288 OF CROPS USUALLY CULTIVATED. 



fallen on the dung, as above stated, vegetated rapidly, and 

 the turnips attained a great size, indeed they could not get 

 larger for want of room in the drills ; many of them weigh- 

 ed from 15 to 28 Ibs. with tops and tails. This practice 

 may prove highly useful in dry seasons, and indeed should 

 always be tried, as the expence of the seed is but trifling. 

 The great difficulty will be, to lay the soil sufficiently thin 

 and regular over the small seeds. 



Mr Church made a second trial, which was attended 

 with all the success he could reasonably expect. The tur- 

 nips were fully larger than those sown in the ordinary way, 

 and vegetated as soon as when seed is sown in rainy wea- 

 ther. When the turnip seed is sown upon moist dung, he 

 finds, that the slightest covering of earth is sufficient. It is 

 well known, that it is the steam or effluvia evaporating 

 from dung placed in a drill, which makes drilled turnips 

 vegetate more rapidly than the broad-cast. This gives the 

 drill a decided preference over the broad-cast, independent 

 of other considerations ; and it would appear, that the 

 more immediately the steam or effluvia can be applied to 

 the seed, the more likely is the crop to be productive. A 

 iliiiiculty might however arise in setting out the young 

 plants, as having a small hold of the ground, they would be 

 easily torn out by the stroke of the hoe when the thinning 

 process was executed. 



In a more recent communication, (16th July, 1813), Mr 

 Church informs me, that a neighbour of his tried the ex- 



* O 



periment last year, in contrast with the common way. The 

 crop sown on the dung, not only came away quicker at 

 first, but was ultimately a much heavier crop. He depo- 

 sited the seed by hand on the dung ; but a simple drill, 

 without a coulter, and only one wheel, would be the most 

 convenient for placing the seed on the dung, and could 

 easily be pushed along by a man, without the assistance of 



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