66 
On the Drill Husbandry of Turnips. 
soil and the seed were favourable, get \ev^ nearly, if not quite, as 
good turnips in each row at 18 inches asunder as at any greater 
distance, supposing the quantity of manure per row to be equal. 
I have seen no good reason for changing that opinion ; indeed, 
experience has confirmed it. I was once induced to try part of a 
field with rows on level at about 27 inches apart, using the same 
quantity of bone- manure jyer acre — that is, more per row in pro- 
portion to the greater distance they were apart — When the sheep 
had eaten all the turnips in the field, I asked the shepherd what 
he thought of the wider rows, he replied, " he did not like them 
at all, he had his nets to remove too often." This observation 
coincided with my own opinion of the crop. 
As a proof that, on some soils and in some seasons, white turnips 
may be got as large as it is desirable to have them for sheep, with 
the rows only 18 inches apart. — I have occasionally seen crops sown 
at that distance which were said to have only one fault — they were 
''rather too large for sheep." This case, however, would seldom 
occur. Some species of turnips have larger tops than others, and 
some soils trill, from the same seed, grow larger tops than others : 
different manures also have each their peculiar effect in this respect. 
The larger the top of the turnip is likely to be, from the nature 
of the soil, the greater will be the space requisite for bringing the 
bulb to perfection. The large turnips obtained by 18-inch rows, 
before alluded to, were only seen on some particular fields, and 
always on soil and from seed peculiarly adapted to producing 
small tops and large bulbs. Thus it is necessary to take every 
peculiarity of soil, manure, and species of turnips, into considera- 
tion before we can properly decide at what distance the rows 
ought to be. Of course we must bear in mind the particular 
purpose for which the crop is wanted ; for, where turnips are in- 
tended to be drawn off for cattle, it may be desirable to have 
them larger than when for consumption on the land by sheep. 
For details applicable, in consideration of this subject, I beg to 
refer to my calculations as to the comparative size and value of 
turnips of different diameters when speaking of the hoeing. 
Some think that turnips drilled on level cannot be horse-hoed 
at all; and, as the difficulty certainly increases as you diminish 
the distance of the rows from each other, it may have been in some 
instances desirable to have the rows of white turnips more than 
18 inches apart. But, as there are now drills said to be adapted 
to make straight rows on level, with only common skill in the 
drill-horse leader, that difficulty may to a certain extent be re- 
moved. It has been said, also, that, where the rows are wider, 
the sheep do not soil their food so much ; but this disadvantage 
of 18-inch rows might be overcome by drawing every other row 
