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April  9,  1903. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE 
Turnip  Growing:  Ridges  v.  the  Flat. 
Whether  the  extra  labour  and  expense  of  raising  ridges 
whereon  to  drill  root  crops  is  compensated  for  by  a  suffi¬ 
cient  increase  in  the  returns,  is  an  old  bone  of  contention 
amongst  farmers,  and  one  which  will  probably,  never  be 
quite  settled.  That  there  are  advantages  derived  by  ridg¬ 
ing  does  not  admit  of  doubt,  or  such  a  great  number  of 
farmers  would  not  practise  the  system.  The  fact  that  in 
some  districts  ridging  is  almost  universal,  whilst  in  others 
an  immense  proportion  of  the  Turnip  crop  is  drilled  on  the 
flat,  points  strongly  in  favour  of  the  usefulness  of  both  on 
different  soils  and  under  different  conditions.  In  the  first 
place,  in  comparing  the  two  the  extra  expense  of  making 
and  splitting  the  ridges  is  the  first  point.  These  two  opera¬ 
tions  must  cost  7s.  per  acre.  Well,  the  Turnip  crop  is  not 
regarded  by  farmers  as  the  one  which  pays  the  rent,  and 
the  expense  of  its  growth  is  often  looked  upon  as  an  un¬ 
avoidable  evil.  Any  item,  therefore,  which  makes  an  addi¬ 
tional  charge  on  the  Turnip  field  preparation  is  looked  at 
with  suspicion.  What  are  the  advantages  of  ridging  to  set 
against  this  7s.  per  acre  T 
Firstly,  it  forms  a  convenient  system  by  which  to  bury 
farmyard  manure.  The  manure  being  spread  between  the 
ridges  is  not  only  well  covered,  and  quite  out  of  the  way  of 
the  drill  coulters,  but  is  directly  under  the  plants,  and  so 
best  calculated  to  attract  the  young  tap  roots.  For  flat 
drilling  the  manure  may  have  been  ploughed  in  months 
before,  or  only  just  previous  to,  sowing.  In  the  former 
case  the  land  must  have  been  in  a  very  clean  condition,  for 
after  the  muck  has  been  ploughed  in  no  dragging  or  heavy 
harrowing  is  possible.  When  the  manure  has  been  ploughed 
in  recently,  and  has  not  had  time  to  become  incorporated 
with  the  soil,  the  harrows  which  must  precede  the  drill 
often  pull  up  sufficient  to  interfere  with  its  satisfactory 
working.  Another  advantage  is  the  extra  and  thorough 
moving  of  the  soil  which  takes  place.  The  land  is  left  in 
the  loosest  possible  condition,  and  one  which  is  most 
favourable  to  the  growth  of  root  crops.  Then,  again,  when 
horse  hoeing  begins  the  hoes  may  pass  much  nearer  to  the 
rows  of  little  Turnips  without  covering  them  when  they 
are  on  ridges,  for  the  soil  naturally  gravitates  away  from 
the  Turnips  and  into  the  furrows. 
Few  farmers  will  deny  that  the  ridging  system  produces 
the  heaviest  crops  ;  the  roots  are  much  larger  in  size,  but 
they  are  apt  to  stand  much  more  out  of  the  ground,  and 
therefore,  to  the  casual  observer,  make  a  better  show'.  The 
Swedes  grown  on  the  flat  bury  themselves  more  deeply,  or 
erhaps  it  would  be  more  correct  to  say  that  the  soil  is  not 
oed  away  from  them  so  much  as  from  ridged  Swedes.  At 
any  rate,  a  larger  portion  of  the  root  is  covered  with  soil, 
and  therefore  it  is  better  protected  from  severe  weather. 
This  advantage  in  favour  of  flat  drilling  has  great  w'eight 
with  many  growers. 
Turnips  and  Swedes  are  generally  sown  on  the  flat  on 
heavy  soils,  for  a  frost  mould  having  once  been  obtained  it 
would  be  madness  to  bury  it  and  bring  up  in  its  place  soil 
which  resembles  lumps  of  liver.  On  chalk  soils,  also,  flat 
drilling  is  largely  prevalent.  In  some  chalk  districts 
Swedes  are  very  little  grown,  yellows  being  grown  in  their 
place,  and  as  little  or  no  manure  is  used  either  for  them  or 
the  green  globes  which  form  the  bulk  of  the  root  crops, 
there  is  not  much  to  be  gained  by  ridging.  Some  of  these 
soils,  although  thin  are  decidedly  sticky,  and  have  to  be 
treated  verv  much  as  strong  land  in  the  cultivation  of  roots. 
There  is  an  objection  to  ridges  which  does  not  appear 
until  after  the  crop  is  matured  and  ready  for  use.  Sheejo, 
AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
especially  very  fat  ones  and  ewes  in  lamb,  require  very 
close  attention  by  the  shepherd  when  they  are  folded  on 
land  which  has  been  ridged.  They  are  so  liable  to  get  on 
their  backs,  and  if  they  are  not  visited  betw'een  sunset  and 
sunrise  during  the  long  nights  about  Christmas  time  there 
may  frequently  be  dead  mutton  instead  of  live  sheep  in  the 
morning.  Few  people  waste  farmyard  manure  on  common 
Turnips,  for  very  fine  crops  may  be  grown,  and  are  every 
year  grown  with  artificials  alone  ;  therefore  these  Turnips 
may  be  drilled  on  the  flat  with  a  combined  manure  and 
Turnip  drill,  putting  seed  and  manure  on  at  one  opera¬ 
tion.  This  is  very  convenient  when  there  is  much  hay  and 
clover  to  make  and  get  into  stack,  and  there  is  not  much 
time  before  the  Corn  harvest.  The  extra  labour  of  ridging 
can  then  be  well  dispensed  with.  But  on  all  free  working 
loams  and  sandy  soils  we  think  ridging,  even  for  common 
Turnips,  will  pay  an  increased  crop  if  the  farmer  can 
make  it  convenient  to  do  it.  At  any  rate,  we  know  scores 
of  shrewd  and  thrifty  men  who  ridge  for  all  their  Turnips, 
and  they  are  men  who  do  not  spend  a  penny  where  a  half¬ 
penny  will  do.  There  is  one  thing  about  ridging :  it  re¬ 
quires  to  be  well  done  or  the  rows  will  not  be  of  even 
width  ;  it  looks  very  ugly  to  have  wdde  rows  and  narrow 
ones,  but  we  often  see  it.  With  a  five-row  drill  on  the 
flat  it  is  possible,  and  even  fairly  easy,  to  get  a  very  regular 
width,  and  this  makes  horse-hoeing  easy  to  do,  even  when 
the  plants  are  small. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
The  weather  has  been  wet  and  stormy,  and  farm  work  is  much 
delayed.  A  great  deal  of  seed  Barley  is  still  in  the  sacks  instead! 
of  under  the  soil,  and  w'e  begin  to  need  dry  weather  very  badly. 
W  e  want  to  plough  over  the  Mangold  land,  but  it  is  much  too  wet 
to  touch  at  present.  If  it  were  ploughed  now,  a  week’s  hot  sun¬ 
shine  would  make  bricks  of  it,  and  bricks  do  not  answer  as  a 
seedbed  for  Mangolds  or  any  other  plant. 
We  are  manuring  a  portion  of  a  field  for  immediate  sowing 
with  spring  Vetches.  The  manure,  ten  loads  per  acre,  will  ber 
ploughed  in,  and  the  seed  drilled  at  once  on  the  fresh  mould. 
Three  bushels  per  acre  will  be  put  on,  for  spring  Vetches  do  not 
branch  much,  and  require  to  be  thick  to  produce  a  good  mow. 
The  crop  should  be  ready  to  mow  for  the  cows  and  horses  during 
the  corn  harvest  if  it  is  an  early  one. 
Autumn  planted  Cabbage  have  grown  very  well  of  late,  and 
so  have  the  weeds,  amongst  which  thistles  are  making  a  braver 
show  than  usual.  This  is  often  the  case  after  a  late  harvest..  The 
horse  hoe  is  being  used  between  the  rows,  and  hand  hoes  will 
follow  immediately  to  complete  the  cleaning.  Cabbages  pay  well 
for  plenty  of  cultivation;  the  horse  hoe  must  keep  the  soil  well 
stirred  to  allow  air  to  reach  to  the  roots.  A  good  dressing  of 
soot,  say  4cwt  per  acre,  is  very  beneficial  to  Cabbages,  but  no 
manure,  natural  or  artificial,,  comes  amiss  to  them.  Preparation 
of  Turnip  soil  has  been  entirely  suspended  of  late.  Wise  farmers 
keep  their  horses  away  from  the  fallows  when  the  land  is  heavy 
with  moisture. 
We  never  saw  such  sheep  pastures  in  early  April  as  there  are 
now,  and  both  ewes  and  lambs  are  doing  remarkably  well  with 
very  little  expense  for  cake  or  corn.  Some  of  the  ewes  with 
singles  are  grazing  on  the  Swede  tops,  which  will  soon  be  in 
flower.  Tliey  do  not  graze  them  very  well,  and  the  ewes  and 
pairs  on  seeds  look  far  better  than  these  singles  do,  and  they, 
perhaps,  need  the  cake  more  than  the  pairs  do.  We  Irave  got  all 
the  lambs’  tails  docked,  and  all  the  older  he-lambs  castrated. 
A  few  fat  hoggs  begin  to  leave  the  Turnip  folds  to  be  W'ashed 
and  clipped  for  market.  Whether  it  is  owing  to  the  cheapness 
of  wool  or  not,  we  cannot  say,  but  never  were  there  so  many 
sheep  marketed  in  their  wool  as  there  have  been  this  March, 
that  is,  compared  with  other  years.  After  March  comes  in  the 
majority  of  sheep  in  the  markets  are  clipped.  This  year  very  few 
have  come  in  shorn. 
Cattle  are  practically  all  out  at  grass,  and  are  saving  both 
food  and  labour.  Calves  which  are  old  enough  should  be  weaned 
at  once,  so  that  the  cow's  may  be  persuaded  to  adopt  others  before 
the  flush  of  gras.s  milk,  which  this  year  promises  to  be  early.  It 
is  remarkable  that  for  a  month  there  has  been  no  appreciable 
frost. 
- - 
The  International  Agricultural  Conference. 
Sir  Tliomas  Elliott,  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Agriculture, 
has  left  London  for  Rome  in  order  to  be  present,  as  the  repre- 
j  sentative  of  the  Board,  at  the  International  Agricultural  Con- 
[  ference,  the  first  meeting  of  which  is  to  be  held  on  the  13th  inst. 
