ae lo ee 
520 
guanoed turnip comprised 6:45 per cent. of chlo- 
ride of potassium, 36°29 of potash and soda, 0°39 
of magnesia, 11°56 of lime, 16:86 of sulphuric 
acid, and 19°39 of phosphoric acid. Two in- 
ferences may be selected from these facts as 
Specimens of the instructive character of the 
whole,—and both are exceedingly obvious, and 
lie on the very surface of the analyses,—that 
the proportion of oil renders the farm-yard ma- 
nured turnip about 50 per cent. more favourable 
for fattening, inasmuch as 100 lbs. of that turnip 
would supply fat enough for laying on 14 lb. of 
live weight, while the same quantity of guanoed 
turnip would supply enough for laying on only 
1 lb.,—and that the proportion of phosphoric 
acid renders the guanoed turnip incomparably 
more favourable for forming and building up 
both bone and muscle, the quantity of that sub- 
stance being not far from three times greater 
than in the farm-yard manured. turnip, and the 
quantity of it in the flesh of animals being about 
4 Ib. in every 100 lbs., and in the fresh bones of 
animals about one-fourth of their whole weight. 
So far then as these inferences go—as also on 
the ground of some experiments in feeding which 
our limits do not allow us to detail—the grand 
principle seems to be evolved, in regard to the 
most profitable chemical constitution of turnips, 
or in regard to their highest aggregate feeding 
powers, just as formerly in regard to their amount 
of produce, that the best results are to be attained 
by the joint use of widely different manures. 
The Sowing of Turnips.—In the north of Eng- 
land and the south of Scotland, the usual time 
of sowing Swedish turnips is from about the 
middle till the end of May,—hybrid turnips, from 
about the beginning till the middle of June,— 
and of common turnips, from about the middle 
of June till a few days into July. But the best 
time of sowing, in any circumstances, is depen- 
dent considerably on the state of the weather 
and on the comparative forwardness of the sea- 
son,—still more on the climate of the place and 
en the character of the soil,—and yet more on 
the variety of the turnip and on the intended 
time and method of using the crop. Any tur- 
nips sown too soon are apt to shoot forth their 
flowering-stem before winter, so as greatly to 
diminish the nutritiveness of the roots; any 
turnips sown too late incur a risk of not attain- 
ing full size and due maturity ; and most com- 
mon turnips sown at any period which does not 
allow of their being matured and used in the 
course of autumn are liable to become soft, 
Spongy, and comparatively worthless. 
The quantity of seed for any kind of turnip, 
in any method of sowing, may be somewhere 
between 2 and 3 lbs. per imperial acre; but 
ought to be greatest in kinds which do not 
admit of mending by transplantation,—in cases 
of broadcast sowing,—and in situations and sea- 
sons which threaten the worst attacks of the 
turnip-tly. , 
TURNIP. 
The Scotch or raised-drill or ridge method of 
sowing, especially on poor or thin soils, and 
whenever farm-yard manure constitutes the main 
or lower pabulum, is decidedly the best. The 
ridges are made either with a single cast of the 
double-mould-board plough, or a double one of 
the common or ribbing plough, and from twenty 
to twenty-eight inches apart. A cart with ma- 
nure follows; and women are generally employed 
to drop the manure into the seams made by the 
plough. The plough again follows, and closes 
the ridges, covering the manure; and the drill 
succeeds, drawn by one horse, and sows one ridge 
at a time. A light roller goes over the sown 
ridges to cover the seeds, and sometimes the 
ridges are rolled before the sowing. This plan 
takes more time and labour to effect it; but the 
turnips generally succeed ; and if they should be 
destroyed by the turnip-fly, they can be re-sown 
with more probability of success than by any 
other method. 
The plough-drill method of sowing is proper 
only on deep good soils, and in cases where only 
very bulky manure is employed, or where the 
intentions of the farmer require the manure to 
be applied with reference less to the immediate 
crop than to the whole succeeding rotation. In 
this method, the manure is spread on the ground ; 
and the plough follows, with the drill so fixed to 
its right hand side as to deposit the seed imme- 
diately in the seam made by the plough. 
The large-drill method of sowing on the level 
surface is the method most expeditious in exe- 
cution, most suited to the deposition of special 
manures, and most generally in use throughout 
the best agricultural districts of England. The 
peculiarities and advantages of it vary with the 
different kinds of machines employed for depo- 
siting the seeds and the manure, and may be 
pretty well understood from the account we have 
given of these implements in the article Sowine- 
Macuines. A single light harrowing is com- 
monly given after sowing with any kind of large 
drill; and when much heavy rain succeeds, an- 
other turn of the harrows may advantageously 
be given before the land becomes dry, in order 
to prevent it from scraping. 
The old broadcast method of sowing was to 
spread on the manure, plough it in, and then 
very carefully sow the seed with the hand. This 
practice is almost everywhere abandoned ; nor 
can it in any case be recommended or justified. 
“ All the effect of broadcast sowing,” remarks 
Martin Doyle, “can be attained by a drill ma- 
chine, constructed for sowing at twelve-inch 
intervals, which is more economical, and ope- 
rates more regularly, than the most experienced 
hand, As we by no means maintain the neces- 
sity of having ridgelets on sandy land, requiring 
consolidation of surface, uniform retention of 
moisture, and adaptation for sheep-folding—the 
narrow unraised drills, which are a close ap- 
proximation to broad-ceast culture, may, in such 
