THE AGRICULTURAL GA ZETTE 





aJT^re, according to tlie humidity or dryness of the 



When the tender plants stand singly and 



more exposed to the 



distant they jrrow slowly, and m 



"tSsofeScs. When growing thick together the 

 plants shoot np much more rapidly, get sooner he) ond 

 harm's reach, and attain the fit state for hemg hoed or 

 •ingled oat. In ordinary seasons, the Turnip plants 

 will have attained a good size in the course of SI x weeks 

 from the time of bting sown, and will show an abund- 

 ance of large rough leaves. The horse hoes drawn by 

 one horse, must be first employed to cu the bottom. 



and on good clean lands very fair crops are produced. 

 But the system is most miserably deficient on weedy 



lands, and in moist climates. 



On pared and burned lands, Turnips are sown in 

 broadcast, as the land being only once ploughed, does 

 not admit the drill by the plough or lengthened coulter. 

 The finely harrowed surface over the ashes receives the 

 seeds, and good crops are obtained. In the case o, 

 loamy lands, the ground is wrought and fallowed, and 

 drilled by the common plough. The ashes are thus 

 well mixed with the soil, and produce large crops of 



work imme y ^^ ^ application, which shows that the chief benefit 



arises from the temperature that is given to the land by 

 the heat of the fires, and which remains in the land a 

 longer or shorter time, as the land is constitutionally 

 formed for imbibing and retaining caloric. Hence the 

 very great differences that have been observed from the 

 process of paring and burning. 



Turnips are required for use in the end of the month 

 of October, and almost universally by the 1st of Novem- 

 ber. The fibres and tops are cut by hand-sickle from 

 the bulbs on the ground ; the tops are given to young 

 cattle in the yards, or to store sheep on a lea or stubble 

 around. The bulbs are carried to the homestead, and 



edinsr and store cattle, in an e'ntire state, or 



and placed in cribs, which are best 



guide his practice, we might 

 warranted iu recommending 

 or the 



abstract 



. e ^en ha 

 universal 



treatment of all cases alike 

 ;, is very good ; but what 



ocieTi<»» ^ 



•nee, 



ou this 



Mr. 



«4 



hoers can enter on the 



worker is provided with a hoe made of thin iron about 

 9 inches long and 4 inches wide, on the middle of which 

 an eve is attached on the upper edge, into which is 

 fitted a rounded wooden shaft of such a length as allows 

 the wielder of it to stand upright when the hoe rests 

 upon the ground. A steady person is appointed to lead, 

 or "o foremost, and the others follow in close succession 

 Each person stands with a foot on either side of a drill, 

 and hoes or thins the one immediately before him, and 

 the drill which he bestrides is hoed by the person 

 immediately behind. The operation is performed 

 by "drawing and pushing;" the hoe is pulled 

 through the the row of growing plants, and leaves 

 one plant) at the distance of 9 inches, or the 

 length of the blade of the hoe ; it is next pushed 

 through the row, and leaves another growing plant as 

 before. The drill is thus formed into a narrow comb 

 with the growing plant* attached to the top by a single 

 thread of root, lying on their side, from which position 

 they quickly rise and stand upright. The earth, weeds, 

 ami superfluous plants are thrust into the interval of 

 the drills, where the action of the scuffler, two or three 

 times repeated during the summer, kills every vege- 

 tation, and pulverises the soil. A second hoeing after 

 the Turnips are grown in the half size, pulls any weeds 

 that have escaped the horse hoe, and any Turnip plants 

 that form two together, from the neglect of the first 

 hoeinir. The horse hoes continue the scuffling of the 



science applied in all its*bearintr 8 0n tk . ^ « 

 found a theory which practice will 1 •***% 

 about which there can be neither i , ^-(n 

 When this is done the result may pSSL** * 



Wilkins anticipates, for it is qjCT * *■ 

 and others are not looking at this questST- *^ b 

 bearings, and until they do so I thin? it \ m * * 



which tfet 



4 



t]iink UeSt,0n 



that they may reason falsely and practise 11 ; 16 

 or uselessly in cases differing from those to 

 experience has extended. There is 

 twaddle about water sinking as deep as I ^u** 

 operate. Most people know that with propel 

 ment all the rain will and ought to sink at once tfc^i 

 at least 18 inches of any soil, but there arT!S 

 respecting which an opinion is entertained |L 

 management will cause the water to sink mui^J 

 than 18 inches between the drains ; and let v** 

 Mr. Wilkins and those who think with u. * 



given 



to fe 



cut into slices, and placed m ■ 



made of wood, having latticed bottoms. 



The lambs of the year will require the first use of the 

 Turnip crop, and the most forward growth of the White 

 Globe variety. The whole crop may be consumed by 

 the sheep, or the one-half, one-third, or any part, may 

 be carried away, and the remainder used on the ground. 



The most useful varieties of the Turnip are, the 

 White Globe, the Green Globe, and the Aberdeen 

 Yellow. The Swedish Turnip, or Ruta-baga, is the most 

 useful of all, as it resists the hardest frosts without in- 

 jury. It requires the best lands and heavy manuring, 

 and to be early sown— from the 10th to the end of May. 

 The W T hite Globe is used for consumption from October 





think with hi^tiijft 



opinion rests on a basis which all their philoa»b «9 

 not overturn. It is true the results of expetSi 

 not complete, but they are quite sufficient at my j* 

 to show that stiff clay beyond a very limited dn& »a 

 not be changed from an impervious mass to afiaeowi 

 filter, merely because a man chooses to cut drain »k 

 at conventional distances, even although the dr&iuk 

 filled with porous matter. Mr. Gill appeals to prick 

 and says, " Let a 5 foot drain be cut in city *} 

 observe its effect." Very well, let it be cut by il 

 means, and if the subsoil should happen to be i rdr> 

 stiff clay, tilly or indurated in any way, or confetti 

 iron or stones to bind it together, or prevent iti beat 



intervals so long as the leaves of the plants, in meeting to January ; the Green Globe froin January to March, 



when the Swedes and Yellows come into use, and extend 



i 



over the intervals, allow the passage of the implement. 

 Earthing up the drills of Turnips by the double mould- 

 board plough is not now practised, as the contact of 

 earth encourages the shooting of lateral fibres, which 

 render the bulb very bitter and coarse. The crop is 

 left to grow till required in October or November. 



The growing of Turnips by artificial manures requires 

 the lands to be prepared as above explained, by the 

 soil being finely pulverised, and the weeds and stones 

 removed. The drills are best formed by a deep heavy 

 furrow of the common plough, at the distance of 27 

 inches, on which Hornsby's drop drill deposits the 

 manure and seed in mixture, in bulbs, at the distance of 

 9 inches, which are let go from a cylinder with valves 

 that are opened by a spring. This method saves both 

 manure and seed that are wasted in a continuous stream, 

 and the vegetation of the seed is stimulated and very 

 much assisted by being mixed with the manure, and 

 thus having the food in the readiest preparation, as in 

 the case of bones, which are now heated, fermented, 

 reduced by acids, or prepared by steaming. The 

 intervals of the drills are scuffled, and the plants thinned 

 to one in the distance of f) inches, as before explained. 



The raising of Turnips on the flat ground is practised 

 with much success on the royal farms at Windsor, 

 which are under the management of Major-General 

 Wemyss, a gentleman of a very acute and enlightened 

 mind. The soils are harsh loams, lying on the junction 

 of^ the clunch clay with the Bagshot sand, and inter- 

 mixed with the chalk. The finer loams are ploughed 

 with the dung into ridges of 1 4 feet in width, on which 

 the Turnip seed is sown by the corn drill, and the crop 

 managed as before directed. On the more clayey lands, 

 which are hardly Turnip soils, the land is gathered with 

 the dung into stitches of 6 or 8 feet in width, which are 

 harrowed fine on the surface, and the seed is sown in 

 rows by a machine with lengthened coulters, which 

 covers the narrow ridge by one operation. The crop is 

 managed as before explained. The land is kept dry in 

 winter by the frequency of furrows, which may lose 

 ground for the crop, but renders more safe the ridges 

 that bear it. ° 



As a corollary from this solution of the problem of 

 growing Turnips on harsh clayey loams, it mav be sup- 

 posed that the practice can be extended to clay lands 

 that are thought to be beyond the reach of bein- used 

 any way ior the growth of Turnips. The land may 

 be reduced as much as possible till the time of sowin- 

 —the land ridged with the dung into breadths of 6 to 

 10 feet— the surface harrowed as fine as possible by 



walking in the furrows and drawing the harrows, 

 which cover the ridge, and which are attached to a tree 

 which stretches over it. The seed is then sown in rows 

 by coulters, and the crop managed in the usual way. 

 It may be doubted if Turnips could be grown in this 

 mode on the clays of marine formation, but the alluvial 

 deposit of that earth will admit a much more extended 

 cultivation. 



The only objection to sowing Turnips on the flat 

 ground arises from there being no hollow interval in 

 which the scuffler can move for the purpose of killin- 

 the weeds and pulverising the ground. There is the 

 usual width of interval, but being on a level with the 

 plants, there is wanting the same freedom as is afforded 

 by the hollows of the drill system. But this deficiency is 

 very amply compensated by the advantages that have 

 been mentioned. 



Turnips are yet in some places grown broadcast, 



to June, when properly stored. 



The chief disease or enemy to which the Turnip is 

 exposed is the fly (the Altica nemorum of entomology), 

 a little insect belonging to the order Coleoptera ; they 

 are bred from larvae deposited in the fields, and there 

 are five or six broods in the summer ; they love sun- 

 shine, and eat most voraciously the first smooth leaves 

 or cotyledons of the Turnip. No remedy has yet been 

 found against this most destructive insect. The only 

 plausible one consists in having the land and manure in 

 a prime state of preparation, so as to push the young 

 plant into the rough or second leaf, when it is beyond 

 the power of its enemy. 



The introduction and the successfully extended culti- 

 vation of the Turnip very soon most completely revo- 

 lutionised the entire circle of British husbandry, by 

 increasing both the quantity and quality of animal and 

 vegetable food, and by insuring a steadier supply of the 

 necessaries of life at all seasons of the year. J. D. 



readily contracted, the result will be as I have obierT«2 

 many times, that the drain, after reaching thefepiof 

 3 feet, merely affects a few inches of the clay &t atk 

 side, and procures no additional shrinkage of the 

 above, neither extending its width nor increasiag in 

 depth, so as to enable water to sink deeper into & 

 This will be the result of the trial in every iostas 

 where the subsoil is a stiff clay, and Mr. Gill will en 

 my hinting that he himself might learn a lesson froi it 

 with advantage before he again recommends it to 

 as if it were new. This brings me to say a few wv& 

 on bottom water, respecting which curious ideas w 

 entertained. These ideas are set forth in the raostci* 

 plete manner in the Quarterly Reviewer's pimplfe, 

 where we have two diagrams, representing theatai 

 below the level of the drains as a semifluid mass, <r, Jt 

 least, containing much water. Now, I would isk, 8 

 this a common case ? Is it the rule, or the ex 

 or either of them, in well-drained land! ffl ui 

 drainer ever meet with a case in which, after nittaj 

 to the proper depth, he was under the necewj 

 of laying his tiles on a body of water! Mm 

 there are cases where water is retained and 

 the subsoil to a considerable depth, but then it is 

 to cut to the bottom of the water, if not to carry 

 it off more perfectly at that place, at least to prevent ra 







I 



i 



in 



horses 



Home Correspondence. 



Drainage. — After all that has been written on draining, 

 it seems not a little singular to meet with such views as 

 those expressed by Mr. Gill, iu the Gazette of to-day 

 (Sept. 27). Referring to stiff clay, he says, " If water 

 will sink through 1 foot, why not through 5 f < 1 1 for 

 gravity extends deeper." The question would be sensible 

 enough, if the subsoil were equally tenacious above and 

 below, and gravity the only influence required to mala 

 it porous and friable ; but evaporation or drought is the 

 chief agent in effecting porosity, and all authorities admit 

 that it must operate effectually on clay, before water 

 can sink properly into the drains. Hence the question 

 arises, how deep will its power extend, and what will its 

 effect be at the sides of each drain \ This is, in fact, what 

 the whole argument, when divested of verbiage, resolves 

 itself into ; yet Mr. Gill, and others, see fit to avoid this 

 point, although the only one now requiring consideration, 

 and the principarone by which [the proper depth and 

 distance of drains in clay must be determined. Do they 

 suppose that stiff clay is as porous below as at the 

 surface, or if it were that evaporation would act on it to 

 an unlimited, or even to a considerable depth 1 If they 

 do, I will only say they have studied and experimented 

 to little purpose, and must be incompetent to judge as 

 to the merits of an argument on this question. The 

 argument, it should be observed again, refers merely to 

 stiff clay soils, for as regards porous soils, all good 

 drainers give in their adherence, not indeed to any 

 particular depth, but to depths of from 3 to 20 feet 

 or more, as the case may require. The point at issue, 

 thus limited, can be understood, and I have been ex- 

 pecting to see Mr. Wilkins grapple more closely with 

 it, so as to bring it to a satisfactory termination, 

 which he must know cannot be done by mere general 

 assertions and truisms. His remarks, as yet, are far j 

 from proving to my mind the propriety of draining five 

 feet deep, in tenacious soils. It is very true, as he says, 

 that an acquaintance with caloric, hydraulics, hydro- 

 statics, and geology, is necessary to show why and how 

 land should be drained, and he might have added at 

 least two other conditions, 



the case as it is 



bursting out somewhere else. Let drainers tan** 

 such ideas from their minds, and endeavour to wm 



for if a man is not correct in to w* 

 and principles, what assurance is there that tajpj 

 will be right ? I would almost as soon trust a nan 

 works by rule of thumb and can give no wj» 



for his operations, as one who founds a^Vj, 



• 7 .. A .i„ ;_-:„*„ «« apply 111 ? 11 



The one I** 



proper idea either of the object to be attaiM* ^ 

 best means of attaining it. He merely >™»J^ 

 has seen, and produces a work more or tewjjjy, 

 from the original. The other, it is true, , i \ 

 that a certain effect is to be realised under ^ 

 cumstances, and he argues rightly enoiW _ 

 the effect should if possible be, but shows giejj^ ^ 

 of the circumstances; consequently the >.\ u 

 down is not more certain or trustworthy 



philosophy and obstinately insists on 

 all circumstances however dissimilar. 





other case. James Donald. .,.._„ .,. w fani* 

 Potatoes and Becr.-WM « J. D.," "to*» t 

 us with a few good articles, give us 1,s . .£ m* 

 Potato culture. Mr. Cuthill, in b» ^ h g5* 

 wo opposite practices in preparing sets. gj^ik 

 as I understand it, he advises the Ash- J" . ^ 

 planted entire, with its cluster of eyes ; nro. -« 

 of ^Messrs. Fitch, which he encloses "» LJ^I 

 « Market Gardening," we are taught toe- ^ 



t 



r,., an idea of the depth 

 and distance to which a drain will enable drought to 

 operate ; and a sound judgment to bring all these 

 branches of knowledge to bear in the best manner upon 

 any given case, whatever its nature may be. If he ha 

 done this, and then shown how he applies the whole to 



t 



the eyes but one. What I desire n '*""' ^ 

 for the earlv Potato, it is better to J»> ^^IJ 

 of shoots or stems, or only a single on , .^pd* 

 one eve 1 « Cerericus," who writes on « ,, ** 

 can tell me, whether, in carrying on ^% 

 weather, it would do to take only hail o . witil ii# 

 double strength, and after boiling it, w • t he bffJT 

 water 1 or by° adding ice, in «d«^ #&K 

 fermentation thus :— Suppose 1 aes* Q flf ^d w 

 Ions per bushel, I take but G, ana au 



to the extract. A. B. ^fpdCbico 1 '?' 5 ''^ 



CSUco^-A. the duty upon roas teat i & 



higher than upon kiln dried, car f '^ekiln-'f- 

 the foreign growers or preparers tnai ^ or ^ { 

 cess is never carried on so far as ^ w ^g^ 

 root so much as to raise a qu CSI ^ 



dr,C the "bjeet *#** 

 ' the ^ £ g 



was roasted or merely kiln 



irrown Chicory for the market ^ 



t it as nearly as P^ctjcablein to^^ ^ jy ^ 



in effecting this at first E*if r f l ^"fire *»* 

 are easily effected before a kite" 



"trt ib «*■> nt»i • > c*o f*~~ -~- There*""' y 





