29—1846.] 
THE 
hoers place themselves looking across the ridges, taking 
care to keep their feet off the young plants, and com- 
Mence cutting, or drawing off a part of the row from 
12 to 15 inches in length, according as fine, large, 
healthy ones come in; and in doing this, they bring 
away the mould, about l or 1j inches in depth. In 
Proceeding onward in making these openings, one, two, 
three, or it may be four plants are left ina tuft between 
each blank or opening, and a boy or girl of 12 or 14 
years of age follows immediately, and with the fingers; 
Where more than one plant is left, selects the best, and 
with one hand holds this steady, while pulling the 
superfluous ones. with the other. This I have found to 
e a very superior plan to the usual mode of the hoers 
singling the plants with the corner of their hoes as they 
Proceed ; for, in this way, the plants are often left 
double, or pulled out altogether in attempting to com- 
plete the process ; besides, the hoer does not require to 
Study so much precision in making the blow or eut, and 
in stony land it is impossible to keep the hoe always 
true, consequently the openings are made with inereased 
Yapidity, and an active boy or girl can single the plants 
as fast as a female can make the blanks ; thus the two 
get over an additional quantity of ground equivalent to 
make wages for both. And Iam convinced of this, that 
if the grower who adopts this process allow 1s. or 1s. 6d. 
Per acre extra, for having his Turnips and Swedes 
thinned by this mode, he will save five times the amount 
y the regularity of plant, and consequent inerease of 
Crop. This part of the operation requires sharp looking 
into, in order to have only one plant ata place. Every 
armer knows how difficult it is to get two plants sepa- 
tated by the time the second hoeing comes on ; indeed, 
it cannot be done without the application of the fingers, 
and even then breaking the leaves, and tearing the 
Plant to be left all to pieces. 
There is great difference of opinion as to the mode of 
leaving the plant when the thinning is effected. The 
Scotch say, * Oh, take the mould well away from them, 
so that they fall and lie flat on their sides, and look as 
if they were almost without a hold in the soil" This 
Plan, io a moderate extent, I approve of with common 
Turnips ; but I have found from repeated trials that 
Swedes do better if left firm and upright in the ground, 
Securing a more regular plant, and less likely to die off 
in severe droughts, 
There is one thing which requires to be carefully 
guarded against on this farm, and the same difficulty 
will be felt on all dry thin tands, viz., in preventing the 
hoer, when making the blanks in the rows, from putting 
in the hoe too deep, and thereby laying bare the ma- 
nure at every blow, thus exposing it to the sun and doing 
inealeulable damage. ]f the hoers, therefore, in per- 
formance of this workgo more than ] inches deep, they 
egin to do mischief in two ways, first in letting the 
young Swede fall too much out of the ground, and 
Secondly by uncovering the manure. After observing 
those evils for a year or two, and guarding against 
them as much as possible, ali the while wishing to find 
à remedy, I began a 17-acre field in 1840, in the usual 
Way, the field being mostly light, gravelly, and well pul- 
Verised, aud not much overrun with weeds, and finding 
from the softness of the land that the plants were left 
too much out of the ground, and the dung being to a 
Breat extent laid bare at every cut or draw made by 
the operators, I immediately ordered the hoes to be 
laid aside, and had the thinning done by hand; the 
Work was executed rapidly and with great precision, to 
ty complete satisfaction, the plants being left erect, 
4nd no manure laid bare, and eventually this field (with 
the exception of 3 acres in the most forward part of it, 
9n which the rooks pulled up more than half the plants 
tu two days after the work-people left for another field, 
ad principally on that part thinned by the hoe) proved 
€ best, heaviest, and most regular in plant of any crop 
9f Swedes ever grown by me on this farm, and 1s. 6d. 
ME acre additional to the work-people enabled them to 
make as good wages by this process as obtained by the 
Usual mode. These depredations by the rooks showed 
hi the necessity and value. of having a herd to keep 
atten off Swedes or Tuxnips for three or four weeks 
it er thinning ; for if even 500 plants should be saved, 
mould amply, pay for all expenses. In this instance 
ere was a loss of not less than 30 tons. 
Th the course of a week or 10 days after the thinning 
Process, the horse-hoe again proceeds between the rows, 
me) as before, or with straight tines, or stirrers, as 
Af clean or weedy state of the land may indicate, 
* €r this, in a few more days, the work-people pro- 
ed to hoe the ground between the parts worked by 
nis horse implement, taking care to humour the hoe 
take.” around each. plant; special notice must now be 
work that the entire surface is regularly hoed, whether 
thes appear or not, because if there are none just 
therefi 
Event: 
n 
n left double, these are now singled, and at. treble 
don inning time: 
ur this hoeing, I consider the work is nearly over. 
again Ver, the horse-hoe, or light drill harrow, proceeds 
eeds al another 10 or 12 days, and while it destroys all 
the Bre signs of life, it stirs up and pulverises 
and e, etween the rows of plants for the reception 
Which n entrance of the thousands of fibrous roots 
we oy begin to push forth in search of nutriment, 
Strat i requently sent the horse-hoe armed with 
Snt tines a fourth time, on foul land, when there 
and thrown to the surface, appearing like the finest 
wool mixed with the soil; but I never found such an 
operation slacken the growth of the plants ; on the con- 
trary, it rather appeared to do good, the bulbs having 
now got firm hold of the manure under them are full 
of vigorous and sturdy growth, and they instantly push 
forth double the quantity of fibre cut off. When the 
leaves are fully met, and at their maximum size, it will 
be found that the fine roots from the adjoining rows of 
plants begin to intermingle even at 28 inches distance 
in this quality of land. The work-people go over the 
ground once more, after the third horse-hoeing, and 
cut out such Weeds as may haveappeared. One shilling 
per aere is kept back until September for pulling out any 
weeds likely to perfect seed which may have sprung up; 
these, on this. farm, are generally Mustard, Charlock, 
or Groundsel, and some few places Chickweed. The 
payments made by’ me for this mode of hoeing and 
weeding, for the last three years, average from lls. to 
lds. per acre for Swedes, and 10s. to 12s. for Turnips, 
and each time the horse-hoe proceeds it will cost 1s. 
per aere. These expenses are considerable, but the 
work is effeetually performed; no need remains for lambs 
to eat down Charloek, &c., in order to let passers-by, 
know that it is a. field of Swedes or Turnips. 
When. Swedes or Turnips are sown on the flat at 
173 inehes wide, I never attempt to horse-hoe, being 
satisfied that on this stony land much more loss would 
be sustained by the crop than any saving which could 
be effected. As soon, therefore, as the rows of plants 
are distinguishable, and showing the rough leaf, the 
work-people proceed to hoe between the rows, and stir 
the land as near the plants as possible, not to cover 
them. Generally, when this operation is finished, the 
thinning is ready to commence ; this is done by stand- 
ing across the rows, taking care to keep the feet off the 
plants, and as the-rows are so much narrower than in 
the ridge system, I make the blanks, or openings be- 
tween each plant, from 15 to 16 inches; each hoer has 
a boy or girl following him, to single the plants. with 
their fingers, as before. The principal thing in this 
process to guard against is to prevent the hoers drawing 
the mould and superfluous plants too far baek, and in so 
doing bury those left for growing in the row next their 
feet. As'the ground is level, there is little danger in 
going too deep in performing this thinning process, 
neither are the plants thrown down overmuch: 
In 12 or 16 days the whole surface is fairly hocsd 
oyer, and to. get- this done completely requires more 
watching than any of the other processes, as the hoers 
are so fond of missing those parts which appear free 
from weeds. When this hoeing is well executed for 
Turnips, the land requires nothing more except. hand- 
weeding in September, which ls. per aere will eover ; 
but: Swedes being earlier sown, there is a longer period 
to keep weeds down, therefore the land must have an 
additional hoeing ; for the whole expenses attending 
these I pay from 13s. to 15s. per acre, and from: 115. to 
12s. for Turnips. 
When Turnips or Swedes are sown thick, plenty of 
hoers should be put on, for the plants get nursed w 
rapidly by each other, and soon. become so matted to= 
gether that it is difficult to separate them, and when 
very long necked they do not-take their upright position 
so quickly, neither look so healthy for a time ; therefore 
the hoers should. be waiting for the work, instead of 
the work waiting for them. 
I may here observe, that the: crops of Turnips, and 
Swedes more particularly, on. this farm, and on all dry 
thin lands.in the south of England, are every year, in 
August or September, more or less affected by the 
biight or mildew, and in some very dry years,to an 
extent whieh entirely stops their growth, and sometimes 
brings on immediate decay: this first appears like a 
mist on the leaves, then it increases to a perceptible 
light) grey dust, and by and by, numerous. small in- 
sectsilie concealed among this powder, which is thickest 
around the stalks of the young or crown leaves, and 
on, these the living fy feed. Iam: of opinion, that the 
cause of this appearance and disease in the leaves, is 
brought on by the severe droughts; first inducing: dis- 
ease in the roots; for I have always found, that Swedes 
much mildewed never keep well in store; and if the 
tap root is eut off an inch or so up in the flesh, it will 
very often be found to exhibit a dark decaying-like 
appearance in the centre ; as the winter advances, this 
decayed part inereases, and towards spring many bulbs 
are either half or completely rotten. The mildew is a 
great obstacle to the growth of a heavy crop of Swedes 
on these thin lands, aud' also on the very best soils in 
the south ; the dryness. of the climate, and the weak 
nature of the light soils being the predisposing causes. 
The frequeney and severity of this disease in southern 
situations, therefore, compared’ with its less frequent 
and milder ravages on these crops on the cooler and 
deeper lands of northern counties, and of Scotland, are 
convincing proofs:that the more humid climate of the 
north is better caleulated to produce heavier and more 
certain erops of those valuuble bulbsi—W. Fernie, 
Manchester. (To be continued.) 
EXPERIMENTS WITH LINSEED CAKE AND 
OTHER SUBSTANCES, IN FATTENING 
SHEEP AND CATTLE. 
By Mn. Bruce, Waughton, East Lothian. 
Having made-use of a lange quantity of Linseed-cake 
for the last.two or three years in fattening live stock, 
and being a little doubtful of its use giving a profitable 
farm. 
Experiment I.—For these ends, 27 small polled 
heifers were divided into three lots and weighed; one 
lot being put on a liberal allowance of home-made cake, 
and another on foreign (to determine which of the two 
was the more profitable for use), and the other upon 
Turnips alone. The experiment, which was carried on 
for nine weeks, was fully completed, both as regarded 
the improvement made by the animals, and the saving 
effected in the consumption of food ; but, unfortunately, 
some of the heifers having turned out in calf, the re- 
sults connected with them were rendered much less 
satisfactory, and are therefore precluded ; though, such 
as they were, they yielded a greatly inferior return to 
that made by sheep in a. similar experiment. 
With regard to the second part of the experiment, 
viz; the value of Linseed-cake asa manure when con- 
sumed in the court-yard, the following are its results: 
— The dung made from the animals receiving the cake, 
being kept in a heap by itself, was tested with a similar 
quantity, made at the same time, by another lot. of 
cattle in a different yard, all of them receiving a full 
supply of stored Swedish Turnips ; attention being paid 
both to the preparation and d i of the ma- 
nures, in order to have them as nearly as possible alike. 
The dung-heap from the eake contained 144 cubie 
yards, to produce which bad been consumed 3744 Ibs. 
of eake (equal weights of home and foreign), thus giving 
26 Ibs. of enke to the eubie yard. The dung so pre- 
pared was then applied to three different fields of 
Swedish Turnips, at the rate of 16 cart-loads per aere, 
each cart containing 1} eubie yards, without the addi- 
tion of any other manure. Shortly after the plants 
were singled, those from the cake manure showed them- 
selves more in advance than others in the same fields, 
and kept a decided superiority over them during the 
early part of the season, thereby giving hopes of a 
larger return thau was ultimately realised. On the 
27th December, an equal quantity of land in each field, 
consisting of the eighth part of an aere, was taken up 
and weighed, the roots and tops being taken off, when 
the average of the three fields was found to be as fol- 
lows :— 
loruyabrimio. b ueni ead 
Quant 2 Weight | 245 wa | Cost of 
of land Pe from eom. 3 E% Weight off produc- 
pentsaten munure. (VOR Ma. $8 € "sumed. tion per 
| 5090% Ibs. | 4650 1b: 1 
d be wrong, however, to confine the value of this 
xx ds so rich in the phosphates, to its effect upon an alkaline 
plant, 
To test the value of Linseed-cake still further, but by 
a different method, two lots of sheep, of 60 each, were 
taken from two flocks that were feeding upon the farm, 
and each lot was then separated into three divisions and 
weighed ; 20 being put on home-eake, 20 on foreign, 
and 20 on Turnips alone. A part of two fields of 
Swedish Turnips was next selected, where they pre- 
sented a uniformity of soil and crop, one-half of the 
crop, in both fields, having been carried home. The 
two parts thus selected were then each divided into 
three equal portions with a chain, and 20 sheep put 
into each portion, Lot Ist consisted of 60 half-bred 
Dinmonts of good quality, which, to simplify details, 
may be distinguished by A, B, and C : division A con- 
suming the home-cake, B the foreign, and C Turnips 
alone. The respective weights of the sheep on the Ist 
of January, 1844, when the experiment commenced, 
were—of division A 2768, of B 2739, of C 2803 Ibs. ; 
on the 7th of February, C, having consumed its portion 
of Turnips, was then re-weighed, and found to be 
2880 lbs., and on the Ist March, A and B having also 
consumed theirs, were found to be, A 3054, B 2966 Ibs. 
The quantity of cake consumed by each division was 
182]bs., being nearly 16 oz. per day to each. Lot 
2d consisted of 60 Cheviot Dinmonts of inferior quality, 
whose respective divisions may be designated by D, E, 
and F ; D getting home-cake, E foreign, and F Tur- 
nips alone. The management pursued in this ease was 
in every respect similar to that for lot 1st, with the ex- 
ception of the quantity of cake consumed, which 
amounted to 44 Ibs. per sheep, being at the rate of fully 
13 oz. per day to eaeh, an allowance which it was found 
they would not exceed. Ou the 9th of January, when 
the experiment commenced, their respective weights 
were—D 2082, E 2001, and F 2031 lbs. On the 15th 
February, F, having finished its portion, weighed 
2097 lbs., and on the 2d March, D and E, having also 
finished theirs, weighed D 2315, and E 2274 lbs. The 
two eake divisions in each lot consuming the same 
quantity of Turnips. 
Tabular. View of the Improvement : made by the, different divisions. 
E - S å 
Eeg g CEN Bc 
S045 de. ECT SR 95 
s | #2 a a. ee ES 
a S $ BERT SE "LI 
| 2 E | ae | 85 E" 
= d e vo oe oa 
| "& o 8 É DS pec 
lis 3 ^ 2 $9 ae 
E S a o 
[EE d eee 
i lbs. | Ibs Oz. 
Lotlst ../ Bj 2 29 150 | 1182 
GC} 2803 | 2880 m E lt 
Dj 2082.|, 2315 167 880 60i 
Lot?d  ..(E| 2001 | 2274 207 880 51$ 
F| 2031 | 2097 n as 
* With regard to the inereased live weight of the sheep, it 18 
quite clear that however much the animal is improved, its 
waste or refuse remains unaltered ; consequently whatever is 
gained must be of real value, 
eei iiie 
