PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 293 



can we be sure that the results obtained last season will 

 be followed by the same in the next. They all have 

 their value nevertheless, and in a series of years may 

 admit of certain average results being drawn, which, in 

 a practical art so liable to modifying influences as agri- 

 culture, are always information of importance to those 

 who follow it. The method of taking the money value 

 of each substance as the standard of comparison in the 

 trials is, after all, the best way for the present of prac- 

 tically testing their relative values, though somewhat 

 opposed to the philosophy of scientific farming. 



Let us, then, not follow blindly the practices of others, 

 and imagine that because a manure has been successful 

 elsewhere it necessarily will be with us, but, as a matter 

 of economy, strive to make ourselves acquainted with the 

 requirements of our crops, with the nature and composi- 

 tion of manures and of our soils, and with the conditions 

 under which the three can be most favourably brought 

 together; and we may rely upon it, we shall be amply 

 repaid by the satisfaction which increased knowledge ever 

 gives, and by the more material returns resulting from 

 success in our operations. 



The preparation of the soil for the turnip crop is a 

 matter of great importance, and should be carefully 

 attended to. The requirements of the plant in regard to 

 the soil have been discussed, and we have now to make 

 our arrangements for securing them. When the preceding 

 straw crop is cleared off, the stubble is left more or less 

 free from weeds, annual and perennial. These mostly 

 have seeded before the corn crop was ready for cutting, 

 and in the operations of harvesting have had their seeds 

 knocked out and scattered over the surface. If these are 

 left unnoticed, and covered in by the ploughs, either at 

 once or at a later period of the season, they will remain 

 in the soil uninjured for a long time, ready to germinate 



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