524 
The Cumberland and Westmoreland 
manure, but no less than half a ton of the best bone manure is 
applied to them. The field selected last year had been grazed 
about 10 years before the oat crop which preceded the roots. 
This year the field taken has been down about 7 vears. After 
these lengthened periods of grazing, as might be expected, a 
large quantity of the roots of the grasses remain undecomposed, 
after the oat crop is removed, for the sustenance of the turnip 
crop. There is very little twitch, but if any lingers among the 
grass roots it is picked up, together with all the larger sods 
which might interfere with the free use of the hoe among the 
turnips, and converted into compost with lime. The soil when 
first turned up looks slightly brown in colour, but on drying 
assumes a very slaty appearance. 
The swedes are sown about the first week in May. The 
manure used this season is Vickers' (Sandbach) special manure 
at 10/. 10s. a ton (this contains, Mr. Atkinson says, some 
Peruvian guano), and British fertiliser, a bone manure, at 8/. per 
ton. Supposing an equal quantity of these two manures applied, 
the cost at the rate I have mentioned is about 4/. 12s. (V/. per 
acre for the manure for the root-crop. Such a bill would con- 
siderably astonish the farmers of the south, but it shows the 
value set by a Westmoreland farmer on his turnips, which indeed 
are the foundation of his fortune ; and the magnificent crops 
produced show what Nature will do in this humid climate when 
aided by the liberality of man. 
I asked Mr. Atkinson for reliable information with regard 
to the actual weight of swedes produced per acre on this farm, 
and he gave me the following statement: — In 1876 the average 
weight was 27 tons ; in 1877 a little over 30 tons. These are 
the only two years in which the crops were fairly tested, but 
Mr. Atkinson thinks he has exceeded the latter figure occa- 
sionally, and puts his crops, one year with another, at 30 tons 
per acre. The whole of the swede crop is removed from the 
land, and is principally consumed by cattle. The following 
crop of oats is generally sown in March or the beginning of 
April, and the mixture of seeds which is sown with it is of a 
very liberal character. About 23 lbs. or 24 lbs. of clovers and 
grasses are sown as follows : — 
1^ lbs. alsike clover. 
4 lbs. cow-grass. 
2 lbs. red clover. 
2 lbs. trefoil. 
IJ lbs. Timothy. 
2 lbs. meadow foxtail. 
1 lb. sweet vernal. 
1 lb. hard fescue. 
5 lbs. cocksfoot. 
^- bushel perennial rye- 
^ 1 C(.00. 
bushel Italian ditto. 
