OF CROPS USUALLY CULTIVATED. 285 



past, to store up turnips, cutting off their tops and tails, 

 and thus preserving them sound and good for three months, 

 much to the advantage of his farm : and the cowfceders 

 near Edinburgh have long followed the same practice. Mr 

 John Shirretf received thirty guineas from the Society of 

 Arts, for communicating to that public-spirited institution, 

 a simple mode of drawing and stacking, either the whole, 

 or the greatest part of his turnip crop, for several years in 

 autumn, intended to be consumed during the following 

 winter and spring, a practice which he found attended with 

 much convenience, economy, and emolument.* 



The celebrated George Culley has communicated to me 

 a fact, which, though perhaps known to many intelligent 

 farmers, may not be so universally propagated as it deserves 

 to be. It is this, That all crude soils, or even such soils as 

 have been cultivated, but which have had little or no cal- 

 careous matter mixed with them, will produce better tur- 

 nips, with a plentiful application of lime or shell marie only, 

 without any dung whatever, than with dung, without any 

 lirne or other calcareous substance. This he finds from 

 long and repeated experience. 



In cultivating Swedes, it is recommended to sow them in 

 a garden, or sheltered spot, in the end of April, or begin- 

 ning of May, and to plant them out, as they become large 

 enough, upon ridges 27 inches apart, with the dung imme- 

 diately under them, as commonly practised. The roots of 

 the plants, when put in the drills, should be put in a tub of 

 water, well impregnated with dung. There is every reason 

 to believe, that a good crop may thus be obtained ; and it 



* This useful communication is printed in the 22d volume of the 

 Transactions of the Society of Arts, p. 1 18. This experiment took place 

 anno 1803. 



