THE TURNIP CROP. 305 



nature, sudden in the fall, and quick in passing away : the 

 earth is not penetrated with moisture as by slow falling 

 rains and heavy dews, which descend leisurely into every 

 opening ard supply every orifice with liquid fluid. The parch- 

 ing aridity of climate, and the great deficiency of rain and 

 dews, operate in the total abstraction of moisture from the 

 weak soils of chalks and sands, and also from the clayey 

 modifications of land that retain some degree of the marine 

 viscous nature. The damage is so very great as to render 

 necessary an entirely different mode of raising turnips fron) 

 any method yet practised. In the most favourable situa- 

 tions of turnip-farming, it is held as a maxim, in the pre- 

 paration of the land, that all the operations &fe done with 

 the utmost despatch, and that the ground be laid into a 

 level condition as quickly as possible, for the purpose of 

 preserving the moisture. This very great advantage is 

 enjoyed by extensive farms that the workings of the land 

 are done at once and simultaneously, in the processes of 

 ploughing, harrowing, rolling, and second harrowing ; the 

 weeds are hand-gathered, and the land lies in a flat quies- 

 cent state till the next working is commenced. This pre- 

 caution of preserving moisture being reckoned so very 

 essential in the most favoured districts of turnip-farming, 

 the husbanding of the winter moisture for the use of the 

 future crop becomes infinitely more necessary in South 

 Britain, where the deficiency is so large of the great nutri- 

 ment and of vegetable life. The double-ridging system of 

 Scotland is wholly useless on any soils, light or heavy. 

 The objection has been stated against sowing on the flat 

 ground, and it now remains to detail a method that seems 

 to be clear of the faults of both the above-mentioned modes. 

 In the early winter, and soon after harvest, the stubble 

 ground intended for next year's turnips is ploughed with 

 the strength of four horses, as deeply as the staple will 

 allow ; not less than 7 or 8 inches, if that depth can be 

 obtained. In the spring, at the usual dry season of work- 

 ing the lands, Finlayson's harrow is employed across the 

 ploughing of winter, and moves the soil in the depth of 



