MODES OF CULTIVATING BARLEY. 201 



not taken up and stored, but left in the ground till wanted 

 in spring. The reason why white turnips are grown in 

 place of the elsewhere more esteemed swedes, is, that the 

 farmers of the wolds believe that a better crop of barley is 

 obtained after them than after the swedes. Now this 

 opinion is directly opposed to the experience of the Nor- 

 folk farmers, so celebrated for the fineness of their barley 

 crops. As the point is one of a decidedly practical and 

 important character, it will be worth while to devote a 

 little space to the consideration of its details. The swede 

 crop is almost universally allowed to be richer in nutritive 

 qualities than the white or common turnip, and it may 

 therefore with safety be predicted that the land will be 

 more fertilized from the application of the manure of sheep 

 fed upon swedes than when they are fed upon white tur- 

 nips. Further, the longer a crop is allowed to remain upon 

 the ground the more does it exhaust the land. Now, in 

 Norfolk, the swedes, when grown, are taken up and stored; 

 while in the wolds of Lincolnshire or of Yorkshire the 

 white turnips are allowed to remain in the ground till 

 wanted in spring. Now, asks Mr. Keary, may not this 

 circumstance be the reason why such a difference of opinion 

 exists amongst the farmers of two districts alike celebrated 

 for their good farming] and on the point between them 

 Mr. Keary has no hesitation in giving in his adherence to 

 the opinion in favouF of the swedes as the best crop to 

 precede the barley ; and he believes that, by the extension 

 of growth of this valuable root, not only would more sheep 

 be maintained, but that by the increased fertility which 

 would by its means be given to the land by the manure 

 obtained from the sheep fed upon it, it would benefit 

 the clover crop, which follows the barley, and ultimately 

 the wheat, which follows the clover. In the wold 

 districts of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire the land is bro- 

 ken up by the plough after the turnips are fed off by 

 the sheep; it is then, on the approach of seed-time, 

 dragged and harrowed; and the seed is generally sown 

 broadcast, at the rate of 10 to 12 pecks per acre the seed- 



