HOEING TURNIPS. 55 



greater certainty of success is attained by drilling. 

 Where the cultivation of this crop is not extensive, a 

 single-row hand-drill or barrow may suffice ; but the 

 chief implement employed is now a wider drill, drawn 

 by one horse. In a limited number of cases the farmer 

 still puts it in by hand, the implement employed being 

 not unlike a pepper-box fastened to the end of a walking- 

 stick. A man follows with a rake to cover the seeds. 



After sowing, the land is lightly rolled, and in about 

 ten days or a fortnight, the young plants begin to 

 appear. If the weather be showery and favourable to 

 their growth, they will come into rough leaf when they 

 are two inches high. Horse-hoeing then commences, and 

 is followed by hand-hoeing, which, to an inexperienced 



1IOEIKG TUliNIPS. 



person, would seem to be the total destruction of the 

 crop ; for, the labourer going along the side of the drill 

 with a hoe, stands opposite the rows, and with one 

 stroke across the ridge cuts out the plants at regular 

 distances, leaving so few, that they are hardly distin- 

 guishable among their withered companions. But on 

 closer view, we see that plants are left standing singly 



