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ON THE ARABLE LAN®

at different times ; the fly will naturally fasten on that whichfirst appears ; but, when the second growth comes up, it willquit the first and attack the second ; the same preference willbe given to the third when it appears, the youngest being al-ways the sweetest and most palatable. Before this last is fi-nished, what remained of the two former growths will be sofar advanced, and will have acquired so harsh and bitter ataste, that the fly will not return to them again. Thus a suf-ficient quantity of plants may escape for a full crop. As thisis a very easy method, it is surely worth the trial. Perhapsthe whole secret lies in sowing thick, that the fly may haveabundance of food, and leave a sufficient number of plants.

10. As soon as the plants have acquired sufficient strengthto admit of being singled out, the intervals are horse-hoed.The hand-hoers then fall to work and set out the plantssingly in the rows, at distances of eight to ten inches, destroy-ing all weeds and unnecessary turnip plants. When a freshgrowth of annuals has sprung up, the horse-hoe clears the in-tervals, and a second hand-hoeing immediately follows. Thisgenerally suffices, as the broad leaves of the turnip now over-shadow the soil, and effectually prevent all vegetation excepttheir own.

In case of blanks occurring among the drills, an excellentexpedient is, to have a seed bed of ruta-baga, sown on pur-pose, which bear transplanting, and maybe used to fill up thevacancy.

11. In consuming a turnip crop, part is taken up duringwinter, or drawn, for feeding cattle in the house or undershelter shades, and for giving a moderate allowance to youngcattle and cows. The remainder, and usually the larger pro-portion, is applied to feed sheep, either where they grow, oi-led off into grass fields. It is very common to lead off’ onehalf of the turnips, in regular breadths of five or six drills, forthe several purposes already mentioned, leaving the otherhalf to be consumed by sheep where they grow.