TURNIPS. 



wliecl of the cart sliall go in each of 

 the hollows of tlie two ridges adjoin- 

 ing. The person who directs the 

 liorse follows the cart, which is open 

 hehind, and with a crooked two-prong- 

 ed fork, or dung-hack {Fi<;-. 2), drags 



Fi/r. 2. 



(f 



out the dung, as the horse moves 

 along, into lilile hea|)s in the hollow 

 of every third ridge, at the distance 

 from each other of from eight to ten 

 feet. Behind follow three young per- 

 sons, with each a two-pronged or 

 three-pronged fork (F/V.S), each vvalk- 



Fig. 3. 



er is drawn over the ridges (Fig. 6). 



Fig. 6. 



ing in the interval of a ridge, and 

 spreading out the dung in as regular 

 a manner as possible, as a cross sec- 

 tion of the ridgelets with the dung 

 deposited in the intervals would show 

 {Fig. 4). It is immediately covered 

 Fi^. 4. 



by the plough, which, passing down 

 the middle of each ridgelet, splits it 

 into two, so that a new drill is 

 formed, whose top is immediately 

 above the former hollow of the old 

 drill, as may be soen in Figure 5. 

 Fig. 5. 



For this purpose, the double mould- 

 board plough may be employed, but 

 the single plough is preferred, as it 

 does the work better, though it re- 

 quires double the time. The turnip 

 seed is sown upon the top of the ridg- 

 es, above the manure, with a horse 

 or hand drill, the former of which 

 has a roller, which precedes the coul- 

 ters and flattens the ridges. When 

 tiie seed is sown by hand, a hand roll- 



"As soon as the plants have as- 

 sumed what is termed the rough leaf, 

 and are about two inches in lieight, 

 the process of hoeing commences. 

 This is done by turning first a light 

 shallow furrow from the plants, or 

 by the horse hoe, or cultivator with 

 lateral coulters. 



" The great object on poor light 

 lands, especially those which have 

 lately been brought into cultivation, 

 is to raise a crop of turnips ; for when 

 once this is obtained, and the land 

 has been improved by the folding of 

 sheep upon it, there is no great diffi- 

 culty in maintaining the fertility thus 

 produced by judicious management 

 and frequent green crops. Great im- 

 provement in poor soils has been ef- 

 fected by the introduction of ground 

 bones as a manure, which have the 

 peculiar property of favouring the 

 growth of the turnip, and have con- 

 sequently been used on poor light 

 sands and gravels to a great extent, 

 and with unvaried success, without 

 much help from farm-yard manure. 

 It has, however, been found that a 

 much greater profit is obtained from 

 the land by uniting the regular appli- 

 cation of farm-yard dung with that of 

 the bone dust. For this purpose, the 

 best farmers prepare their land, where 

 they intend to sow turnips, early after 

 harvest, by giving it as complete a 

 cultivation as they can before win- 

 ter ; and they put on it a good coat 

 of manure and plough it in. In the 

 beginning of summer another plough- 

 ing is given, with rei>eated harrow- 



811 



