4 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



nary. In August and September, the 

 leaves were all dried up and withered. — 

 A heavy rain came early in October, and 

 they grew with exceeding rapidity ; if 

 they had had six weeks more to have 

 grown in, as they would have done in 

 England, they would have surpassed any 

 crop I ever saw grow there. The fourth 

 crop was a similar soil to the latter, but 

 had been miserably impoverished ; the 

 previous crop was a mixture of Canada 

 thistles, weeds, and a small portion of bar- 

 ley, not sufficient to pay the expense of 

 harvesting. To this crop was applied 

 the same quantity of compost as the first 

 crop. The dry weather in August and Sep- 

 tember very much affected their growth, 

 the tops became mildewed, but I think 

 they were equal to any previous crop, and 

 would have compared with the best crops 

 in England. They generally grow there 

 until Christmas, and sometimes the mid- 

 dle of January. I should say that your 

 climate in Virginia possesses advantages 

 in this respect over a northern clime ; and 

 I am strongly inclined to believe, they 

 would stand the frost the whole of the 

 winter ; if so, the tops in the spring will 

 produce you very early food for ewes and 

 lambs, and enable you to send early lambs 

 to market. 



These statements of crops, are some- 

 what like 11 guess ivories" as respects the 

 weight per acre. I judged from the num- 

 ber of loads drawn, having weighed a 

 bushel basketful, and measured the wagon 

 box with the basket. This gave me the 

 impression at the time of the amount of 

 produce. 



The true way to grow Swedes is this. 

 Plough your land as soon as the grain 

 crop is off ; then all the pernicious seeds 

 exposed to the atmosphere will vegetate. 

 Let them grow for a month, then plough 

 again, and turn them under; the seeds 

 on the surface will again spring up, and 

 the winter will destroy them. The more 

 you stir your land, so much the more you 

 make your weeds grow, by bringing those 

 seeds that have been lying dormant, to 

 the surface, which when once sprouted 

 are thus destroyed, leaving your land free 

 from refuse and weeds, to receive the crop 



you intend to grow upon it, and which 

 saves you more than half in hoeing. 



By a continuation of this system, and 

 sowing clear seed grain, you keep your 

 land free from weeds, which I consider a 

 very, prominent item, not only in the ex- 

 pense of labor, but in the unprofitable ex- 

 haustion of the soil. By letting your va- 

 rious kinds of manure decay in the com- 

 post heap, and mixing them well together, 

 you destroy all injurious weeds therein 

 contained, and you get a greater benefit 

 from it in the early part of the season, 

 when the plants require forcing to shade 

 the ground with their leaves. 



My object in sowing broadcast, is to 

 put enough seed on the ground, so that 

 the fly may feed on a part of them and 

 then leave enough for a crop. A man 

 who understands hoeing turnips broad- 

 cast, can do as much in a day as he can 

 in the drill, and I never want to see a 

 horse amongst them. If the land is well 

 pulverized, and reasonably free from weeds, 

 a man can hoe the first time, half an acre 

 per day. The second time he can do 

 more, but to effect this he must do it 

 while the plants and weeds are young; 

 the sooner after the second rough leaf ap- 

 pears, the better. 



There are but very few good turnip 

 hoes ; most men are afraid to exercise 

 their hoe freely, leaving them much too 

 thick, and do not bear sufficiently hard 

 upon it to go to the bottom of the roots 

 of the weeds, which take root again and 

 grow as rapidly as ever. I generally 

 leave them from eighteen inches to two 

 feet apart, and think I can obtain a greater 

 weight by the latter space than the former. 

 Great care must be taken to leave the 

 plants singly. An experienced hoer will 

 seldom have to put his hand to a plant 

 unless they are very thick ; they are prin- 

 cipally drawn by the corner of the hoe 

 made for that purpose. 



I put the roots in a long celler, the 

 whole length of the stable, about fifteen 

 feet wide, ninety feet long, and ten feet 

 high, putting a slight covering of straw 

 on the top. In this way they have kept 

 well the whole of the winter, and until 

 the middle of May, sometimes sprouting 



