194 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF chap. FIT* 



tion I have been able to procure, there may be 

 about 5000 acres annually in turnip. 



i/?, Preparation. Turnip generally succeeds 

 a white crop, and when the land is not extreme- 

 ly stiff or foul, is a very good substitute for fal- 

 low. The soils most proper for turnip, and on 

 which they are usually sown, are gravel, sand, 

 light loam, and even a clay or heavy loam, if 

 tolerably friable. But on whatever sort they 

 are planted, it is indispensibly necessary that it 

 be dry. This root never thrives on wet land. 

 And besides the scantiness, or total failure of 

 the crop, the ground cannot be properly dressed 

 and cleaned, so that it is often left in a worse 

 condition, in that respect, than before. 



The land generally is, and indeed ought al- 

 ways to be, ploughed, before, or during the 

 course of winter ; and in the months of May and 

 June, the operation ' of ploughing is repeated 

 more or less frequently, according to the state 

 of the ground, that it may be as well broken, 

 pulverised, and cleaned as possible, before sow- 

 ing. They are almost universally sown in 

 drills. The distance between the rows is va- 

 rious ; generally from two to three feet. This 

 circumstance, however, ought always to be re- 

 gulated by the state of the ground. Jf clean, 

 they may be closer ; but if foul, they ought to 

 be wider, that as much room and time as pos- 

 sible may be allowed for horse-hoeing the in- 

 termediate spaces. Sometimes the land is thrown 

 into narrow ridges, corresponding to the intend- 

 ed width of the rows ; then the dung is laid in- 

 to the furrows, and the ridges again split with 

 the plough j so that the dung now lies in the 



