148 TURNIP-FALLOW. [MARC] 



stance of what happened to him in 1773, " 

 most of the turnips that had been sown the 

 ceding year, had failed ; or those few that had es- 

 caped run away to seed much earlier than com- 

 mon," and the farmers therefore were in the ut- 

 most distress, at the same time that he, having no 

 less than seven acres of this plant, felt no incon- k 

 venience. 



TURNIP-FALLOW. 



The land designed for turnips, I suppose to have! 

 been ploughed from a stubble at Michaelmas. In | 

 this month it should receive the second earth, I 

 which is very necessary, that it may, bv harrowing- 

 well, or by another stirring in April, if the land is 

 .stubborn, be made so line, as to ensure a thick, 

 crop of weeds in May. A succeeding ploughing 

 turns them in, and quite destroys them. This is n 

 method that is very effeclual in destroying seed 

 weeds, and particularly suits turnip-fallows, as it is 

 a crop that requires a very line tilth. 



But modern improvements have discovered better 

 ways of effecting these purposes. The turnip-fal- 

 lows that received an autumnal ploughing should 

 not be ploughed again till surface operations in 

 March have stirred and loosened the earth, to fa- 

 vour the vegetation of weeds. This is best done 

 by scarifying or scuffling. These tools will do 

 their work if they are well constructed, to any 

 depth the fanner may wish, and this tillage keep- 

 ing the surface that has been pulverized by frosts, 

 unburied, is much more favourable lo the growth 



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