State of jicjriculture in Northumherland. 



167 



and for one reason among others, that the bone-dust is less apt to 

 be drawn to the surface and h^st to the turnips in hoeing- them. 

 Swede turnips v. ith dung are sown upon drills of the width of 



27 inches from centre to centre ; and white turnips on drills from 



28 to 30 inches : with bone-manure, and for spring food, a width 

 of 26 inches is sufficient. The quantity of seed used is 21bs. of 

 white and 31bs. of Swedish, ])er acre. For the purpose of clear- 

 ing and working the land effectually between the rows, it is of 

 great importance that room enough be given for the action of the 

 small plough and scuffler, and that the drills be perfectly straight. 

 In a district where such a breadth of turnips is cultivated, and 

 which affords but few populous villages and towns to supply 

 extra labourers, it is necessary that as much of this kind of work 

 as possible be done by horsehoeing, leaving to manual operation 

 only the thinning of the plants and removing weeds from the top 

 of the drill. The latter is light work, and is performed with 

 great quickness and dexterity by young women and boys who 

 strike the hoe through the young plants in a way which, to a 

 stranger to the process, conveys the idea of utter destruction, but 

 is found to leave a sufficient number, and those the strongest, at 

 very regular intervals. To give room for a full crop, where land 

 and other circumstances are favourable, swede turnips should be 

 allow ed an interval of 8 inches between the plants in the row ; 

 and white turnips from 10 to 12, although on poor land, wdth 

 late sowing, inferior manure, and for spring food, it will be 

 prudent to leave them much closer. A large weight cannot be 

 produced but from large bulbs. A moment's consideration will 

 show that the last inch in the diameter of a large turnip wiW of 

 itself be equal to several small ones ; even in this, however, a 

 medium is to be observed, for very large turnips, if not consumed 

 early, do not stand long, and are inferior in nutritious quality. 

 It would not be safe to state the average produce of the district at 

 more than 25 tons for swedes and 28 for white turnips, when 

 cleared of top and root — although 40 tons have been grown, and 

 35 are not uncommon — but such large weights are only produced 

 by an extra quantity of dung, which endangers the succeeding 

 crop of corn by lodging, and consequently the grass-seeds along 

 with it : of the latter, the kind which produces the largest bulk 

 is the tankard, but from its shape and size it is so much above 

 the ground, that it is injured by the earliest frost, and it is there- 

 fore advisable to sow it only on such land and in such quantity as 

 is intended to be fed off by Christmas at latest. Next to it 

 is the globe turnip, which, if the seed be raised from well-selected 

 plants, preserves a good shape and nutritious quality. Several 

 varieties of the Swedish kind and also of hybrids are cultivated, 

 each probably possessing properties w hich render them applicable 



