558

ON THE ARABLE LAN©

culture required for this sort, is in every respect similar, to■what has been already stated for common turnip ; only it re-quires to be sown a fortnight or three weeks earlier, and theplants need not be set out so wide in the drills, as they do notswell to so great n size

7. With regard to the quantity of seed which should besown, from a pound and a half to two pounds and a half tothe acre, is reckoned quite sufficient to ensure a full stock ofplants. The want of a sufficient quantity of seed might oc-casion unprofitable blanks ; while too great abundance occa-sions the plants to be weakly, and difficult to single out in thehoeing process.

8. Rolling is applied at the moment of sowing; in conse-quence of the construction of the drill-machine formerly men-tioned.

9. In the early stages of growth, turnips often suffer material-ly, by the ravages of a peculiar species of fly, or rather beetle ;but, during fifteen years’ experience in Berwickshire, the re-porter has neither seen nor heard of this misfortune, except ina few instances. Upon a most industrious inquiry among anumber of experienced farm el's, no certain account can be pro-cured of the causes of this comparative exemption from the ra-vages of the fly. One idea has been suggested, that thick sow-ing is a sure prevention of injury from the turnip fly, giving asufficient number of plants to serve the voracious appetites ofthese insects,and to leave abundance of plants for a cropf. This

* Brown’s Treatise on Rural Affairs,

f The great object is, to have the land well manured and prepared so as tobring the turnip sooner into the rough leaf, by which means it escapes the beetle.The soil on the tops of the drills is so finely reduced by the two rollers, that the lit-tle vermin have few or no hiding places, except in the hollows between the drillsamong the small clods there j these little insects are very shy, and skip off andconceal themselves under the small clods, as soon as you come near them, bywhich means they are also protected from small birds. They feed in sunshine,and when feeding, will be picked up by small birds, in skipping from the tops tothe intervals of the drills, to conceal themselves.