compost, or other stimulating and nourishing manure. Thirdly, to have the ground clean and clear of weeds before the turnips are sown, and watching the growth of weeds afterwards, and cutting them off before they choke the crop. Fourthly, to keep the ground constantly loose and open about the plants, by stirring it between the drills in dry weather. The oftener the ground is stirred the better; and you may rest assured that every drill crop is improved by having the soil turned up frequently, provided you do not disturb the roots of the plants.

The average produce of a corp of turnips has been taken as high as 25 to 30 tons per statute acre (including the tops), and at 20 to 25 tons after the tops are removed. It may, however, be questioned whether this quantity can be generally realized, although there is no doubt that products exceeding this amount have been obtained, where the cultivation has been well conducted; but it will perhaps be safer to reckon the produce, on an average, at from 15 to 20 tons per statute acre, of the larger and white kinds, and 10 to 15 tons of the Swede.

The turnip is liable to several diseases, amongst which the fly is the most formidable. Various expedients have been adopted to check this evil, although no specific remedy has yet been discovered; but a mixture of soot and quick-lime, strewed along the drills, and dusted over the plants when the fly appears, is considered to be of great use in checking the disease, while it certainly promotes the growth of the plants. The mixture may be applied at the rate of six or eight bushels per acre.

Turnips are generally allowed to remain in the field, and are taken up only as they are wanted.. It may, however, be proper to take up a part of the crop towards the latter end of November, and store them for use in time of frost and snow; for which purpose the top leaves and tap-root should be cut off about an inch from the bulb, care being taken not to injure the bulb itself. The top leaves may then be given to cows or young cattle, and the turnips stored up against a wall, and covered with straw.

The farmer may easily save his own seed, by trans

planting in November the turnips of the best form, and cutting off the tops. They will ripen their seed in the following July; but they must be planted at a distance from other turnips, and from plants of the cabbage and colewort species, or the seed will be likely to be mixed and spoiled.

MANGEL-WURZEL.

Mangel-Wurzel, is a large kind of beet, not liable to be injured by disease or insects; and it stands the climate well, and may be cultivated with advantage. It thrives best in a deep loose loamy soil, and requires a good supply of manure. It gives no unpleasant taste to milk or butter, and pigs as well as milch-cows are fond both of its leaves and roots.

From the 20th to the end of April is the best time for sowing the seed, and the process is as follows:--Prepare your land as if for drilling turnips, forming the drills two feet or thirty inches apart, according to the strength of the soil, and the deeper the better; fill them with short manure; cover them with four or five inches of earth; roll them lengthwise; and then, on the smooth and level top, make holes with a dibbling-stick, about an inch or an inch and a half in depth, and twelve inches apart; and into every hole drop two seeds, covering them by hand as you proceed.

When the plants are about two inches high, draw out from each hole the extra plant or plants, leaving of course the strongest and healthiest plant behind. Keep them clear from weeds by hand-hoeing, but do not earth them up. If any of the plants appear to be running to seed, pull them out, and transplant others in their room (after stirring up the earth), from a small seed-bed, which should be prepared at the time you sow the main crop. In September pull off the leaves, and give them to the cows, sheep, and pigs. They are moreover not a bad substitute for greens or spinach.

You may calculate on 30,000 plants per acre, and

H

supposing them to average 3 lbs. each, you will have 90,000 lbs., or about 40 tons of firm nutritious food per acre, for your cattle, sheep, and pigs. This is a large produce, but greater has been frequently obtained.

Forty tons of mangel-wurzel will support twelve cows during four months, allowing 60 lbs. to each cow per day; and the manure made by these cows will be greater in quantity, and better in quality, than that produced from the same number of animals kept upon straw or hay. Clean the roots and cut off the fibres, and give them two or three chops with a spade or billhook, when you give the roots to your cattle; and occasionally sprinkle a little salt on them at the time they are used. Salt, in moderation, is always good for cattle, with every description of food.

Mangel-wurzel will thrive in any kind of soil, but to grow it in the greatest perfection, a deep friable loam, on a dry substratum, is necessary. It does not strike very deep into the ground, but the roots swell above ground, much like turnips; and stirring and loosening the soil always helps their growth, and keeps their fibres near the surface. Watering the plants during the summer with liquid manure, will greatly promote their growth, and this is carefully attended to by the growers of mangel-wurzel on the Continent.

Mangel-wurzel is regarded as a fallow crop, and like turnips, it takes its rotation among manured green crops; but it requires a good quantity of manure, and may therefore be considered as an exhausting crop. If, however, the land has been well cultivated and manured, it will, after mangel-wurzel, be in as good condition for a corn crop, as after potatoes, cabbages, or turnips; whilst the yield is larger than either of these.

There are three varieties of the mangel-wurzel, the Red, the Yellow, and the Globe kinds. The latter is considered the most productive, and to be equal to the others in all other respects. Mangel-wurzel certainly ought to be included in the rotation, on account of its own merits, as well as for preventing the too frequent return of turnips, as is now the case in the four-course

shift. All animals thrive upon mangel-wurzel, and are fond of it; and it is less apt to affect the taste of milk, than either turnips or cabbages, when cows are fed with it.

THE CABBAGE.

Cabbages, form a very valuable description of green food for cattle, throughout the whole year, as successive crops of them, at regular intervals, may always be obtained; and the early York and sugar-loaf kinds, when young, give no unpleasant taste to milk or butter.

There are numerous varieties of the cabbage, known by different names. The larger kinds are usually cultivated by the farmers in England and Scotland, such as the Drumhead, the Oxhead, &c. Cabbages thrive best on a strong deep soil. They will also do well on marshy land, and good crops have been produced on newly reclaimed bog or moss. Whatever be

the soil, however, a liberal application of farm-yard manure, or good compost, is necessary; and when the heads begin to form, if liquid manure can be obtained to pour between the rows, it will greatly improve the growth of the plant.

The ground for cabbages should be repeatedly ploughed and harrowed, or, what is better, trenched deeply to the subsoil. If it is intended for a spring planting, let the ground be thrown up in ridges, to be mellowed by the frost during winter. Good rotten dung must be applied at the rate of from twenty to thirty tons to the acre, according to the condition and nature of the soil. The dung may be either dug or ploughed in, or it may be laid in the bottom of the drills immediately before planting, and be covered in by splitting the ridge between the drills, as with turnips, which is in general the better plan; taking care, however, that the last stirring of the ground should be at the time of planting, for cabbages love fresh earth. The root-weeds should be carefully picked out of the ground, before putting in the plants.

In order to raise a crop of cabbages, to come forward early in the spring, prepare a perch of ground in August, manure it well with short dung, and sow half of it with early York, and the other half with sugar-loaf, in little drills, three inches apart, the seeds thin in the drill. As soon as the seeds are up, hoe deeply between the rows, and again in a few days, for the more you hoe or dig about the plants the better; the plants should be thinned, if nearer than two inches. When the plants have attained six leaves, dig up, manure, and make fine, another perch or two of ground; and prick out the plants in rows, eight inches apart, and three inches in the row; hoe the ground between them often, and they will grow up straight and strong.

Early in November prepare the ground intended for the full crop, lay manure between the ridges two feet apart, and turn the ridges over on this manure; then plant your cabbages on the ridges, fifteen inches asunder-here they are to stand for the winter. Watch the slugs, and if any plants fail, supply their places from the bed. If the ground becomes hard in winter, dig it, and especially near the plants. In March dig deep, and as soon the plants begin to grow, dig the ground with a spade, clean and well, going as near the plants as possible, without displacing them. Dig again in April and May (indeed you cannot dig too often), and destroy all weeds, and about the 1st of June there will be cabbages.

The early Yorks will soon become solid, and will furnish food for cows and sheep until some time in September. In March and April sow more early Yorks, proceeding as before directed. Dig up and manure the ground, and as fast as you cut cabbages, plant cabbages. The last planting should be about the middle of August, with stout plants, and these will serve through the winter. Dig often between the cabbages, but do not earth them up, or raise the earth about the stem, as is so commonly done. Digging is useful, keeping down weeds, and enabling the plants more readily to obtain nourishment from the soil.

When cabbages are planted out in autumn to stand