ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. 203 



Northumberland that it is not wise to sow white turnips 

 after about the 20th of June for a good crop ; and it is 

 just probable that, as we go further north, we should find 

 that the tendency is to plant the turnips and swedes 

 earlier still. At all events, the tendency is towards later 

 sowing as we come south. In the southern counties of 

 England we do not think of sowing swedes until about May 

 25th. We consider that we are all in good time, and that 

 it is the very prime of the season, if we can get our swedes 

 sown during the first week of June, and those who are 

 not fortunate in getting their crops sown so early continue 

 sowing right through June and into July. Yellow turnips 

 may be sown up to, at all events, the middle of July, and 

 white turnips, especially late white turnips, may be sown 

 all through July, and up to or about August 12th. Later 

 than this we consider that it is a lottery whether turnips 

 come to anything or not. Notice how conveniently all this 

 fits in with a system of catch cropping or fodder cropping, 

 previously to turnips, in the South of England. But it does 

 not fit in so well in the North. 



Before leaving the subject of rotations of crops I must 

 say a few words more upon their theory. It has been 

 pointed out that rotations are forced upon us; but when 

 we look a little closely into the matter we shall find that 

 the reason why rotations are important is that certain 

 plants may very readily be grown too frequently upon the 

 same land. Take, for example, red clover. When the plant 

 is grown at intervals of four years, or even longer, the land 

 becomes clover sick. It will therefore never do to attempt 

 to grow clover repeatedly upon the same ground. Sainfoin 

 may be used as another example. Sainfoin requires a much 

 longer period. It is not easy to understand, but it is a fact, 

 that sainfoin requires something like twenty years to elapse 

 before it can be successfully cultivated again on the same 



