AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 269 



' The true turnip soil is a deep sand or sandy loam. Every 

 gardener knows the proper time to begin hoeing turnips. In 

 general, when the plants spread a circle of about four inches 

 they are ready for the first hoeing. They are commonly 

 left about a foot asunder. The second hoeing three weeks 

 after the first.' 



Those who desire to go extensively and successfully into 

 the turnip culture should raise their own seed from the finest 

 transplanted roots. An English cultivator says, ' It is won- 

 derful what a small quantity of seed suffices for an acre of 

 ground, and indeed equally so how it can be delivered and 

 spread over such a breadth. A pint might be more than 

 enough, but it is usual to broad-cast a quart on an acre.' 



Dr. Deane's New England Farmer asserts that ' the quanti- 

 ty of seed sov/n on an acre is never less than one pound, fre- 

 quently a pound and a half, and by some two. According 

 to the same work it is very necessary for the success of the 

 crop that a heavy roller be passed over the field immediately 

 after harrowing in the seed, provided the ground is sufficient- 

 ly dry, or as soon as it is in a fit condition. By this means 

 the clods are broken, and much of the seed that would other- 

 wise be exposed to birds, &c. will be covered and the surface 

 rendered smooth and compact thereby, and consequently 

 more retentive of moisture, which will greatly promote the 

 vegetation of the seed and growth of the plants. 



If a quantity of lime were sowed over the field immediately 

 after putting in the seed, it would probably preserve the crop 

 against insects and prevent the turnips becoming spongy, as 

 well as increase their size. Unleached ashes, soot, and plas- 

 ter, have also been highly recommended as manure for tur- 

 nips. Thomas Mellville, Jun. Esq., of Pittsfield, Massachu- 

 setts, in raising a crop which received the premium from the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural society in 1817, and which 

 amounted to about seven hundred and fifty bushels to the 

 acre, sowed his seeds in drills of twenty-eight inches the 21st 

 of June, on ground previously well manured. The following 

 day sowed on the acre thirty bushels slacked lime and fifteen 

 bushels house ashes. 



What we have said about the early sowing of turnips we 

 would merely suggest as a hint, or something to be thought 

 of, and perhaps become a matter of experiment. It appears 

 to us that our custom of sowing turnips so late in the season 

 as is commonly practised, is an usage borrowed from British 

 husbandry without duly considering the difference of our 

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