No. VJIL] 



EXPERIMENTS ON TURNIPS. 



Remarks.— The soil is a light hazel loam incumbent upon sand-stone rock. It was 

 trenched with the spade, in the spring of 1842, out of pasture grassj to the depth of 16 inches, 

 and the rock quarried out when it came nearer the surface than that depth, it was again 

 pointed over before sowing, after which the drills were made upon the flat surface with the 

 hoe, at the distance of 17 inches between them, the manure sown in by the hand, and co- 

 vered up, the seed sown and rolled in. The weather was very dry at the time they were 

 sown, and continued so till about, the 20th June, accompanied with east winds and bright 

 sunshine. They brairded moderately well, and most of them came away strong and 

 healthy. In examining them, and in the working them, which was done by the hand-hoe, 

 many of them showed a remarkable difference from the others ; particularly No. 1 was pre- 

 eminent above the others for size of bulbs and strength of foliage. Many of the bulbs were 

 11 lbs. in weight ; those with tlie saline and alkaline manures, such as Nos. 8, 9, 10, and 12, 

 were much smaller in bulbs ard leaves than No. 1, but were remarkable for firmness and 

 solidity of bulbs. No. 11 was larger in size both of bulbs and leaves, but soft and light in 

 weight. No. 7 liari very firm solid bulbs, as had also Nos. 2 and 4. The numbers of the 

 plots given in the Table indicate the order in which they were grown in the field. 

 The Barochan Artificial Guano consisted of 



Bones dissolved in Muriatic Acid 2 cwt. i Nitrate of Soda 28 lbs. 



Charcoal powder .,.2cwt. j Sulphate of Soda and ;^^. ,^,. 



Sulphate of Ammonia 1 cwt. I Sulphate of Magnesia \ luins. 



Common Salt and Gypsum, each 1 cwt. | 



Wood-ashes 5 cwt. | 12 cwt. 1 qr. 20 lbs. 



See note to page 47. 



3°. Experiments with various Manures on nine Acres of Turnips on the Farm 

 at Crooks, 1842. 



Remarks. — No. 1. Soil a stiff loam, moist, and in good order ; when the seed was sown 

 It brairded well, and came away at once. 



No. 2. Soil rather lighter than the former; seed brairded well, and came away at once. 



No. 3. Soil the same as above ; brairded quickly in consequence of a shower of rain. 



No. 4. Soil lighter than No. 3; a bad braird, and turnips long of springing for want of rain 



No. 5. Soil as above ; long of brairding in consequence of want of rain. 



No. 6. Soil as above ; and like No. 5, still very dry for want of rain ; a late braird. 



No. 7. Soil lighter, mixed with peat ; no rain — bad braird. 



No. 8. Soil heavy clay loam ; no rain, and a bad braird. 



The two latter, from drought and late sowing, did not grow much till the end of Sep- 

 tember ; and when checked by frost in the beginning of November, were still growing 

 vigorously. 



N. B— The land was of different qualities, the seed also sown at different times, and in 

 very different states of the atmosphere, with respect to moisture, yet the average produce 

 was good ; and although it, is not easy to say which of the artificial manures, imder such 

 circumstances, was actually the best, the general result shows that any of these used will 

 produce on my land a good average crop of turnips, and at a less expense than farm-yard 

 manure, and tends to confirm the correctness of various experiments tried by me on a 

 smaller scale. The measurements having been made by the Scotch chain, I have not al- 

 tered them. No. 8 would probably have been the best turnips, had they been sown earlier, 

 and bc«n assisted by a fall of rain. 



