118 
Light-Land Farming. 
have to contend with is drought, and every means should there- 
fore be taken to retain the moisture. If the land intended for 
turnips is foul, it should be scarified after the grain crop is 
removed, then well harrowed, and the stubble and couch carted 
off and mixed with fermenting dung, which may be afterwards 
applied to the turnip crop. The land is then ploughed about 5 
inches deep and left till spring, when it is cross-ploughed, 
harrowed, rolled, and further cleaned. All future cultivation 
before sowing should be done with a grubber, in order to prevent 
evaporation, which would be otherwise very rapid if the soil 
were turned over by the plough. The seed is then sown on the 
jBat, in-20 inch rows, along with, but not in contact with, a 
mixture of guano and dissolved bones, taking the precaution, 
however, to have a sprinkling of earth between the manure and 
seed. When a sufficiency of farmyard manure cannot be got 
to lay on the land in winter, the best plan to adopt is to have 
it very well made, and to plough it down and mix thoroughly 
with the soil before sowing ; and in order to keep out the drought 
the land should be harrowed with light harrows and rolled as 
the ploughing proceeds. The seed and light manure are then 
sown as before. When it is desired to have all the manure in 
rows under the seed, the following plan may be adopted : — The 
dung is laid down in small heaps in parallel rows in the direc- 
tion in which the land is to be ploughed. Two ploughs start 
to work on one side of the field, and the manure is placed in 
the open furrow behind the first plough, and this is covered 
by the second one. The turnip sower goes behind, having a 
coulter only on the offside, and set so as to drill the seed and light 
manure exactly above the farmyard dung already placed in the 
furrow, and which has been covered up by the second plough. 
If the turnip-sower does not sow both seed and light manure at 
the same time, the latter can be sown by the hand above the 
dung. By this mode the land is ploughed, manured, and sown 
simultaneously, and the plants when up will stand in rows equal 
to tlie breadth of two furrows, or from 18 to 20 inches. It is 
more adapted for small farms than for large ones. The after 
management of the turnip crop need not be further detailed, 
and we need only add that on all sandy soils where the fine 
particles are apt to blow about with the wind and stick amongst 
the leaves of the turnips, and thus be inadvertently eaten by 
sheep, the best way is to pull the whole crop, top and tail them, 
place that portion to be consumed on the land in two cartload- 
heaps, cover with straw, and then with a slight covering of earth, 
leaving, however, a small funnel at top and bottom to prevent 
heating. This can be easily done by drawing out a wisp of the 
straw. 
