448 
JOURNAL  ON  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
if  it  is  grown  at  all.  And  in  this  connection  we  may  observe  that 
it  is  a  crop  which  lends  itself  to  a  forcing  system  of  cultivation  ; 
it  is  rather  an  expensive  crop  up  to  a  certain  point,  and  by  the  aid 
of  well-balanced  manures  prodigious  crops  may  be  grown  with  a 
fair  amount  of  certainty.  This  applies  more  particularly  to  the 
Swedish  variety,  common  Turnips  when  overgrown  often  being  of 
very  little  value  as  food. 
In  the  first  place,  what  is  the  best  time  for  sowing  Swede 
Turnips?  The  time  varies  very  much  in  different  climates,  but  a 
good  test  is  the  temperature  of  the  surface  soil ;  when,  on  a  sunny 
day,  the  hand  can  be  held  near  the  surface  and  feel  a  distinct 
warmth  from  that  surface,  Swedes  may  be  safely  entrusted  to  it. 
We  all  like  to  have  a  few  early  Swedes  for  use  in  the  yards  before 
Christmas,  and  the  earliest  sown  are  generally  the  heaviest  crop  : 
but  we  must  not  forget  that  the  Turnip  is  a  plant  which  cannot 
bear  severe  checks,  so  it  is  advisable  to  be  guided  by  temperature 
rather  than  the  almanack.  A  few  acres  may  be  sown  experi¬ 
mentally  in  May,  but,  generally  speaking,  from  June  1st  to 
June  20th  is  the  time  for  drilling  Swedes. 
As  the  Swede  loves  warmth  we  find  it  does  not  do  well  at  high 
altitudes  or  on  badly  drained  land,  neither  can  it  be  grown  on  very 
poor  hungry  sand.  On  the  former  the  Scotch  and  yellow  hybrids 
are  grown  in  place  of  Swedes,  and  on  poor  sand  nothing  is  better 
than  the  Oreen  Globe  or  Lincolnshire  Red. 
The  most  important  thing  of  all  is  the  texture  of  the  soil  ;  the 
Turnip  produces  exceedingly  small  seeds,  so  small  that  twenty-three 
are  taken  to  make  a  grain,  and  upwards  of  160,000  to  the  pound. 
Now  it  is  obvious  that  the  small  rootlets  put  forth  by  so  small  a 
seed  must  have  equally  fine  grains  of  soil  amongst  which  to  seek 
and  find  the  food  for  the  plant,  and  it  would  be  only  courting 
failure  to  sow  such  seed  amongst  earth  which  consisted  of  clods  of 
different  sizes,  but  none  of  them  smaller  than  peas.  A  fine  mould 
is  an  absolute  necessity,  and  is  the  first  thing  the  farmer  aims  at. 
Turnips  invariably  do  well  if  a  cloud  of  dust  follows  the  drill,  and 
the  heat  affects  both  horse  and  man. 
Whether  it  is  best  to  drill  on  ridges  or  on  the  flat  is  best  left  to 
the  custom  of  the  locality.  On  good  easy  working  land  we  prefer 
ridging,  for  if  manure  is  used  it  can  be  placed  more  directly 
beneath  the  plant.  On  strong  soils,  if  there  is  a  fine  mould  on  the 
surface,  it  might  be  unwise  to  ridge,  because  the  under  soil  might 
turn  up  very  rough,  and  with  a  fine  surface  it  were  best  to  let  well 
alone.  Taking  a  look  round  different  districts  it  will  be  found  that 
ridging  prevails  on  the  best  Turnip  soils,  that  is  where  good  tilth  is 
the  rule,  and  flat  drilling  is  the  custom  on  stronger  and  colder 
lands  where  a  good  mould  is  uncertain  of  attainment  and  the 
Turnip  crop  a  precarious  one. 
Whether  ridged  or  drilled  we  would  not  have  the  rows  less  thaD 
26  inches  apart  for  Swedes,  and  we  would  sow  3  lbs.  of  seed  per 
acre.  This  is  twice  as  much  as  some  farmers  sow,  and  no  doubt 
many  would  say  that  it  is  a  waste  of  seed,  but  we  see  others  who 
sow  less  occasionally  with  only  half  a  plant,  and  in  constant 
anxiety  if  the  Turnip  fly  be  on  the  warpath  ;  and  there  are  not 
many  seasons  when  he  does  not  succeed  in  doing  some  damage. 
The  number  of  plants  required  for  a  crop,  taking  the  rows  at 
26  inches  and  the  plants  at  10  inches  apart,  would  be  about 
25,000  per  acre.  This  number  represents  but  a  sixth  of  a  pound 
of  seed,  so  that  by  drilling  3  lbs.  per  acre  we  are  apparently  wast¬ 
ing  seventeen  parts  out  of  every  eighteen  ;  but  in  order  to  get  a 
regular  plant,  if  the  seed  were  sown  at  regular  intervals  of  1  inch, 
and  then  struck  out  so  as  to  leave  every  tenth  plant,  1£  lb.  per  acre 
would  be  sacrificed  ;  and  if  we  allow  another  1£  lb.  for  deficiencies 
of  growth  and  insect  enemies,  we  do  not  think  the  allowance  will 
be  found  too  great.  There  is  another  point  about  having  a  fairly 
thick  plant  in  the  early  stages — they  seem  to  keep  each  other 
warm  and  grow  faster  ;  the  chief  drawback  is  that  they  must  be 
singled  as  soon  as  ready,  to  prevent  damage  from  overcrowding. 
If  well  decayed  farmyard  manure  be  available  this,  at  the  rate  of 
twelve  loads  per  acre,  with  5  cwt.  of  superphosphate  (26  per  cent. 
May  20,  189?. 
soluble)  per  acre,  should  grow  a  satisfactory  crop  of  Swedes.  On 
heavy  soils  the  manure  should  have  been  ploughed  in  during  the 
winter,  and  the  phosphate  can  now  be  drilled  with  the  side.  A 
combined  manure  and  seed  drill  is  used  for  this  purpose. 
As  before  observed,  where  the  land  is  suitable  for  ridging  the 
manure  can  be  put  on  between  the  ridges  and  the  phosphate  sown 
broadcast  at  the  same  time  ;  they  are  then  split  in  together,  and 
the  seed  drilled  at  once.  It  is  very  necessary  to  drill  the  same  day, 
as  a  heavy  rain  coming  in  the  night  might  make  the  ridges  very  sad, 
and  too  stale  to  drill  well. 
If  farmyard  manure  is  not  available  good  Swedes  can  be  grown 
with  artificials.  We  have  succeeded  well  with  the  following  mix¬ 
ture  : — 100  lbs.  nitrate  of  soda,  300  lbs.  superphosphate,  and 
200  lbs.  Bteamed  bonemeal  per  acre.  The  two  best  varieties  of 
Swedish  Turnip  to  grow  are  Monarch  for  lighter  soils  and  storing, 
Golden  Melon  for  heavy  soils. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
Another  dry  cold  week,  without  absolute  frost ;  but  some  of  the 
nights  have  been  very  cold,  with  a  temperature  little,  if  anything,  above 
freezing  point.  The  last  month  has  been  splendid  for  twitching,  and 
the  fallows  are  practically  clean,  and  ready  for  Turnips  all  round,  so 
our  horses  should  not  have  a  hard  summer,  and  we  can  have  little 
anxiety  as  to  the  successful  completion  of  work,  until  harvest  at 
any  rate. 
Spring  corn  looks  surprisingly  well ;  it  probably  never  looked  better 
in  mid-May,  and  given  a  showery  June  we  should  have  some  fine  crops. 
Wheats  have  again  fallen  off,  and  unless  a  great  improvement  takes 
place  during  the  next  month  they  will  be  below  the  average.  They 
appear  to  need  rain,  rather  unusual  for  Wheats  at  this  period. 
The  cold  which  has  checked  vegetation  has  helped  off  the  old  stocks 
of  Potatoes.  Trade  has  been  quite  brisk  lately,  and  though  the  price 
has  not  risen  much  we  have  been  glad  to  realise  them  at  the  figures 
now  prevailing. 
Thousand-headed  Kale  has  come  up  well,  and  now  is  in  second  leaf. 
Some  people  advocate  leaving  it  very  thick,  but  we  shall  single  ours  just 
as  we  do  the  Swedes.  The  plants  do  not  come  to  ripeness  quite  so  early, 
but  they  produce  much  more  food. 
Pastures  have  fallen  off,  and  want  a  nice  rain  (it  is  falling  as  we 
write,  and  hope  it  may  continue).  We  find  it  a  good  plan  to  arrange 
for  one  field  always  to  be  clear  of  stock  ;  for  instance,  we  have  three 
fields  of  grazing  seeds,  we  divide  our  sheep  into  two  lots,  not  three,  so 
that  we  always  have  one  field  clear  of  mouths,  and  both  freshening  and 
growing  sweeter.  Sheep  love  a  change  of  pasture.  With  the  pastures 
rather  bare  a  little  oil  cake  will  well  repay  the  outlay  ;  the  sheep  will 
more  than  repay  the  cost,  and  30i.  per  ton  is  not  too  high  a  value  to 
put  on  the  gain  to  the  land  in  fertility  for  each  ton  of  cake  used. 
It  is  not  too  easy  a  matter  to  breed  good  horses.  We  may,  therefore, 
complain  of  hard  lines  when  a  mare  drops  twin  foals  (dead)  for  the 
second  year  in  succession,  and  another  mare  so  far  follows  her  example 
as  to  do  the  same  thing  for  the  first  time.  Twin  lambs  are  a  blessing  ; 
twin  calves  may  be,  but  twin  foa’s  are  an  unmitigated  nuisance  when 
alive,  and  of  no  use  dead. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden  Square,  London. 
Lat.  51°  IV 40"  N. ;  Long.  0°  8/  0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
1897. 
|  Barometer 
at  32°,  and 
|  Sea  Level. 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot. 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
d 
s 
« 
May. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Wind. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Snn. 
On 
Grass. 
Sunday  ...  9 
Inchs. 
30*178 
leg. 
62-2 
deg. 
4  4-8 
N.W. 
deg. 
51-3 
deg. 
59-9 
deg. 
46-3 
deg. 
ill-3 
deg 
40  8 
Inchs. 
Monday  ....  10 
30- 119 
52-9 
459 
N.W. 
50-a 
58-5 
410 
102-8 
34-1 
— 
Tuesday....  11 
29-908 
41-6 
37-3 
N.W. 
50-2 
54-3 
34-8 
10 1-4 
30-9 
— 
Wednesday  12 
30-070 
44-8 
38  9 
N 
49-1 
50-9 
34-4 
102-6 
29-4 
— 
Thursday  ..  13 
30-265 
48-1 
41-6 
N. 
48-1 
50-4 
33-9 
93-9 
27-1 
— 
Friday  ...  14 
30-306 
5t"l 
43- L 
N.W. 
47-9 
59  6 
36-1 
97-6 
29  4 
— 
Saturday  ..  15 
80422 
- 
58-9 
50-6 
N. 
60-0 
66  9 
46-7 
iol-l 
39-4 
— 
30-181 
50-4 
42-9 
49-8 
57  1 
39-0 
101-5 
80-0 
— 
REMARKS. 
9th. — Sunny  almost  throughout,  but  cloudy  at  times  in  afternoon. 
10ih.— Brilliant  early  ;  frequently  cloudy  after  9  A.M.,  and  spots  of  rain  at  6  P.M. 
i  1th.— Bright  early ;  generally  cloudy  in  afternoon ;  thunder  at  5  P.M.,  and  spots  of  rain 
in  evening. 
12th — Generally  cloudy  with  occasional  sunshine. 
1 3th. — Overcast  early;  alternate  sunshine  and  cloud  during  day. 
14th.— Fair  all  day,  with  a  good  deal  of  faint  sunshine  in  morning. 
15th.— Bright  sun  till  11  A.M.,  mild  and  pleasant  after,  with  occasional  sunshine;  clear 
night. 
A  rainless  and  oold  week— the  11th  to  13th  especially  so -thus  confirming  the 
repute  of  these  days  in  France  as  those  of  the  ‘‘icy  saints.”— G.  J.  SYMONS, 
