40 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY 



feclion in its cultivation, for upwards of feventy 

 years. Not only this county, but many other 

 parts of England, are indebted to the Townfhend 

 family, for the original introduction of this root 

 into this country. Before that time, turnips were 

 only cultivated in gardens and fmall fpots, and 

 hoed by gardeners ; but in the reign of George I. 

 the then Lord Vifcount Townfhend, grandfather of 

 the prefent noble Marquis, attended the King to 

 Hanover, in the quality of Secretary of State, and 

 obfervincr the advantage of this valuable root, as 

 there cultivated at that time, and the fertility it 

 produced, brought the feed and practice into Eng- 

 land, and recommended it flrongly to his own te- 

 nants, who occupied a fimilar foil to that of Han- 

 over. The experiment fucceeded, and by degrees, 

 it gradually fpread over this county, and, in the 

 courfe of time, to other parts of England, though 

 their cultivation is by no means fo general as it con- 

 tinues here. A good acre of turnips in Norfolk 

 will produce between thirty and forty cart loads, 

 as heavy as three horfes can draw ; and an acre 

 will fat a Scotch bullock (d), from forty to fifty 

 Hone, or eight fheep. — But the advantage of this 

 crop does not end here, for it generaliy leaves 

 the land fo clean, and in fuch fine condition, that 

 it almoft infures a good crop of barley and a kind 

 plant of clover ; and the clover is a moil excellent 

 preparative for wheat, fo that in the fubfequent 

 advantages, the value of the turnip can hardly be 

 efli mated. 



I with 



