Root Crops. 
223 
measurement varying from twenty-five to forty per chain. It 
has chiefly been found that a drill of about thirty-three per 
chain, or say twenty-four inches apart, has succeeded in 
carrying off the prizes in competition. This might be adopted 
on almost all soils as a good regulation width ; it gives plenty 
of room for both hand and horse hoe, as well as light and air 
for the growing plants. It is of course too narrow for manur- 
ing in the ridge (where a twenty-six to twenty-seven inch 
ridge is necessary), but then, to be sure of a mangel plant, most 
will no doubt agree that the better plan is to manure on the 
flat early, plough in and ridge up afterwards, or drill on the 
flat, thus securing a capital tilth. 
The swede turnip nowadays seems to be a most difficult 
root to cultivate, for if by chance a plant is raised and the fly 
avoided, there is a tendency of running to neck or to club root 
or “ finger-and-toe. ,u Then, worst of all, comes the destructive 
mildew and smotlier-fly, rendering, as it has done this year, 
some pieces almost leafless. Strange to say, the southern 
part of the county suffers in the latter respect more or less 
every year, whilst the Chesterfield and Alfreton districts are 
free ; on the other hand this part of the county is not so suited 
to the growth of mangel and cabbage. In addition to these 
pests there is the mangel grub and the blight upon cabbage 
with the worm at the root. 
Kohl rabi is very little grown in the county. Where it 
is grown it is only on very limited areas, perhaps one “ land ” 
in a field, as though it were something to be afraid of. But 
after all it is a most nutritious root, and the mystery is that 
it is not more in cultivation. It has several advantages over 
other roots, being a safer crop to produce than swedes, or, it 
might even be said, mangels ; it requires no cleaning and it 
forms the best of keep for sheep. 
In respect of labour, a scarcity of good all-round men has 
been experienced for some years ; so many young men decline 
farm work and flock to the large towns. If at the present 
time milk had to be made up into cheese in the farmhouse as 
formerly, it is doubtful where the dairy maids would come 
from. Education in a great measure appears to be destructive 
of manual labour, which has to be carried on at a double 
expense to the tiller of the soil. The mining and manufactur- 
ing industries and the railways in various parts of the county 
are responsible for making labour scarce at times upon the 
farm, and in some districts the work is carried out by the 
occupiers of the land, assisted by their sons and daughters. 
Several local Agricultural Societies throughout the county 
1 This disease is due to a fungus, Plasmudiojihora Brassicce , and is usually 
attributable to deficiency of lime in the soil. — [Ed.] 
