OF CROPS USUALLY CULTIVATED. 289 



a horse. A gentleman obtained good turnips in this way, 

 and by husbanding the dung, in a singular manner, for 

 the purpose of making it go over more ground, than could 

 easily be accomplished in the usual way. Dung was put 

 out of the cart, at equal distances, in heaps, which wotnen 

 lifted into small hand baskets, and going along the drills, 

 laid pieces of dung, at equal distances by hand, at the bot- 

 tom of the drills, say at from eight to ten inches apart, 

 (the distance at which the turnips were intended to be left 

 when hoed); a person then followed, and dropped a few 

 seeds on each of these small pieces of dung, which was 

 afterwards covered by a light furrow. This method may 

 furnish a useful hint to small farmers, though it may be 

 thought tedious to be attempted on a great scale. 



On the whole, there is certainly no branch of husbandry 

 more desirable to bring to perfection, than the culture of 

 turnips. The common sorts can be sown with advantage, 

 from the 10th to the end of June, giving the farmer ample 

 time to clean his ground. It is, besides, a fact well known, 

 that the close deep shade of the turnip leaves, has a ten- 

 dency to rot all below them. There is perhaps no article 

 that produces, at so cheap a rate, such a quantity of food 

 for stock, or that is the means of raising so much valuable 

 manure. Experiments, however, are still wanting, regard- 

 ing the culture of this root, before it can be brought to 

 perfection; in particular, it would be necessary to ascer- 

 tain, the specific weights of each sort per acre ; the quanti- 

 ties of beef and mutton produced by equal weights of each 

 sort of root ; the quantities of manure required for each 

 sort ; and the effects of each, on the following crops in the 

 rotation. 



8. Potatoes. The culture of potatoes has greatly increa- 

 sed in Scotland, owing to the following circumstances : 

 VOL. i. T 



