Report on some features of Scottish Ayriculture. 157 
generally from three weeks to a month — there is time lor th(! 
nascent crop of annual weeds to make a braird, of from half an 
inch to double that len<^th, in the well-pulverised and now mellow 
soil. These weeds are entirely destroyed by subsequent operations, 
and a weed in flower is rare to sec on Mr. Murray's farm. Four 
or five ploughs are set to open about a dozen drills to begin ; they 
are followed by carts with manure, and by women who spread 
the manure in the furrows ; for swedes, to the amount of about 
25 Scotch cart-loads per imperial acre, and 4 cwt. of dissolved 
bones, or other artificial manure. When there is more farmyard 
manure available, the quantity of artificial is proportionately di- 
minished. The return-ploughs cover the manure, and are imme- 
diately succeeded by two following drills, each of which distri- 
butes, at a different depth, lib. of seed per acre in drills 27 inches 
apart, and is followed by a light roller. Turnip-sowing com- 
mences about May 10th with swedes, which are all in by the 
20th, and immediately after hybrid and white turnips follow, 
the whole being got in by the beginning of June. The young 
plants are horse-hoed once, and hand-hoed and singled by women 
working day work, and the crop is again horse- and hand-hoed in 
the course of another fortnight and three weeks. 
What with clean land in good condition, a soil naturally fer- 
tile, and a growing climate, the turnip-crop is never a matter of 
anxiety in the commencement of the season. It is, however, the 
most precarious crop on East Barns ; but the difficulty is not in 
securing a braird, nor in the ravages of the " fly." The anxious 
time is the latter end of summer and the early part of autumn, 
when, should dry weather set in, the root-crop sometimes falls 
short. Mr. Murray stated that if he could secure a fair amount 
of rain in the autumn, he could be certain of a good crop. About 
one-third of the break on East Barns is sown with Drummond's 
Purple-top Swede, and the remainder with hybrid and white 
turnips. No Aberdeen yellows are grown. Mr. Murray is of 
opinion that the seed should be two years old, and his system 
is to buy new seed, say in 1868, to be sown in 1870, in 1869 for 
1871, and so on. His conviction is that the plants bulb better 
than from new seed, and do not run so much to top. 
2. Barley. — As soon as convenient after the turnips are cleared 
off the light land, it is ploughed from 6 to 7 inches deep, and 
harrowed down fine as soon as the weather will permit. In this 
state it remains until the annual weeds have made a braird, 
when the skim-plough is put over the land, cutting about IJ 
inches below the surface, and destroying the pestiferous wild crop. 
In the course of another day the land is again harrowed, and is 
then ready for drilling. Usually not more than 24 hours inter- 
vene between the harrow and the drill. From IJ to 2 bushels of 
