308 THE TURNIP CROP. 



shake to clear off the adhering soil, and then leaving them 

 lying in the drill ; and to employ women or lower-priced 

 labour to follow, to " top and tail" 1 them, and place them 

 in small heaps, ready for removal as soon as there are suffi- 

 cient to keep the carts at work in taking them off the field. 

 The quantity of work to be done in the day of course must 

 depend upon the width of the rows and the weight of the 

 crop ; a good man, however, will generally pull as much 

 as three or four women can top and tail in tfye same time. 

 Where it is intended to feed half the crop on the land and 

 cart the other off, the better plan is to draw and leave two 

 rows alternately over the field, as by this arrangement the 

 crop is more equally divided, the turnips are consumed by 

 the sheep with less injury from treading and soiling than 

 when more rows are left together, and the manure is left 

 better distributed on the surface, while the width cleared 

 is quite sufficient for the cart to work through the crop 

 without injuring the remaining portion. In the north 

 and other districts, where the winters are severe, it is a 

 common practice to protect them by partially earthing 

 them up, by running the double mould-board ploughs 

 through the drills. Where the drills, however, are only 

 left two and two through the field, a "bout" of the com- 

 mon plough is generally all that is required to be done. 

 Another practice exists, more common perhaps in the south 

 than in the north, of storing the turnips to be consumed 

 on the field in small-sized heaps of one or more cartloads, 

 and then covering them lightly with straw, and a layer, 

 about an inch thick, of soil. If well secured they will keep 

 in good condition for a considerable time. After the roots 

 are all carted off, the "shaws" should be at once spread 

 over the field, and left a few days exposed to the action of 



1 An old or broken "hook" is commonly used for this purpose. It is, how- 

 ever, far better to have regular knives for this purpose, made sufficiently heavy 

 to do the work, and blunt at the top, to prevent their being used, as the hooks 

 too often are, to pick up the roots with, and thus save stooping. 



