Light-Land Farming. 
107 
pletcly to the fertilizing and sweetening influences of the atmo- 
sphere. On the contrary, all soils situated in an arid climate 
should be entirely worked by the grubber, harrow, and roller 
in spring, in order to retain the moisture, and thus secure a good 
braird of turnip plants. Whatever may be the mode adopted in 
preparing land for turnips, it is highly desirable to have it com- 
pleted about ten days before commencing to sotv, and the land 
should be left as smooth as possible in order to encourage a 
thick growth of annual weeds, which, being destroyed by the 
operation of drilling or ridging, tlius renders the after cultivation 
of the crop a much more expeditious and effective process. The 
best of the land should be first prepared in order to be ready in 
time for sowing swedes, and the more inferior fields left last to 
be sown with the different kinds of common turnip. About the 
20th of May is the best time to commence sowing the former on 
liglit land to the north of the Humber, and the operation should 
be finished not later than the first week of June. The sowing 
of the common sorts follows, and should be completed by the 
20th of June — the whole period of sowing turnips thus ex- 
tending to four weeks. 
The operation oi drilling or ridging is the next process in turnip- 
sowing. This is generally performed by a double-moulded plough, 
but it can also be perfectly well accomplished by the common 
plough. In the former case the ploughman commences at the 
furtliest side of the field, and as soon as he has got a dozen drills 
made the carts bring forward the manure, which is hauled out in 
a continuous line of small heaps along every three drills. A boy 
leads the horse steadily and slowly without stopping, and a man 
pulls out the manure as regularly as possible, which is spread 
evenly in the bottom of the drills, and from two to three cwts. 
of guano and dissolved bones sown broadcast above it. Some 
farmers, however, prefer sowing the artificial manure in a lineal 
direction, so as to fall immediately on the top of the farmyard 
dung. When these operations have been completed over six or 
eight drills, another plough is set to work to split the drills and 
cover up the manure, and as soon as these are sufficiently dry the 
turnip-sower follows and deposits the seed in continuous lines 
along the tops of the drills, and about an inch below the surface. 
When the weather is very dry the seed should be sown rather 
deeply, and if damp or rainy as near the surface as possible. 
The reason for so doing is, that in dry weather the seed by bein 
sown deep is nearer the moist manure, and away from the influ- 
ence of sun and wind, and thus vegetates readily ; while in damp 
weather, by being near the surface, it is less liable to be baked 
over with a thick crust of earth. When the drills or ridges are 
formed by the common plough, it is necessary first to make a 
