434 A'HE KITCHEN-GARDEN. [Jlly. 
cast, with a high and even hand; but some sow it in rows by means 
of a machine called a turne/t-drill, which method is greatly approved 
of, particularly, as by it much labour is saved in hoeing and thin- 
ning the plants. 
In the former method the seed is covered by drawing a light har- 
row backward, that is, wrong end foremost, to prevent the lines, 
which are generally set somewhat pointed forward, from tearing up 
the clods and burying the seed too deep. 
One of the most important parts of the treatment, due to the 
cultivation of the turnep, yet remains to be done; that is, to roll the 
field with a heavy roller immediately after harrowing in the seed, 
provided that the ground is sufficiently dry, or as soon after, as it is 
in a fit condition. By this means all the clods are broken, and 
much of the seed that would otherwise be exposed to birds, &c. 
will be covered, the surface rendered smooth and compact 
thereby, and consequently, more retentive of moisture, which will 
greatly promote the vegetation of the seed and growth of the 
plants. 
But the all important point is, that the rolling of the ground is 
experimentally found to be the most effectual method, hitherto dis- 
covered, for the preservation of the rising crop from the destructive 
depredations of the fly. The turnep fly, is always found most nu- 
merous in rough worked ground, as there, they can retreat and take 
shelter under the clods or lumps of earth, from such changes of 
weather as are disagreeable to them, or from the attacks of small 
birds and other animals. 
Experiments have been tried, on coating the seed with sulphur, 
soot, &c. and of steeping it in train oil and in solutions of various 
kinds, as a security against the fly; but the result has not been such, 
as to establish any practise of this nature. 
Hoeing the plants, and setting them out, as it is called, comes next 
under consideration; the method of doing this dexterously is dif- 
ficult to describe, nothing but practice can teach it. A boy in the 
turnep counties, by the time he is the height of the hoe begins to 
make use of it, consequently, every man who has been bred there 
to country business, is a turnep-hoer, yet not always, even with this 
advantage, an expert one. 
The operation, to be performed dexterously and well, requires a 
quickness of eye and a dexterity of hand that every man is not 
favoured with; while some men catch the proper plants to be 
singled, and set them out, with a rapidity and neatness of execution, 
very pleasing to the observer. 
The hoe is generally drawn round the plant with a long sweep- 
ing stroke, and when the plants are small, this is the only stroke 
that can be used with propriety; but when they are grown out of 
the danger of being buried, a short straight stroke is more expedi- 
tious. 
Upon the whole it matters not, which way the operation is per- 
formed, provided the ground be stirred, the weeds eradicated, and 
the plants set out singly and at proper distances. 
