17 



oT these requisites, it will be advisable to sow common 

 turnips, and if there should be a deficiency of most of them, 

 not to sow any ; for half a crop of turnips, with a full crop 

 of weeds, puts the land into a bad state, and by expenses 

 takes money out of the farmer's pocket tor as wasteful a 

 purpose as if he ploughed his cash into the land. It is 

 unnecessary, and in my opinion injudicious, to consume 

 on the land by sheep the whole of a full crop of Swedish 

 turnips : it is making most land too rich for a good crop of 

 barley ; very heavy crops always produce corn of inferior 

 quality ; and generally speaking, in all descriptions of 

 grain, when the quality is inferior, the quantity seldom 

 turns out so much as expected. The consequence arising 

 from a layered crop of barley is generally a half, or perhaps 

 a quarter of a crop of clover ; and nothing can be worse, for 

 the land will be covered ; if crops do not come weeds will, 

 and thus injury is sustained in future crops. If half of a 

 good crop of Swedes is consumed on the land, it is quite as 

 much as it requires, the remaining half may be carted off 

 to improve the quality of the manure in the yards, or to be 

 consumed by sheep on other parts of the farm that may 

 want enriching. Swedes wanted for stall feeding before 

 Christmas should be sown the latter end of May ; but for 

 that purpose only, the tops being likely to mildew in 

 September, and the bottoms to rot in the. spring. For 

 sheep feed they may be sown as late as Midsummer j 

 common turnips from ]Vlidsummer to the middle of July. 

 The greatest weight of Swedes is to be got drilled on ridges, 

 27 inches asunder, and the plants left twelve or fourteen 

 inches apart. But drilled on a flat surface, in rows fourteen 

 inches asunder, (care being taken that the manure is well 

 covered,) answers as well for spring sheep keep as on ridges, 

 the turnips not being so liable to be injured as Swedes on 

 ridges sometimes are, during a winter with a repetition of 

 frosts and thaws. It is best to form the ridges, and sow 

 the seed, when the land is moist, the plant then coming up 

 earlier and stronger, and of course sooner getting out of the 

 power of the fly. It is much better to have moist mould 

 thrown on the, dung than dry. I do not like however to 

 have the ridges formed when the land is very wet, for then 

 they are apt to become so hard and crusty at the top, that 



