in  its  Effect  on  Cultivation. 
657 
manner  in  which  turnips  are  raised  being  highly  artificial,  their 
culture  requires  as  practised  much  care  : were  they  sown  in  Fe- 
bruary, and  allowed  to  come  to  maturity  in  June,  the  crop  would 
be  certain,  and  there  would  be  no  more  danger  of  its  failure  than 
of  the  failure  of  a crop  of  oats ; but  being  sown  when  the  weather 
is  often  dry  and  the  temperature  high,  the  moisture  so  essential 
to  the  progress  of  the  plant  is  very  commonly  deficient.  On  this 
account  dry  and  hot  summers  are  very  unfavourable  for  the  growth 
of  turnips,  and  the  farmer  who  sees  in  June  and  July  the  weather 
suitable  for  his  wheat  crops,  very  commonly  sees  at  the  same  tune 
that  the  same  weather  is  preventing  the  progress  ol  his  turnips. 
Scotland  is  more  favourable  to  the  growth  of  the  turnip  than  any 
other  part,  where  it  is  extensively  cultivated,  owing  to  the  greater 
moisture  and  less  heat  of  the  climate  during  the  period  of  their 
early  growth.  Rape,  though  much  resembling  turnips  in  culti- 
vation, seems  still  better  fitted  for  cultivation  in  the  western  parts 
of  England  and  Ireland , as  in  these  places  it  may  be  preserved  and 
eaten  either  in  winter  or  during  the  spring  months. 
I now  proceed  to  the  last  topic,  and  inquire  “how  far  it  is 
desirable  to  adopt  the  regular  four-course  arable  system  on  the 
western  sides  of  England  and  Ireland,  the  same  being  naturally 
fitted  for  the  spontaneous  growth  of  grass.” 
This  is  naturally  a subject  on  which  difference  of  opinion  must 
to  a great  extent  exist,  and  it  would  ill  become  any  person  dog- 
matically to  settle  the  point  as  to  how  far  it  is  desirable  to  adopt 
any  system  of  so  general  and  important  a nature  as  the  one  in 
question.  Yet  it  may  be  useful  to  point  out  a few  of  the  more 
important  principles  of  such  a plan,  and  the  advantages  and  dis- 
advantages may  probably  be  thus  more  easily  calculated  and 
applied  to  any  particular  case.  It  seems  evident  from  what  I 
have  stated  in  the  preceding  pages,  that  these  places  are  ill- 
adapted  for  the  growth  in  perfection  of  w'heat  or  barley;  and  also 
that  the  extreme  south-western  parts  are  not  favourable  to  the 
growth  of  turnips  for  winter  consumption,  unless  intended  for  con- 
sumption on  their  arrival  at  maturity  ; for  it  is  well  known  that  no 
root  impoverishes  the  land  so  much  as  turnips  if  allowed  to  run 
to  seed,  and  nothing  injures  the  turnip  so  much  as  allowing  it  to 
run  even  to  stalk,  the  nutritious  part  of  the  turnip  being  absorbed 
by  the  growing  stalk.  Now  wheat,  turnips,  and  barley  are,  as  it 
is  well  known,  generally  considered  a sine  qua  non  in  any  regular 
four-course  system  ; and  I think  that  farmer  must  have  great 
confidence  who  in  the  present  aspect  of  affairs  would  w'ish  to 
attempt  the  cultivation  of  wheat  or  barley  at  any  considerable 
elevation  in  places  so  naturally  unfitted  for  them,  and  thus  have 
to  contend  with  parties  favoured  by  a climate  more  propitious.* 
* Since  writing  the  text,  I was  glad  to  see,  on  receipt  of  the  ‘ Royal  Agricultural 
Society  Journal,’  an  article  on  Water-Meadows,”  &c.,  by  Mr.  Pusey,  in  which  the 
