Oil (he Drill Hmbundnj of Turn'qjs. 
59 
tion, on every variety of soil, which ought to be watched and 
turned to advantage. 
When the soil is most completely pulverized, it is in the best 
state lor retaining moisture, whilst clods are so soon dry that they 
are almost emblematical of dryness. It is very generally admitted 
that the land must be well pulverized to have a goo([ chance of a 
crop. I venture to say, that in dry weather it cannot be made too 
fine ; but, where there is a probability of rain on land recently 
tilled, we should leave it rougher, or, in some cases, in whole 
furrows, that the rain may penetrate it without the injurious effects 
that would follow a heavy rain on recently powdered soil. 
For the same reason it will be necessary to be cautious in the 
use of very heavy rollers ; they are occasionally useful, but I have 
known them injurious. It will also be necessary to avoid harrow- 
ing the land when wet. Some, to prevent the time of the men 
and horses being wasted (as they call it), employ them in doing 
what, at that time, is worse than useless. 
The point to aim at seems to be clean ground, and as complete 
pulverization as the nature of the soil will admit, with the least 
risk of being caught by heavy rains, in such a state as to cause the 
land to set and run together, which would at once check the ad- 
vantages derived from the circulation of air, &c., in the porous 
soil, and render it necessary to repeat the work of pulverization. 
To attain this on some soils, and in some seasons, is a very difficult 
task. We sometimes see very good turnips, on what cannot be 
called turnip-land ; and more, that they are consumed on the land 
with evident advantage to it, whilst an attempt has been made by 
a different person, on similar soil in the adjoining field, and proved 
a complete failure. Chance may occasionally have something to 
do with this, but the difference generally arises from the degree 
of skill possessed by the cultivator.* 
The manner of making turnip-ridges is so well known to every 
intelligent ploughman, and has been so often described in the 
Society's Journal and elsewhere, that it is not necessary to repeat 
it here. It may however be as well to state, that, in making 
turnip-rows, it is requisite to have a light straight piece of wood 
between the heads of the two horses, by being fastened to or near 
the bit of each ; it keeps them at a regular distance from each 
* Since the publication of the valuable accounts of experiments on 
Yard and House Feeding of Sheep, by Lord Western and Mr. Childers, 
M.P., showing that these animals will not only do as well on turnips 
brought from the land, but may by that means produce a much larger 
proportion of mutton for the food consumed, one great objection to an ex- 
tended cultivation of turnips on soils liable to be injured by the treading of 
sheep is removed ; therefore it is desirable that all occupiers of such soils 
should have their attention drawn to these reports. 
