30 



FARMERS' REGISTER— WORMS AND ROOKS. 



mangel wiirtj'.el, on a down of deep mellow sand 

 over chalk, two miles and a lialf from my bome- 

 stall, in November I caused (he roots to he drawn 

 from the dril's, and I made a three-bout ploup,])inp:, 

 turnint^ the furrow outwai-ds froin tlie middlemost 

 drill. I went twice in every furrow, to throw as 

 much earth outv.ards as I could, and when I came 

 to the middle furrow, I caused the plough to go 

 three bouts in it, and tliereby excavated a broad 

 double furrow about thirteen or fourteen inches in 

 depth. I then caused all the roots tliat stood with- 

 in a rod in some instances, and in others within 

 two, and in clliers within three rods of the furrow, 

 according to the thiclaiess of the crop, Avhich had 

 partially failed through drought, to be drawn by 

 hand, and tlie earth to be loosely shaken from 

 their roots, the leaves to be pulled (not cut) cif, 

 by a man seizing nearly half the leaves in one 

 hand, and half in the other, and pulling them con- 

 trary ways, so that the centre of the crown was 

 left uninjured. I caused the roots to be then 

 thrown over by hand into tlie deep furrow, as ma- 

 ny as were ^v■ithin distance to be thrown, and 

 those that were more remote, I caused to be car- 

 ried thitlser in baskets and aprons. I then caused 

 a person to go along the line, placing evenly in 

 the furrov/ such roots as had not been thrown ex- 

 actly into it, and reducing to a more horizontal 

 position those roots which had fallen in. I tiien 

 ploughed back the three bouts upon the roots, go- 

 ing as deep, and throwing up as much soil as my 

 plough, with a strong two-liorse team, in a finely 

 pulverized soil, could carry. And after this I ap- 

 plied a very cheap and simple tool, consisting of 

 three boards of equal length, about a foot wide and 

 three feet long, tbrming an equilateral triangle, 

 with two old plough liandles fixed on each side of" 

 the apex or point, to drive it by; and having a 

 board at the bftse a little inclined to the horizon, 

 the most projecting edge being downwards, so as 

 to plough up, or scrape up the mould before it. 

 Near the two ends of tliis front board, were fixed 

 two staples, to which I hung the.hooks of my chain 

 traces, and so drew the machine forAvard with a 

 horse. The use for which I constructed it, was, 

 to cover in tlie dung in my drills for turnips and 

 mangel wurtzel, whicli end itansv.ered excellent- 

 ly; but, on this occasion, I applied it first to one 

 side of the ridge in which I liad buried my man- 

 gel wurtzel, taking care to keep the side of it 

 which was over the centre of the roots elevated 

 as much as I could, and depressing the cuter side 

 of it witli all my slrengtli. The effect was, that 

 by driving the liorse forward on one side of the 

 ridge, and back on the other side of the ridge, I 

 brought the soil to the shape of the roofof a house, 

 perfectly smooth and regularly bevilled. The 

 first hard storm th?it fell, beat tlie sand to a close 

 consistence; and from that time forth, it shot off 

 nearly all the rain. The frost did not in the least 

 degree injure the roots. I had not an injured root 

 in 20 yards, when I came to open the drills; and 

 the loss of those few I cannot Impute to frost, but 

 to accidental bruises : the only drill injured, was 

 one in which 1 imprudently persisted to i)ut in 

 and cover up the roots, during a very hard pelting 

 shower; and of this ridge a great proportion was 

 rotten. I ate the whole crop with great profit, 

 with ewes and lambs, in the nionth of March. It 

 is an excellent food for the ewes, they were parti- 

 cularly fojidofitj and they all did kindly and well 



on it, and the lambs also did well. (They liad 

 liay with it.) If I had carted that crop home, I 

 could not liave brought home in each cart three 

 loads a-dny ; and all my teams would not have 

 brought it home in six weeks, omitting all other 

 work. I know not whether I imitated the 

 tiiought from the Norfolk mode of burying turnips, 

 or wliere I got it; but sure I am, that it is cheap, 

 and answers well. A cleverer ploughman than I 

 am, could perhaps spare part of the labor. I only 

 mention, that my plan, inartificial as it might be, 

 perfectly succeeded. 



I am. Sir, your liiost obedient servant, 



A SURRY FARMER. 



ICIpTo the assertion here made that Mangel Wurt- 

 zel will not fatten stock, another correspondent (Tho- 

 mas Herod), makes the following; reply : 



"Your Surry Correspondent, in a recent letter in 

 your Journal, is very much mistaken respecting 

 the flittening qualities of the mangel wurtzel. I 

 heard a respectable grazier state, in a jiublic mar- 

 ket, that he made a quantity of beasts fat this last 

 spring with tliese roots in the shortest time he ever 

 saw any flitted before Avith any thing. I have 

 some friends Avho have regularly fatted beasts for 

 the London market several years, who all concur 

 in the same opinion. I feed my cows, horses, and 

 pigs witli them, and find them very nutritious. 

 I am, sir, your's respectfully, 



THOS. HEROr)." 



"Worms asicl Rooks. 



To the Editors of the (London) Farmers' Journal. 



3fay 28, 1823. 



Sir — Having been a considerable sufferer from 

 the Wire-v.orm, I wish to say a i'ew words about 

 what I consider to be the principal cause — 1st. 

 Sowing down with rye-grass to lay two or three 

 years — 2d. After ploughing it up in the Avinter, 

 using tlie scarifier during the summer instead of 

 the plough, so that the moist earth a fcAV inches 

 doAvn in Avhich the Avorms lay Avas not turned up 

 to the surface, that the birds and rooks might de- 

 vour them. 



Many a time do I remember seeing the rooks 

 sail over the farm in immense numbers of a morn- 

 ing, and some of them Avould alight and look on 

 us, but not stop, because there Avasnojobfor them. 

 What an immense number of those little reptiles 

 Avould tlicse rocks liave devoured if the plough 

 had brought them up to view, and though small, 

 they Avould have been as perceptible as the large 

 common worm, because of their motion. I have 

 seen farmers alarmed ifa number of rooks alight 

 on the land at oat or barley soAving, and send them 

 off as quick as tliey can ; and I have done so my- 

 self Avhen I Avas younger, and even taken out the 

 gun for that purpose ; Avhereas I ought lather to 

 iiave invited them as my best friends ; and as for 

 the seed, they av anted no dry corn, as long as they 

 could find Avorms. I do not knoAV, sir, Avhat ef- 

 fect salt or soot in large quantities might have, 

 but I despair of any benefit from small ones. I 

 should be obl'fged to any of your correspondents 

 for information. 



In such parts of the country that those large 

 flights of rooks go over every morn and return at 

 eve, if the land suspected of wire-Avorms were 

 ploughed in small furroAvs late in the autunm or 



