294 



On the Farming of Suffolk. 



comes on between the rows in about 20 or 25 days ; the expenses of 

 hoeing will vary according to season, but average from 15.?. to 25*. 

 per acre, when the land is to be left quite clean, and the plants all 

 singled, so as to be about 8 inches apart in the rows. The time for 

 taking them up will be about October or November ; the expense of 

 taking up will be from Sd. to 10c?. per load of 40 bushels, according to 

 the crop, which, upon a good sandy soil, will produce from 20 to 25 tons 

 per acre of this invaluable root. 



" The method of preserving the crop is to pack them in heaps of 20 

 bushels each in the field, covering them with a little dri/ straw, and over 

 that about 3 to 4 inches of earth ; they are then quite safe for the winter ; 

 but if the land is intended for an early crop, and it is necessary to remove 

 them from the field, then lay them in rows about 3 feet wide at bottom, 

 and throwing them up loosely in a conical form, and covering them with 

 dry straw and earth in the above method. They will be found very nutri- 

 tious food for every kind of cattle, and especially for the cart-stable, 

 where we substitute 1 load or ton of white carrots as an equivalent to a 

 coomb of beans when ground, or 2 coombs of oats, beginning to feed with 

 them in October, and continuing till May. Allowing 1 load of 40 

 bushels of carrots and 3 bushels of ground beans, or 6 bushels of oats, 

 to a stable of 6 horses, per week, giving them chaff with their corn and 

 carrots, this, with straw (having neither hay nor stover), constitutes their 

 food during the winter, maintaining them in good working condition. 

 After the crop is taken off the land, spread the tops of the carrots as 

 carefully as a dressing of farm-yard manure, then give it a good sound 

 ploughing, making an excellent preparation for a crop. 



" JVofe. — A proof, if proof were necessary, of the great utility of this 

 root, is at this moment fully experienced on this farm, having horses, 

 colts, oxen, cows, and swine feeding upon a crop of upwards of 20 tons 

 to the acre, and this in a season when the white turnips are almost a 

 failure in quality, the swedes are deficient in quantity and quality, 

 and the beet-roots are entirely a failure; and when beans are ^6s.-, 

 and oats 32*. to 36^. per quarter. 



Thos. Scotchmer, 

 BaiKff' to Joshua Rodwell, Esq. 

 " Alderton Hall, Suffolk, Jan. 11, 1847." 



On those farms where only a breeding-flock is kept^ the whole 

 of the turnips are consumed on the land, and this is perhaps ne- 

 cessary on the very light blowing sands; but another system is 

 practised by some, that of carting off a part of the turnips for 

 feeding cattle, in the proportion of one-third or upwards^, when the 

 land has been manured, and the system of grazing sheep on the 

 turnips : and wherever these two systems are adopted in prefer- 

 ence to the practice of consuming the turnip-crop entirely by 

 breeding ewes, the benefit may easily be seen. A great objection 

 to keeping only a breeding flock is the difficulty of providing 

 spring food for so great a number of sheep and lambs, while 

 grazing sheep can be sold at any time. It is generally considered 



