R A P 
are intended for the general crop, are [own toward the 
latter end of June, when they commonly receive home 
refrefhing (bowers to bring them forward ; without 
which, ic is very common to have them all deftroyed. 
Thefe feeds fliould always be fown upon an open 
fpot of ground ; for if it is near hedges, walls, 
buildings, or trees, they will draw up, and be very 
long topped, but their roots will not grow to any fize. 
They are fown in great plenty in the fields near Lon- 
don, not only for the ufe of the kitchen, but for cat- 
tle in winter, when there is a fcarcitv of other food ; 
and by this way is become a great improvement to 
barren fandy lands, particularly in Norfolk, . where, 
by the culture of Turneps only, many perfons have 
doubled the yearly value of their ground. 
The kind upon which this feed is fown, fliould be 
ploughed in April, and twy-fallowed in May, that is, 
once more ploughed, and twice well harrowed, and 
made very fine ; then the feed fliould be fown pretty 
thin (for it being fmall, a little will fow a large piece 
of ground ; two pounds of this feed is full fufficient 
for an acre of any land, but one pound is the com- 
mon allowance.) The feed muft be harrowed in as 
foon as it is fown, with a iliort tined harrow, and the 
ground rolled with a wooden roll, to break the clods 
and make the furface even. In ten days or a fort- 
night after fowing, the plants will come up, at which 
time, if the feafon fhould prove dry, they will be 
in great danger of being deftroyed by the fly, which 
is too often the cafe with this crop; but if it fo hap- 
pen, the ground muft be fowed again ; for the feed 
being cheap, the chief expence is the labour; but 
the ground fliould be firft harrowed to loofen it, ef- 
pccially if it is ftifF land ; there have been many di- 
rediions given for to prevent this deftrudion, but 
fcarce one has fucceeded on trial. 
"When the plants have got four or five leaves, they 
fhould be hoed to deftroy the weeds, and to cut up 
the plants where they are too thick, leaving the re- 
maining ones about fix or eight inches afunder 
each way, which will be room enough for the plants 
to ftand for the firft hoeing ; and the fooner this is 
performed, when the plants have four leaves, the 
better they will thrive ; but in the fecond hoeing, 
which muft be performed about a month after the firft, 
they fliould be cut up, fo that the remaining plants 
may ftand fourteen or fixteen inches diftance, or more, 
efpecially if they are defigned for feeding of cattle ; 
for where the plants are allowed a good diftance, the 
roots will be proportion ably large, provided the 
ground is good ; fo that what is loft in number, will 
be overgained by their bulk, which is what I have 
often obferved. But in fuch places where they are 
fown for the ufe of the kitchen, they need not be left 
at a greater diftance than a foot, becaufe large roots 
are not fo generally efteemed for the table. 
It is not many years fince the practice of fowing 
Turneps for feeding of cattle has been of general ufe; 
how it happened that this improvement fhould have 
been fo long negleded in every part of Europe, is 
not eaiy to determine ; fince it is very plain, that 
this piece of hufbandry was known to the an- 
tients. For Columella, in treating of the feveral 
kinds of vegetables which are proper for the field, 
recommends the cultivating Rapa in plenty ; becaufe 
(fays he) thofe roots which are not wanted for the ta- 
ble, will be eaten by the cattle. And yet this plant 
was not much cultivated in the fields till within a 
century paft ; nor is the true method of cultivating 
Turneps yet known, or at lead not pradifed, infome 
of the diftant counties of England at this time. For 
in many places the feed is fown with Barley in the 
fpring, and thofe plants which come up, and live till 
the Barley is cut, produce a little green for the 
fheep to pick up, but never have any roots. In other 
places, where the Turnep-feed is fown by itfelf, the 
method of hoeing them is not underftood, fo that 
weeds and Turneps are permitted to grow together, 
and where the Turneps come up thick in patches, they 
are never thinned ; lb that they draw up to have 
•R A P 
long leaves, but never can have good roots, which 
is the principal part of the plant, therefore fhould be 
chiefly attended to 
The general method now pradifed in England, for 
cultivating this plant in the fields, is the lame as is 
pradifed by the farming gardeners, who fupply the 
London markets with thefe roots, which is as before 
direded. But it is only within the eompafs of half a 
century, that the country people have been acquainted 
with the method of hoeing them ; fo that the farmers 
ufually employed gardeners, who had been bred up 
in the kitchen-gardens, to perform this work. And 
the ufual price given per acre, for twice hoeing and 
leaving the crop clean, and the plants fet out pro- 
perly, was feven fhillings ; at which price the gar- 
deners could get fo much per week, as to make it 
worth their while to leave their habitations, and prac- 
tife this in different counties during the feafon for 
this work, which always happens after the greateft 
hurry of bufmels in the kitchen-garden is over ; fo 
that they ufually formed themfelves in fmall gangs 
of fix or feven perfons, and fet out on their different 
routs, each gang fixing at a diftance from the reft, 
and undertaking the work of as many farmers in 
the neighbourhood as they could manage in the fea- 
fon ; but as this work is now performed by many 
country labourers, that practice is loft to the kitchen- 
gardeners, the country labourers doing it much 
cheaper. 
There has alfo been another method pradifed very 
lately, by fome very curious farmers, in cultivating of 
Turneps ; which is, by fowing the feed in rows with 
the drill plough. In fome places the rows have been 
Town three feet afunder, in others four, in fome five, 
and fome fix. The latter has been commended by 
fkilful perfons as the moft proper diftance ; for al- 
though the intervals are fo large, yet the crop pro- 
duced on an acre has been much greater than upon 
the fame quantity of land where the rows have been 
but half this diftance ; and upon all the fields which 
have been cultivated for Turneps, the crops have 
greatly exceeded thofe which have been hand-hoed. 
The late Lord VifcountTownfhend was at the expence 
of making the trial of thefe two different methods 
of hufbandry, with the greateft care, by equally di- 
viding the fame fields into different lands, which 
were alternately fown in drills, and the intermediate 
lands in brgad-caft. The latter were hoed by hand, 
in the common method, and the other cultivated by 
the hoeing plough ; and when the roots were fully 
grown, his Lordfhip had an equal quantity of land, 
which had^ been fown indifferent methods, meafured, 
and the roots drawn up and weighed ; and thofe 
roots which had been cultivated by the plough, were 
fo much larger than the other, that the crop of one 
acre, weighed a ton and a half more than that of an 
acre in the other hufbandry. 
But when the Turneps are fown in drills, they will 
require to be hoed by hand, to feparate and cut out 
the plants where they are too near together in the 
rows, as alfo to cut up the weeds between the plants, 
where the plough cannot reach them. If this is care- 
fully performed, the ploughing of the intervals will 
encourage the growth of the roots, by thus ftirring 
of the ground, and prepare it much better for the 
crop of Barley, or whatever elfe is fown the following; 
fpring. This method of culture may be fuppofed to 
be more expenfive than that commonly pradifed, by 
thofe unacquainted with it ; but thofe who have made 
trials of both, find the horfe-hoeing to be much the 
cheapeft, and by far the beft. For the country peo- 
ple, who are employed in hand-hoeing of Turneps, 
are very apt to hurry over their work, fo that half 
the weeds are left growing, and the plants are feldom 
fingled out fo well as they fhould be ; nor are they 
curious enough to diftinguifh the Charlock (which is 
one of the moft common weeds in arable land) from 
the Turneps ; fo that about the middle of September, 
it is very common to fee the fields of T urneps full of 
the yellow flowers of the Charlock. Nov/, in the 
horfe- 
l 
