348 
Moisture in Turnip-Land. 
on light land rests upon early working in spring. Dry turnip 
soils should be moved in March, or the beginning of April at the 
latest ; and cleaning, if necessary, sliould be done as early as the 
weather and the working of the soil will permit. Clean turnip 
fallows require very little spring and summer labour, and there- 
fore may remain untouched after their winter fallow till the end 
of April or beginning of May. One ploughing, or two scarifyings, 
should generally prove sufficient for dry clean turnip land, but 
Avhen the land is foul the case is reversed, and the excess of work- 
ing necessary — plough ploughing, drag dragging, harrow harrow- 
ing, &c. — turns the soil so frequently over to a hot sun, that there 
is no alternative but that the moisture must evaporate in tlie 
same way as from wet green grass, which is often turned over to 
expel the water, and convert the residue into hay. 
Tlie next point for consideration is, when cleaning has been 
neglected in autumn, how to manage it in sjiring without an 
injurious loss of moisture. 
Some years ago the practice was gfeneral, and in some districts 
is still continued, of ploughing turnip fallows — even clean land 
— tlu-ee or four times in spring and summer, for the purpose of 
pulverizing the soil and making it work well. Such a practice on 
light soils we do not hesitate to denounce as quite against the 
economy of labour, and the chance of securing a turnip crop by 
retaining moisture in the soil. We think that one ploughing 
in spring is amply sufficient for turnips on light soils. This 
ploughing should be given in April at the latest ; after this the 
plough should give place to the scarifier, which, if good of its 
kind, not only pulverizes the soil and brings up the weeds to the 
surface, but also exposes little or no fresh soil to the action of a 
drying sun. Scarifying certainly causes dry turnip soils to lose 
much less moisture than ploughing, and, wherever it is practic- 
able to substitute the one for the other, it should be done. 
From trials, I have found that a dry loamy soil will imbibe 
50 per cent, of water without dropping; a sandy soil little 
more than half as much, or 25 per cent. Loam and peat have, 
from the nature of their particles, great power of imbibing mois- 
ture. Sand, pure sand, has comparatively little capillary attrac- 
tion ; and the clear glass-like fragments of which it is composed 
cannot absorb water : it runs through between them ; and in 
summer, rain either sinks suddenly down, or, in hot weather, 
evaporates quickly from the surface. It is for such reasons that 
light sandy soils so soon lose moisture, and require peculiar 
management. 
In wet summers drains placed at 3 feet deep, or any other 
ordinary depth, run after heavy rains. In dry seasons, such as 
the last, they do not run at all. It is quite obvious therefore 
