works most mellowly and pleas- 

 antly immediately after harvest ; after it has had the summer 

 sun upon it clay land will often work in an extraordinarily 

 friable manner, so that no one would believe it was the same 

 leathery, compact, "planky" stuff that ploughs up in the 

 month of March. There is a period after harvest during 

 which clay land can be wrought into a very fine condition. 

 I always like to have my cabbages and kale sown in a suit- 

 able position the first week in August. They are sown on a 

 finely-wrought half-acre of ground, and they very quickly 

 make their appearance. While the young cabbages are grow- 

 ing, the ground in the fields where the crop is to be planted 

 is thoroughly worked, dunged and ridged up, and brought 

 into the right condition for the reception of the cabbage- 

 plants. This is a cultivation which is suitable for clay 

 land. The cabbages stand the winter; they are hoed, and 

 horse-hoed, and top-dressed in the spring, and will be ready 

 for feeding in July, August, and September a period which 

 is well suited for clay land. The sarne remark applies 

 to kales ; thousand-headed kale is a capital crop, where the 

 situation is favourable, but many good farmers now prefer 

 to sow it in seed-beds and transplant it out. Observe what 



