272 



On the Farming of Suffolk. 



is then time to plough the land before wheat-sowing ; this is an 

 advantage not to be despised^ as it is one move towards se- 

 curing a crop. Several methods are adopted in the cultivation 

 of roots, each of which has its advantages ; thej will therefore 

 demand a separate description. I shall first consider the old 

 method^ which is still generally adopted for white turnips, and 

 frequently for swedes and beet. In this the fallow is made in 

 the usual manner, but in time for the season of turnip-sowing. 

 Muck is applied by some ; by others a dressing of burnt earth, 

 and on some land artificial manure (particularly where the crop 

 is intended to be folded with sheep), such as rape-dust, bones, 

 and guano ; white turnips are drilled from 14 to 18 inches apart, 

 and beet at proportionably wider intervals ; the turnips are 

 hand-hoed at a cost of from 65. to 7s. per acre. The late period 

 at which turnips are usually sown is the great objection to their 

 success on heavy land, which is not suited to the feeding with 

 sheep ; for if late sown they remain on the land through the 

 winter, and the removing them day after day at a cart-load a 

 time in any weather must be productive of injury to the land ; 

 by early sowing, the roots may be removed from the land and 

 stored early in the season with comparatively little injury. 



The early season at which beet is sown, and the little injury 

 it causes when carted from the soil, are the merits to which it 

 owes its extended cultivation ; there are few farmers in the 

 heavy-land district of Suffolk of 100 acres that do not grow on an 

 average four or five acres of this valuable root. The more the 

 turnip-husbandry approaches that of beet in respect to the early 

 sowing and removal from the soil, the sooner will it arrive at per- 

 fection on these heavy soils. White turnips, which are apparently 

 cultivated to the greatest extent, should give place to beet and 

 swedes, both are superior in their feeding qualities, as well as 

 what gives them a greater value, their property of keeping when 

 removed at an early season from the land and stored in a con- 

 venient situation. 



Beet. — I shall now proceed to give a description of the culti- 

 vation of beet, which has been introduced about thirty years, 

 during which time its cultivation has been continually on the 

 increase ; and it may be truly said that it is a crop which has 

 tended more than any other to improve the heavy land of Suffolk, 

 and I may with confidence assert that its cultivation is one of the 

 greatest improvements that has been introduced since the report 

 of A. Young in 1804. It has filled up a blank which used to 

 occur in the feeding of sheep and cattle on heavy land, the pro- 

 viding spring food. 



Land intended for beet is ploughed immediately after harvest, 

 and the fallow made in the usual manner of ploughing the 



