Swedes, Mangold, and the Steam-Plough. 
249 
that the Swedes and mangold would be repeated on the same 
ground, onre only in eight years ; and half the crop, the Swedes 
only, would be fed off, to the benefit of the barley. The sheep 
being folded across the lines of the root-crop, the whole field 
would be equally manured to the advantage of the barley. As 
the land requires the same preparation for the Swedes as for 
the mangold, there is no practical difficulty in this arrangement, 
though the periods of sowing vary. We drill the rows for the 
mangolds the latter end of April, and those set out for Swedes 
the beginning of June. 
As a mere matter of detail, 12 rows of each are found a con- 
venient number. If 28 inches apart, each crop would occupy a 
space of about 28 feet in width. If the 12 rows are pulled, and 
placed ready for topping in four lines, reckoning. 3 feet for each 
line, there will be 8 feet clear on either side for the carts when 
removing the mangolds. 
The cultivation of roots, in these days, naturally suggests to 
the mind the preparation for them by the agency of steam. I 
do not possess the requisite engine and implements, but- as my 
farm adjoins that of the Agricultural College, I have hired their 
engine and Mr. Fowler's plough the last three autumns. The 
two first seasons we used the regular plough, turning over a 
furrow averaging about nine or ten inches in depth, for the 
ensuing root-crops. The result was the two worst crops of 
Swedes and mangolds I have ever experienced. I record this in 
order to prevent any farmer who may have screwed up his 
courage to hire a steam-apparatus from being hastily discou- 
raged by a similar result from a repetition of the experiment. 
The comparative inferiority of the first crop under such circum- 
stances, to a greater or less extent, is a necessary result, unless 
the plough be followed by the cultivator drawn by the same 
agency, at the same depth, once or more in the following Spring. 
Otherwise, the seed will be deposited in soil which has not been 
for ages exposed to those influences which are essential to the 
formation of a proper seed-bed. Any attempt to accomplish the 
due admixture of this subsoil with the productive soil at a depth of 
10 inches by the ordinary cultivator worked by horses would be 
fruitless. It is only by the product of the entire course of crop- 
ping, whatever that may be, that the result of the first operation 
by steam-power can be justly estimated. 
From the first moment I saw the plough at work, I had the 
impression it was not the right implement. I very much pre- 
ferred the state in which the land was left by Mr. Smith's 
cultivator, which, according to my judgment, leaves the land in 
a much more favourable position for atmospheric culture during 
the Winter, and consequently for spring tillage. Last autumn 
