616 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



My process is simply as follows : — The land is 

 first Runimer-tilleii, with or without turnips, Cor 

 barley or oat?, and ail root weeds are thereby 

 ■destroyed. Alter the barley or oat crop is har- 

 vested, the land is immediately ploughed, and 

 if the weather permits, one or two more plough- 

 ings are given before the winter ; the land is then 

 put upon ridges for the mangel wurizel, and du- 

 ring the winter or in the spring months from six- 

 teen to twenty loads of good compost marmre are 

 added, and the land afterwards planted with man- 

 gel wurixel ; alier that crop is gathered in No- 

 vember, the land is again carelully ploughed, and 

 in the Ibllowing spring, if perfectly dry and fria- 

 ble, another ploughing is given, or it is scarified 

 so as to produce a fine tilth upon the surface; 

 and about the middle of April the seed is drilled 

 in, at the rale of about 16 lbs. per acre, in rows 

 ten inches distant from each other, or it may be 

 sown broadcast with 20 lbs. and lightly harrowed. 

 The sowing may take place at any lime alier the 

 middle of April until the nnddle of June, but 

 should not be sown earlier ; the late frosts being 

 equally injurious as the fly, which frequently de- 

 stroys it altogether. Upon the young plants ap- 

 pearing and becoming well established, the land 

 should be kept free from weeds by hand -weeding 

 and repeated hoeings ; at midsummer or soon 

 after, it should be mown, and again m.own early 

 in September. In this process the scythe should 

 have a keen edge, and upon no account should it 

 be cut with any but a sharp instrument, as, if 

 bruised by that operation, the next shoots will be 

 weakened and dwindling. In ihe autumn, after 

 the cuttings have been completed, sheep should 

 be closely folded upon it ; and if fed upon the spoi 

 with turnips, cake or corn, so much the better. 

 The manuring on this plan is better adapted to 

 ensure a full crop than by any other mode ; and 

 whilst it prevents the grass increasinor, it tends to 

 increase the produce in the greatest possible degree; 

 but if sheep cannot be available, a dressing of well- 

 mixed compost, consisting of stable dung and fresh 

 maiden earth, should be applied. Fn the following 

 spring little requires to be done, further than pick- 

 ing off the loose stones, pieces of vvoo'l, &c., that 

 may have accumulated so as to retard the scythe 

 during the process of mowing. If any weeds ap- 

 pear ihey should be carefully removed in March, 

 but the hoe should be used sparingly, lor at this 

 season the slighest exposure of the roots lo frost 

 will injure it greatly. The first mowing will be 

 ready to commence in the latter part of April or 

 the beginning of May, and from its growing ra- 

 pidly at this season may be cut early, as the suc- 

 cession will be better maintained ; three or four 

 cuts may be taken altogether durinij the sum- 

 mer. In the autumn of every year the folding 

 with sheep must be repeated, or a dressing given 

 by the compost will be quite sufficient ; and if thus 

 early repeated, the lucerne may be ke|)t in vigor- 

 ous growth from eiizht to ten years ; but as it is 

 jar more nutritious in the first five or six years, il 

 other land is available, and a succession of pieces 

 is once established, it ought never to remain long- 

 er from one sowing. To those, however, who 

 may wish to convert the land to permanent pas- 

 ture, perhaps no better mode can be adopted than 

 bv letting the lucerne continue until the natural 

 grasses supersede it. It is not necessary literally 

 «o follow the plan I have laid down ; I only state 



it as my practice, and by that I succeed. The 

 essential points are — First, that the land should be 

 thoroughly cleaned, but the lucerne does not suc- 

 ceed well immediately after the fallow until a crop 

 of turnips, mangel, or some o'her crop has been 

 taken, that has also been kept free from weeds. 

 Secondly, it should not be sown too early, and Ihe 

 seed should be new. Thirdly, clean thoroughly 

 the first summer, and regularly fold upon it with 

 sheep afterwards, disconiinuing the hoe altoge- 

 ther. As the produce must vary according to the 

 nature and quality of the soil, no statement can be 

 liiriiished of the quantity other than by stating the 

 weiirht of that which has already been produced ; 

 three cuttings from good land will yield from five 

 tosixcvvt. per square rod. Upon two acres 1 have 

 kept six horses and colts from the middle of April 

 to this time, besides a portion used for weaned 

 calves. Upon another farm, six acres have sup- 

 ported ten cart and two nag-horses during the 

 same period. And a friend of mine, who has a 

 very strong clay land farm of nearly 400 acres, 

 has kept sixteen powerful horses upon eight acres, 

 Irom April lo October, for several years past, with 

 the exception of three weeks between the first 

 and second cuttings when fed upon tares. I find 

 thai my horses mainiain themselves in condition 

 wiihout corn, and perform iheir work better than 

 others that are fed upon cut clover, lares, &c., and 

 one bushel of oa's each per week. A fine piece 

 of lucerne I calculate to be worth from 20Z. to 25Z. 

 per acre ; if cut for hay it should be thoroughly 

 made, as heating upon the stack spoils it, and 

 makes it mouldy. Robt. Baker. 



fVrittlc, Essex. 



ON STORING TURNIPS. 



from tlie London Farmers' Magazine. 



iSJr, — I have observed in different agricultural 

 publications many methods recommended for the 

 storing of turnips in winter ; and amongst all those 

 plans I have never seen any thing so simple or so 

 efficacious as the one I have adopted with great 

 success lor several winters. I am only a small 

 farmer, and usually store for winter and spring use 

 about 30 tons of Swedish turnips. My method is, to 

 make a long heap of turnips about a yard and a 

 half wide at the bottom on a dry piece of ground, 

 and pile them up in a triangular form as high as 

 they will stand ; then cover them with sods cut 

 from a moss, which I procure about half a yard 

 square. The sods when properly cut and taken 

 care of will, from the quantity of heath in them, 

 last several winters. Those I intend for covering 

 my winter stock of turnips this season having been 

 cut from the moss in 1839. ^ 



I have not found in my stock of turnips, since I 

 adopted this mode of preserving them, 20 lbs. of 

 rotten or decayed turnips ; and I usually have some 

 as late as the end of May or beginning of June, at 

 which time this year they appeared as fresh and 

 juicy almost as when they were stored in October 

 last. 



Any farmer living near a moss has a ready, 

 cheap, and most eflicacious covering for his tur- 

 nips ; and I recommend all who have it in their 

 power, at least to try this plan one year. 



yfugust 3, 1841. A Cheshire Farmer. 



