S8 EXPERIMENTS UPON TURNIPS. [AppCTldlXy 



nip crop in 1842 and 1843, what had not been trenched .vas subsoiled. The 

 turnip crop was sown at different times, as noticed in the tables. All the parts 

 brairded well and healthy, and continued to grow without intermission through 

 the season. The field contains about 11 acres imperial, and the crop was most 



flkixuriant, so much so, that the lightest turnips in any part of the field would 

 have been reckoned good. The fieMBras drilled for the crop with the double 

 mould plough at 30 inches apart, for swedes and purple top-yclLow, and 26 and 28 

 inches for Jones' yellow, which variety is remarkable for very small tops, and, in 

 consequence, may be drilled nearer. The difference in the appearance of the 

 turnips, where the various manures and mixtures had been applied, was very 

 mai-ked. Wherever guano had been applied, the tops were larger than any of 

 the others, except No. 3 of the table (^Jones' yellow), upon which sulphate of soda 

 was top-dressed, after the plants were thinned. The crop upon this portion was 

 remarkable for luxuriance of tops and large bulbs, and gave a veiy good crop.* 

 No, 6 of the table (Jones' yellow), was upon spade-trenched land, and 

 is the only lot where a comparison can be made between trenching and subsoil- 

 ing. Where bone dust was used the tops were not so large, and where the ani- 

 mal charcoal had been added the tops loere least of all and the bulbs largest. Upon 

 all the varieties of soils in this farm, the application of animal charcoal or bone 

 dust has been of great benefit to all crops — to wheat, barley, oats, hay, and grass 

 — the crops being bulkier and of superior quality, especially upon soils superin- 

 cumbent on trap rock, giving an evidence that all such soils upon this estate are 

 in want of phosphates. This has also been proved by the analysis of several — 

 none of them giving more than a trace of phosphates, and some of them none at 

 all. Upon all these soils animal charcoal or bones seem to be indispensable, 



• because the grain crops cannot be matured without phosphates of lime and 

 magnesia. It appears from the many experiments that have been made here, 

 that guano does not contain a sufficiency of the phosphates to supply the crops 

 to which it is usually applied, and which, from the greater luxuriance of growth 

 its application at all times induces, would be required in greater quantity accord- 

 ing to the bulk of crop. A portion of the animal charcoal of the sugar refiners 

 being mixed with it at the time of sowing, will supply the deficiency, and at all 

 places inland from the sea, common salt will be found a valuable addition. The 

 cultivator who is obliged from deficiency of farm-yard manure to use guano will 

 find that by taking one-half of his usual quantity of farm-yard manure per acre, 

 and making up for the other half by the addition of 2 to 4 cwts. of guano, his 

 crops will be, at least, as bulky, and his after-crops as good, as if he had used 

 40 cubic yards of good dung. Guano, however, should not be used by itself 

 upon soils that do not contain a certain amount of vegetable matter {i. e. on poor 

 sharp soils), but it will in all cases be found an invaluable manure for thorough- 

 drained moss soils. 



Notes. — 1^. The compost of coal-tar and saw-dust used in the preceding experiments is 

 conaposed of saw-dust or moss 40 bushels, coal-tar 20 gallons, bone-dust 7 bushels, sulphate 

 of soda 1 cwt., sulphate of magnesia 1^ cwt,., and common salt 1§ cwt., put together in a 

 heap, with 20 bushels of quicklime, and allowed to ferment and heat for three weeks, when 

 it is turned, and again allowed to ferment, and is then fit for use. 



2°. In using the nitrate of soda for the last four years in the garden, it has been found 

 that top-dressing the leeks- in" the month of August or September enabled them to resist the 

 effects of winter, whilst those tliat were not so dressed have invariably failed, and gone to 

 decay early in the season ; at the same time, it increases their bulk in a remarkable man- 

 ner. Knowing this effect upon leeks, — a crop that if grown to a large size has a great 

 tendency to rot and fail in winter, — might it not have the same effect upon autumn sown 

 wheats if dressed with it after they are brairded 7 This hint is merely thrown out as worthy 

 of trial, as the salt appears to have the power of toughening the fibre or odierwise enabling 

 the plants to withstand the rigours of winter, and in this way might, perhaps, prevent the 

 wheat crop from failing in winter, which is often ilie case, to the great loss and disappoint- 

 ment of the farmer 



Wm. Fleming. 



Barochan, Feb., 1844. 



' Sulphuric acid and the sulphates appear to exercise a marked action on the turnip crop.— J. 



