Moisture in Turniji-Land. 
347 
such as exists in the South of France ; and we find that the best 
turnips are grown in those English counties where most rain falls 
during the summer. 
It is far from my intention to draw comparisons — here, at all 
events — between the respective merits of English, Scotch, and 
Irish farming as a whole ; at the same time, moisture is so imjior- 
tant an element in the growth of turnips, that it is evident that 
the English farmer is placed under peculiar disadvantages in this 
respect. In all but the westernmost parts of England it requires 
extreme care to raise a crop of turnips much less bulky than 
what is raised in moister climates with comparative ease. 
The year 1853 was unusually dry in Scotland, and the root 
crops light. It was one season out of many when the fly, so 
common to English crops, attacked the turnips grown north of the 
Tweed. The same year was, singularly enough, very wet in 
many parts of England, and on the driest description of soils the 
turnip crop was better than usual. Moisture, therefore, acts 
an imjiortant part in the growth of roots, and without a certain 
amount of it it is impossible to succeed. 
After these few prefatory remarks, I beg to detail the prac- 
tice adopted on my own farm ; and also to allude to the practices 
of others, who seldom fail in obtaining a good crop of roots by 
attending to the necessity of moisture, with, of course, liberal 
manuring, &c. 
Sandy, peaty, and limestone soils, all have a tendency to lose 
moisture quickly after receiving it, in consequence of the rapidity 
with which filtration and evaporation take place in land of so open 
and porous a texture. 
Peaty soils, when quite dry, imbibe more moisture than any 
other at first, having somewhat the nature of a sponge ; but as they 
do not retain it well in hot weather, it is necessary to use much 
care to prevent its loss in spring, as no ordinary summer's rain 
afterwards seems sufficient to make it wet enough for the purpose 
of raising a root crop. It is of no use to disguise the fact that 
most of our best farmers have foul stubbles occasionally. There 
is much more opportunity for cleaning light friable soils in 
autumn than those of a more adhesive nature. It has been our 
practice, therefore, to clean all the foul light land in autumn 
whenever the season would permit, for this particular reason, that 
when the cleaning has to be done in summer, the land usually 
becomes so dry in the course of working as to be unsuitable for 
getting a turnip braird without a heavy accidental fall of rain. 
In the first place, then, all soils which have a tendency to lose 
moisture quickly should be prepared, as far as possible, for the 
turnip crop in autumn. When the season does not permit of 
autumn cleaning, the successful chance of growing a turnip crop 
