1S52 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AGRICULTURE. suitik.mknt. 



length of hurdling in former way .... 3twn yards 



Length of ditto In latter way ..... 1760' 



Saving of labour ..... 1820 



(Young'* itmaU of Agriculture, voLxHI. p. 346.) 



s:t%._ sil.'t. The taste of turnips in milk, butter, and beef, it is said, may be prevented by the following 

 meant :— " Never allow the cow to taste Of t In ■ roots within six or right hours of milking, but feed her 

 immediately after each milking; and do not give her ativ more of the roots at a time than she will eat 

 in two or three hours, and In- careful that she dors not gel any mole till after she is milked again. By 

 this method cows maybe fed on rutabaga or other turnips, and no person will be able to discover the 

 taste in the butter or milk. Upon tin- same principle, those who wish to teed their rattle on turnips 



may do so without any danger of affecting the taste of the beef, provided they will omit feeding with this 

 kind of food two or three days previous to the killing. Cases have occurred where the beef was rendered 

 unlit to eat, on account of the animals eating a few turnip-tops or cabbage leaves before being slaughtered. 

 The difficulty may be obviated as mentioned above." ( fin/. I'. M., n. s., vol. iv. p. 361.) 



5480. Storing turnips. By experiment it was found that raising them in stacks above the sur- 

 face by means of wattled stakes to prevent them from spreading out, and when the stack is as high as it 

 will stand, thatching them is superior in every point of view to burying them in the soil in the manner of 

 potatoes. {.Jour. A. E n vol.11, p. 228.) 



5432. Fly on turnips. The following mode of prevention has been resorted to with success at 

 (ireen llammerton, Yorkshire. A board, about eighteen inches in breadth, and sufficiently long to cover 

 four ridges of turnips, was made to run upon wheels, high enough to allow the board to pass over the 

 turnips without touching the tops of them. The lower side of this board was painted with white paint, 

 which the men provided themselves with, and took into the field, and during the night (at which time the 

 By is more injurious and destructive than during the day) the instrument was wheeled from one end of 

 the in Id to the other. The insects, on being disturbed, of course immediately fly or jump up, and stick 

 to the paint; and at the end of every set of ridges the board was almost covered with them. (Leeds 

 Mercury, and Report Dim. Agr. Association.) 



8399—5444. The while or Belgian carrot, produced on Lord Ducie's farm at Whitfield, at the rate of 

 20 tons 3 cwt. per acre. The soil is a deep sandy loam, belonging to the new red sandstone formation. 

 •' The seed was sown in the second week in April, on land which had been ploughed 10 inches deep. It 

 was sown on the flat, in rows 18 inches apart, by the common Suffolk drill. The seed had been mingled 

 with damp sand for several days previous, as well to sprout it partially, as to render it capable of being 

 drilled, as carrot-seed clings so much together. They are thinned out when a fortnight old, to intervals 

 of 6 inches in the row, and two horse-hoeings, with a hand-hoeing whenever the weeds made their ap- 

 pearance, was all the cultivation they received. The result is a crop, not only much more valuable per 

 ton than any other green crop we have, but also heavier per acre, and raised at an expense less by at 

 least one-half than that attending the cultivation of the turnip." (Journ. A. E., vol. ii. p. 40.) 



8400. The white carrot. The produce with Sir C. M. Burrell in Sussex was upwards of 1,300 bushels 

 per acre, after separating the green tops. Some of the roots had penetrated as deep as 3 feet 51 inches, 

 so that the white carrot cannot be a very scourging crop. The soil was loamy and well and deeply 

 drained, and subsoil ploughed, but not manured. (B. F. M., n. s., vol. iv. p.4tii>.) 



S40I — 5453. Carrot seed. Messrs. Drummond, the eminent seedsmen of Stirling, state that the carrot 

 crop in the Held may almost always be insured, other circumstances being favourable, by bringing the 

 seed to the point of vegetating before sowing. This is done by mixing it with sand or earth, kept moist, 

 ami turned occasionally for several days. They also recommend some nourishing compost to be placed 

 under the seed in the drills, or sown along with it. They have made an experiment to prove that carrots 

 may be grown to great advantage in peaty soil, and that they may be even grown in old worn-out garden 

 soil by mixing peat and dung together, and putting the compost thus formed in a gutter made by a wedge- 

 shaped dibble, six inches wide at top, six or eight inches long, and at least a foot deep ; the seed being 

 sown immediately above the compost. (Quart. Jour, of Agr., vol. iv. p. 410.) 



8402. — 5471 . The parsnep is superior to all other roots lor fattening hogs ; but they must be given raw, 

 for the boiling of the root renders the bacon flabby. Parsneps will fatten a hog in six weeks, more especially 

 ii snur milk is given with them. The roots are never to be washed, because it is found that washed roots 

 are found to surfeit both hogs and cattle. (G. C. 1842. p. 837.) 



s pa. 5478. Parsneps in Guernsey produce from 9 to 1 1 tons per statute acre, which are excellent for 

 fattening oxen or pigs, and when boiled will fatten poultry in an extraordinary manner. The produce 

 of Altringham carrot in Guernsey, as compared to that of the parsnep, was as 261 to 840. According to 

 Sir Humphry Davy, 1000 parts of parsnep afford 90 parts of saccharine matter and 9 of mucilage ; and 

 1000 parts of carrot, 90 parts of sugar and 3 of mucilage. The greater proportion of mucilage in the 

 parsnep may be the cause of its superior fattening properties. (Jour. A. E., vol. i. p. 422. ) 



8404 5488. Mangold wurzel proved to have greater fattening properties than Swedish turnip by 



Earl Spencer. (Journ. A.E., vol. ii. p. 290.) 



8405. — 5516. Symphytum asptrrimum, Mr. Gorrie observes, is assuredly liked by horses and cattle, 

 and will soon recommend itself to the cottager and dairyman as a powerful auxiliary to clover, in summer 

 and autumn. (Highland Soc. Trans., vol. ix. p. 249.) 



8406. — 5517. CEnol/ura biennis, a biennial plant growing to the height of four or five feet, is said to 

 make a very good forage plant in some p. iris of Germany. It is of the easiest culture, more especially in 

 dee]i sandy soils. The roots are fusiform, white, sweetish, and in Germany are frequently used in 

 < ookery. like those of the skirret or scorzonera. 



s|n7.' i.upi/iu.s po/yphy/lus has been tried as a forage plant by the Earl of Mansfield, and found valu- 

 able in good sandy loams, but it is thought inferior in nutritive properties to the lucent. 



8408.— 5522. 'Vrifblium ilegant D.Don., T. hybridum Bon Jardinier, the elegant hybrid or Alsike 

 clover, apparently a gigantic variety of the common white clover, has been cultivated in Sweden for up- 

 ward) oifortj years, though only lately brought into notice by M. Vilmorin. It product's trailing shoots 

 live in -i\ feet iii length, is remarkably hardy, and prefers strong moist soil. We believe it to be the same 

 plant which we collected in Poland in 1813, and of which we exhibited specimens at the Linnaan Society 

 about the end of the following year. In England it is now being cultivated by Mr. W. Taylor. F.L.S., who 

 conceives a very high opinion of its value to the agriculturist. It does not suffer, he says, from the 

 severest frost, its growth being merely suspended, while its foliage is not injured ; it may be readily pro- 

 pagated on a large sr.de by division of the root, and it flourishes in inferior soil. 



B409 5527. Trifblium incaruiilum is considered in Italy as the earliest of clovers ; as particularly- 

 calculated for dry soils, and as preferring the mountain to the plain. It is an annual, and succeeds best 

 when sown in the autumn, after the corn crop has been remo\ ed. (Quart. Jour, of Agr., vol. iii. p. 729.) 

 7'rifiilium incarnation is found of great value in tilling up blanks in fields of common clover being sown 

 immediately after carrying the corn crop. 



8410. Trifolinm gig'aiitium, the Affghan clover, thrives in England during summer, but is too tetn'er 

 for winter. (Card Chron. 1811. p. 59 



R41 1 . — 5550. Clover is dried in the hilly parts of Germany by restingit. immediately after being mown, 

 against portable tressels, as corn is dried in Sweden and Norway. (L'Agronome. vol. i. p. 136.) 



8412. — 5618. The Prangot hay plant, is described in Moor croft's Travels, vol. i. p. 288., as singularly 



